MCPS is cutting ELC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ELC is going away because mcps is now using CKLA through 8th grade.
Sounds like Margaret Cage, who is new to mcps, pushed for CKLA based on her previous school district’s experience (from 10 years ago).

But ELC was never based on the curriculum MCPS adopted. It was a stand-alone class based on the CES curriciulum. That is a HUGE loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELC is going away because mcps is now using CKLA through 8th grade.
Sounds like Margaret Cage, who is new to mcps, pushed for CKLA based on her previous school district’s experience (from 10 years ago).

But ELC was never based on the curriculum MCPS adopted. It was a stand-alone class based on the CES curriciulum. That is a HUGE loss.

It’s really not the huge loss you’re making it out to be. ELA wasn’t the actual CES curriculum; it was just an enriched version of the standard curriculum that substituted some of the same books CES students were reading for the books that were part of the standard curriculum, plus some more challenging writing assignments. The value of ELA was advanced learners were cohorted together. If principals choose Model 1 from the OP (Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes), that will still be the case. It will be fine. Just advocate for that model.


Model 1 – Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They just need to go back to admitting the strongest candidates instead of using a lottery. Covid isn’t preventing them from administering the Cogat.

The lottery exist because there is not enough seats in CES even for the strongest students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELC is going away because mcps is now using CKLA through 8th grade.
Sounds like Margaret Cage, who is new to mcps, pushed for CKLA based on her previous school district’s experience (from 10 years ago).

But ELC was never based on the curriculum MCPS adopted. It was a stand-alone class based on the CES curriciulum. That is a HUGE loss.

It’s really not the huge loss you’re making it out to be. ELA wasn’t the actual CES curriculum; it was just an enriched version of the standard curriculum that substituted some of the same books CES students were reading for the books that were part of the standard curriculum, plus some more challenging writing assignments. The value of ELA was advanced learners were cohorted together. If principals choose Model 1 from the OP (Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes), that will still be the case. It will be fine. Just advocate for that model.


Model 1 – Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes

No - ELC was its own curriculum. It did not use Benchmark at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELC is going away because mcps is now using CKLA through 8th grade.
Sounds like Margaret Cage, who is new to mcps, pushed for CKLA based on her previous school district’s experience (from 10 years ago).

But ELC was never based on the curriculum MCPS adopted. It was a stand-alone class based on the CES curriciulum. That is a HUGE loss.

It’s really not the huge loss you’re making it out to be. ELA wasn’t the actual CES curriculum; it was just an enriched version of the standard curriculum that substituted some of the same books CES students were reading for the books that were part of the standard curriculum, plus some more challenging writing assignments. The value of ELA was advanced learners were cohorted together. If principals choose Model 1 from the OP (Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes), that will still be the case. It will be fine. Just advocate for that model.


Model 1 – Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes

And yet some schools parents are advocating for Model 1 only to be told that Model 2 is being chosen.

Further as a parent that had a student in ELC with a great teacher I can attest to how much it helps. Cohorting, other books, more writing, and bring in cross curricular topics from Science and History for discussion and writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just need to go back to admitting the strongest candidates instead of using a lottery. Covid isn’t preventing them from administering the Cogat.

The lottery exist because there is not enough seats in CES even for the strongest students.

That’s not why the lottery exists. They never used a lottery until everything shut down during Covid and they had no way to administer standardized tests, so they implemented the lottery because they had no useful data to distinguish one advanced learner from another. They can test students again, so they should ditch the lottery.

They probably should expand the CES seats. They definitely should expand the middle school magnets’ seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELC is going away because mcps is now using CKLA through 8th grade.
Sounds like Margaret Cage, who is new to mcps, pushed for CKLA based on her previous school district’s experience (from 10 years ago).

But ELC was never based on the curriculum MCPS adopted. It was a stand-alone class based on the CES curriciulum. That is a HUGE loss.

It’s really not the huge loss you’re making it out to be. ELA wasn’t the actual CES curriculum; it was just an enriched version of the standard curriculum that substituted some of the same books CES students were reading for the books that were part of the standard curriculum, plus some more challenging writing assignments. The value of ELA was advanced learners were cohorted together. If principals choose Model 1 from the OP (Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes), that will still be the case. It will be fine. Just advocate for that model.


Model 1 – Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes

And yet some schools parents are advocating for Model 1 only to be told that Model 2 is being chosen.

Further as a parent that had a student in ELC with a great teacher I can attest to how much it helps. Cohorting, other books, more writing, and bring in cross curricular topics from Science and History for discussion and writing.

Mixed ability classes are good for everyone but the truly advanced students. It doesn’t help them at all, and worse than that, the boredom and the feeling like they’re an afterthought often makes them dislike school. It’s a shame, but all you can do is put your kids in private school or homeschool or simply accept mixed ability classes, because public school is all about the greater good and not each individual student’s best interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is any school going with Model 1? Knowing MCPS I predict all schools will choose Model 2.

My kid gets the model 2. Her enrichment group meets like three times a week.

I suspect most principals would rather eat glass than put all of the highest literacy students in one class or two especially if they have a CES program as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELC is going away because mcps is now using CKLA through 8th grade.
Sounds like Margaret Cage, who is new to mcps, pushed for CKLA based on her previous school district’s experience (from 10 years ago).

But ELC was never based on the curriculum MCPS adopted. It was a stand-alone class based on the CES curriciulum. That is a HUGE loss.

It’s really not the huge loss you’re making it out to be. ELA wasn’t the actual CES curriculum; it was just an enriched version of the standard curriculum that substituted some of the same books CES students were reading for the books that were part of the standard curriculum, plus some more challenging writing assignments. The value of ELA was advanced learners were cohorted together. If principals choose Model 1 from the OP (Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes), that will still be the case. It will be fine. Just advocate for that model.


Model 1 – Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes

And yet some schools parents are advocating for Model 1 only to be told that Model 2 is being chosen.

Further as a parent that had a student in ELC with a great teacher I can attest to how much it helps. Cohorting, other books, more writing, and bring in cross curricular topics from Science and History for discussion and writing.

Mixed ability classes are good for everyone but the truly advanced students. It doesn’t help them at all, and worse than that, the boredom and the feeling like they’re an afterthought often makes them dislike school. It’s a shame, but all you can do is put your kids in private school or homeschool or simply accept mixed ability classes, because public school is all about the greater good and not each individual student’s best interest.

One thing that can help is when you actually put all the advanced kids together in a group

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is any school going with Model 1? Knowing MCPS I predict all schools will choose Model 2.

My kid gets the model 2. Her enrichment group meets like three times a week.

I suspect most principals would rather eat glass than put all of the highest literacy students in one class or two especially if they have a CES program as well.

Why? Why do they want these kids sitting in class bored and stressing teachers who have to figure out time to address them.

[Anonymous]

MCCPTA Gifted Education Committee is hosting an important virtual meeting on Thursday, May 29th at 7:00 p.m. focused on elementary English Language Arts enrichment.

You'll learn:
-Why MCPS retired the Enriched Literacy Curriculum
-What options are available for enrichment and acceleration moving forward
-How you can advocate for gifted learners at your school

Speak with your PTA to get the link.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELC is going away because mcps is now using CKLA through 8th grade.
Sounds like Margaret Cage, who is new to mcps, pushed for CKLA based on her previous school district’s experience (from 10 years ago).

But ELC was never based on the curriculum MCPS adopted. It was a stand-alone class based on the CES curriciulum. That is a HUGE loss.

It’s really not the huge loss you’re making it out to be. ELA wasn’t the actual CES curriculum; it was just an enriched version of the standard curriculum that substituted some of the same books CES students were reading for the books that were part of the standard curriculum, plus some more challenging writing assignments. The value of ELA was advanced learners were cohorted together. If principals choose Model 1 from the OP (Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes), that will still be the case. It will be fine. Just advocate for that model.


Model 1 – Enriched CKLA curriculum taught in cohorted advanced classes

And yet some schools parents are advocating for Model 1 only to be told that Model 2 is being chosen.

Further as a parent that had a student in ELC with a great teacher I can attest to how much it helps. Cohorting, other books, more writing, and bring in cross curricular topics from Science and History for discussion and writing.

Mixed ability classes are good for everyone but the truly advanced students. It doesn’t help them at all, and worse than that, the boredom and the feeling like they’re an afterthought often makes them dislike school. It’s a shame, but all you can do is put your kids in private school or homeschool or simply accept mixed ability classes, because public school is all about the greater good and not each individual student’s best interest.

Mixed grouping is also not good for those far below. The curriculum is too fast and hard. It works for those that are in the middle or slightly above or below. But it doesn’t work for the top group or bottom group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just need to go back to admitting the strongest candidates instead of using a lottery. Covid isn’t preventing them from administering the Cogat.

The lottery exist because there is not enough seats in CES even for the strongest students.

That’s not why the lottery exists. They never used a lottery until everything shut down during Covid and they had no way to administer standardized tests, so they implemented the lottery because they had no useful data to distinguish one advanced learner from another. They can test students again, so they should ditch the lottery.

They probably should expand the CES seats. They definitely should expand the middle school magnets’ seats.

Or—here’s a crazy idea—why not just offer the curriculum to a class of kids at all schools? Isn’t that what people want? To keep their elementary-aged kids at their neighborhood schools with their friends, not split them up and bus them all over the place? Or is the CES curriculum so expensive and rarefied that it can only be taught by a few special select teachers at a few special select schools? There are smart kids who qualify for CES at all schools and they should all be given enrichment without having to win a lottery and without having to leave their school. The current model makes no sense and is the opposite of equity.

[Anonymous]

I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery

I think you are vastly underestimating the number of parents whose children did get into the CES but declined because of the cohorted ELC class at the home school... Only to have the bait and switch one year into the ELC program (had it in 4th but disbanded in 5th) or not at all (current 3rd grade parents).