Has anyone had a good experience with MCPS?

[Anonymous]

We have a child in kindergarten at Rosemary Hills who is happy and learning a lot, so thus far we are satisfied. Of course, there are many years to go, so who knows how we will feel down the line.

We can’t afford private, but despite our good experience thus far, I can see how some people would prefer private to MCPS. I think we lucked out and got a very good teacher. I know others who have not had such a good experience. Also, the school is HUGE, and though we only have 23 per K class at our school this year, typically it is 26. And the curriculum is extremely structured for early childhood—ideally I’d want it to be more experiential and play based.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between have you had any good experiences with local staff at your MCPS school and have you had a good experience with MCPS. The better teachers once you get to know them will all start spilling the beans about how MCPS jerks them around horribly. Even the principals can't stand the ridiculous nonsense that comes down from the central office. MCPS is a horrible mismanaged system so few parents or educators have nice things to say about them.

This doesn't mean that there are not good people trapped in a bad system down at the local schools. There are some very creative teachers who are doing their best to go above and around MCPS dictates. There are teachers that add to the curriculum to make things more interesting. There are teachers who show kids the obligatory nonsense way of doing MCPS math and then let the kids do math the correct way. These are usually the rare math oriented teachers rather than the math phobic central staff types. They would be wonderful teachers anywhere but their ability to exist within this system is impressive.

OP: Have you had a good experience with MCPS?
Various posters: Yes, I have.
Various other posters: No, you have not.

What next?

OP: Did you enjoy going to Disneyworld?
Various posters: Yes, I did.
Various other posters: No, you didn't.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been happy with MCPS. Good teachers and good principals. They accept parental input for things like the calendar. It could be better, but it’s a good school district.

+2

I have to thriving kids at MCPS and I am very happy with the school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a child in kindergarten at Rosemary Hills who is happy and learning a lot, so thus far we are satisfied. Of course, there are many years to go, so who knows how we will feel down the line.

We can’t afford private, but despite our good experience thus far, I can see how some people would prefer private to MCPS. I think we lucked out and got a very good teacher. I know others who have not had such a good experience. Also, the school is HUGE, and though we only have 23 per K class at our school this year, typically it is 26. And the curriculum is extremely structured for early childhood—ideally I’d want it to be more experiential and play based.

Agreed. The class sizes are one of my big concerns. We have a preschooler right now who is in a program that includes K, so we will be keeping her there and enrolling her in a strong, non-W cluster ES starting in 1st grade.

We are lucky enough to be able to afford private (though it would be a stretch), though for a lot of reasons we would really prefer to go public. We'll have to see, though. I am disturbed by the posters who say their kids aren't learning spelling or grammar, for example. We'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:mcps ruined my childhood

I thought all the problems were recent?

Maybe PP is in high school.

PP is, most likely, in middle school. Sweetie, why don't you ask your parents to sue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a child in kindergarten at Rosemary Hills who is happy and learning a lot, so thus far we are satisfied. Of course, there are many years to go, so who knows how we will feel down the line.

We can’t afford private, but despite our good experience thus far, I can see how some people would prefer private to MCPS. I think we lucked out and got a very good teacher. I know others who have not had such a good experience. Also, the school is HUGE, and though we only have 23 per K class at our school this year, typically it is 26. And the curriculum is extremely structured for early childhood—ideally I’d want it to be more experiential and play based.

Agreed. The class sizes are one of my big concerns. We have a preschooler right now who is in a program that includes K, so we will be keeping her there and enrolling her in a strong, non-W cluster ES starting in 1st grade.

We are lucky enough to be able to afford private (though it would be a stretch), though for a lot of reasons we would really prefer to go public. We'll have to see, though. I am disturbed by the posters who say their kids aren't learning spelling or grammar, for example. We'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it.

FWIW my son is learning a TON of spelling and grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
There is a big difference between have you had any good experiences with local staff at your MCPS school and have you had a good experience with MCPS. The better teachers once you get to know them will all start spilling the beans about how MCPS jerks them around horribly. Even the principals can't stand the ridiculous nonsense that comes down from the central office. MCPS is a horrible mismanaged system so few parents or educators have nice things to say about them.

This doesn't mean that there are not good people trapped in a bad system down at the local schools. There are some very creative teachers who are doing their best to go above and around MCPS dictates. There are teachers that add to the curriculum to make things more interesting. There are teachers who show kids the obligatory nonsense way of doing MCPS math and then let the kids do math the correct way. These are usually the rare math oriented teachers rather than the math phobic central staff types. They would be wonderful teachers anywhere but their ability to exist within this system is impressive.

This is SPOT ON in my experience.

My kids have had some FANTASTIC teachers who do above and beyond, despite the crappy system they are forced to work in.

I would say I have had a good experience with the teachers/staff, but I firmly believe that MCPS is a terribly managed, too large school district. 100%. And, pretty much every teacher that I know will say the same thing.

This has been my experience as well. I agree that good math instruction comes from teachers rather than the curriculum. I would add that I think the same holds true for language arts. If your child has had handwriting, grammar, systematic spelling, etc., you can thank the teacher.

Adding on - this reflects the conversations I've had with other parents and teachers. Talking to parents who had kids go through the system before the 2.0 roll out say it had some problems but not the level of sheer disfunction that exists now. I really think the major mistake was destroying the curriculum and no one in MCPS taking responsibility for the disaster. Its as if it created this bubble in MCPS that nothing they did could ever get them fired so they could do anything and stop engaging parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a child in kindergarten at Rosemary Hills who is happy and learning a lot, so thus far we are satisfied. Of course, there are many years to go, so who knows how we will feel down the line.

We can’t afford private, but despite our good experience thus far, I can see how some people would prefer private to MCPS. I think we lucked out and got a very good teacher. I know others who have not had such a good experience. Also, the school is HUGE, and though we only have 23 per K class at our school this year, typically it is 26. And the curriculum is extremely structured for early childhood—ideally I’d want it to be more experiential and play based.

Agreed. The class sizes are one of my big concerns. We have a preschooler right now who is in a program that includes K, so we will be keeping her there and enrolling her in a strong, non-W cluster ES starting in 1st grade.

We are lucky enough to be able to afford private (though it would be a stretch), though for a lot of reasons we would really prefer to go public. We'll have to see, though. I am disturbed by the posters who say their kids aren't learning spelling or grammar, for example. We'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it.

FWIW my son is learning a TON of spelling and grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a child in kindergarten at Rosemary Hills who is happy and learning a lot, so thus far we are satisfied. Of course, there are many years to go, so who knows how we will feel down the line.

We can’t afford private, but despite our good experience thus far, I can see how some people would prefer private to MCPS. I think we lucked out and got a very good teacher. I know others who have not had such a good experience. Also, the school is HUGE, and though we only have 23 per K class at our school this year, typically it is 26. And the curriculum is extremely structured for early childhood—ideally I’d want it to be more experiential and play based.

Agreed. The class sizes are one of my big concerns. We have a preschooler right now who is in a program that includes K, so we will be keeping her there and enrolling her in a strong, non-W cluster ES starting in 1st grade.

We are lucky enough to be able to afford private (though it would be a stretch), though for a lot of reasons we would really prefer to go public. We'll have to see, though. I am disturbed by the posters who say their kids aren't learning spelling or grammar, for example. We'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it.

FWIW my son is learning a TON of spelling and grammar.

that's good to hear. Reading posts by people who say their kids aren't getting that freaked me out. I'm willing to supplement at home for certain things, but spelling and grammar seem pretty fundamental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Adding on - this reflects the conversations I've had with other parents and teachers. Talking to parents who had kids go through the system before the 2.0 roll out say it had some problems but not the level of sheer disfunction that exists now. I really think the major mistake was destroying the curriculum and no one in MCPS taking responsibility for the disaster. Its as if it created this bubble in MCPS that nothing they did could ever get them fired so they could do anything and stop engaging parents.

There was every bit as much complaining about MCPS on DCUM before Curriculum 2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There is a big difference between have you had any good experiences with local staff at your MCPS school and have you had a good experience with MCPS. The better teachers once you get to know them will all start spilling the beans about how MCPS jerks them around horribly. Even the principals can't stand the ridiculous nonsense that comes down from the central office. MCPS is a horrible mismanaged system so few parents or educators have nice things to say about them.

This doesn't mean that there are not good people trapped in a bad system down at the local schools. There are some very creative teachers who are doing their best to go above and around MCPS dictates. There are teachers that add to the curriculum to make things more interesting. There are teachers who show kids the obligatory nonsense way of doing MCPS math and then let the kids do math the correct way. These are usually the rare math oriented teachers rather than the math phobic central staff types. They would be wonderful teachers anywhere but their ability to exist within this system is impressive.

This is SPOT ON in my experience.

My kids have had some FANTASTIC teachers who do above and beyond, despite the crappy system they are forced to work in.

I would say I have had a good experience with the teachers/staff, but I firmly believe that MCPS is a terribly managed, too large school district. 100%. And, pretty much every teacher that I know will say the same thing.

This has been my experience as well. I agree that good math instruction comes from teachers rather than the curriculum. I would add that I think the same holds true for language arts. If your child has had handwriting, grammar, systematic spelling, etc., you can thank the teacher.

Adding on - this reflects the conversations I've had with other parents and teachers. Talking to parents who had kids go through the system before the 2.0 roll out say it had some problems but not the level of sheer disfunction that exists now. I really think the major mistake was destroying the curriculum and no one in MCPS taking responsibility for the disaster. Its as if it created this bubble in MCPS that nothing they did could ever get them fired so they could do anything and stop engaging parents.

This is key. I have heard this from way too many co-workers with older children. They are so glad their kid is in 12th grade now and not in 6th or 1st.

[Anonymous]

One child was pre-2.0 and the other with 2.0. There were some oddities to the implementation, but the 2.0 kid seems to be doing fine thru magnet ms math/sci program. Will start hs magnet in fall. He and many of his peers do very well in map-m.

2.0 was state mandated I seem to recall.

[Anonymous]

Common Core was state, C 2.0 as county.
Sounds like your kid is magnet/Blair so not affected, curriculum is totally different.

[Anonymous]

2.0 was state mandated I seem to recall.

Nope.

Howard county is in MD and didn't have 2.0. Many states have adopted common core and do not have the 2.0 nonsense. MCPS tried to blame the state for 2.0 but MCPS was unique in creating its own interpretation of common core called 2.0. They engaged Pearson in a bad deal but the majority of the content was created by the curriculum staff in MCPS. The materials belong to MCPS and are copyrighted by them.

Plus the grading system is obviously not a state mandate for common core as MCPS just scrapped it.

[Anonymous]

13:48 thanks for correcting my misunderstanding.