Any rumors on new curriculum vendor finalists?

[Anonymous]

I’m interested to see which companies put in a bid for the RFP. I hope they are reputable companies that have been proven elsewhere. Does anyone know if MCPS will allow community stakeholders to see all the RFP’s and vote? How does the curriculum selection process happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m interested to see which companies put in a bid for the RFP. I hope they are reputable companies that have been proven elsewhere. Does anyone know if MCPS will allow community stakeholders to see all the RFP’s and vote? How does the curriculum selection process happen?

There will be opportunity for the public to assess the curriculum via online. It's in the letter. I am 100 percent sure they won't make the RFP responses available to the public. The sample of the curriculum- yes, and they've specified that.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the English 6 curriculum being piloted at several middle schools will include sections of Advanced/GT/Honors/whatever-you-call-it English which many schools have now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did elementary schools have to choose between ELA and Math? I didn't see a school that was listed in both categories.

To pp, MCPS has been using our kids as
guinea pigs by using the curriculum they developed. Adopting a curriculum that has been used in other districts (hopefully after being evaluated by subject matter specialists) where we can look at how it has performed in those districts is different. The guinea pig issue is not that a proven curriculum is new to our district, it's that our district has been in the habit of using curriculums which are new in terms of their existence.

Given that the current curriculum has proven to be a failure, I would choose "experimenting" with a curriculum that has shown signs of success elsewhere.

Yes, I think they had to choose. I don't think they could offer both.

Baynard Rustin gets both.

[Anonymous]

They have 9 months to make a decision. Don’t expect anything else.

[Anonymous]

Well now that O'Neil and Docca have another year it will probably be Discovery. Of course Discovery will have to give some kick backs to the long term BOE members and special MCPS staff helpers but anything goes now! Woo hoo!

[Anonymous]

MCPS is engaging in this process to acquire the most innovative curriculum that will help the district develop instructional strategies that support every learner in every classroom; create high levels of student interaction with rigorous and complex text; and establish deep levels of mathematical understanding aligned to grade-level standards. Additionally, the RFP now includes the following key revisions based on the feedback received from a wide range of stakeholders including parents, community partners, students, teachers, administrators and staff:

Clearer expectations for professional development before, during and after rollout.
More explicit language to address the needs for special populations (advanced learners, students receiving special education services, and English Language Learners).
Inclusion of tools to engage parents in new and innovative ways.
A materials summary that clearly outlines scope and sequence that dives deep into concepts and builds on prior knowledge.

Submit questions about the project, concerns or process to https://mcpsweb.wufoo.com/forms/instructional-materials-process-input-form/

[Anonymous]

Hope they decide before another private school tuition bill comes due.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's going to end in a dead heat between HBO and Discovery.

I hope that’s a joke. Discovery is just an employment farm for Ex-MCPS staff and if HBO does curriculum, I’ve never heard of it. Fingers crossed for Singapore Math and Houghton Mifflin.

Ditto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So does that mean kids who will take Alg I next year in MS will not receive the new curriculum?

It means that if you do not see your child’s school listed that they will not have the new curriculum until it’s been tried and tweaked on the schools listed above. I wouldn’t really fret about it unless it’s found that the new curriculum is fabulous.

I've seen the current curriculum materials coming home in my kid's backpack. They mostly stink. Anything would be an improvement. I'm bummed my kid's school isn't on the list of piloting schools.

Please take a few minutes to email the Board of Ed and the curricular head detailing the issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is engaging in this process to acquire the most innovative curriculum that will help the district develop instructional strategies that support every learner in every classroom; create high levels of student interaction with rigorous and complex text; and establish deep levels of mathematical understanding aligned to grade-level standards. Additionally, the RFP now includes the following key revisions based on the feedback received from a wide range of stakeholders including parents, community partners, students, teachers, administrators and staff:

Clearer expectations for professional development before, during and after rollout.
More explicit language to address the needs for special populations (advanced learners, students receiving special education services, and English Language Learners).
Inclusion of tools to engage parents in new and innovative ways.
A materials summary that clearly outlines scope and sequence that dives deep into concepts and builds on prior knowledge.

Submit questions about the project, concerns or process to https://mcpsweb.wufoo.com/forms/instructional-materials-process-input-form/

Thank you. Folks, here is the problem: MCPS wants an “innovative” curriculum. Hence Discovery & HBO. This should be rewritten to say “proven curriculum”

[Anonymous]

I just filled out the link and submitted my feedback. I suggest you do the same as a concerned parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is engaging in this process to acquire the most innovative curriculum that will help the district develop instructional strategies that support every learner in every classroom; create high levels of student interaction with rigorous and complex text; and establish deep levels of mathematical understanding aligned to grade-level standards. Additionally, the RFP now includes the following key revisions based on the feedback received from a wide range of stakeholders including parents, community partners, students, teachers, administrators and staff:

Clearer expectations for professional development before, during and after rollout.
More explicit language to address the needs for special populations (advanced learners, students receiving special education services, and English Language Learners).
Inclusion of tools to engage parents in new and innovative ways.
A materials summary that clearly outlines scope and sequence that dives deep into concepts and builds on prior knowledge.

Submit questions about the project, concerns or process to https://mcpsweb.wufoo.com/forms/instructional-materials-process-input-form/

Thanks for the mumbo jumbo post MCPS! Did your lawyers sign off in all those linked together cliches?

[Anonymous]

I've heard that Discovery has a very strong bid. Very innovative - they are even willing to co-brand with MCPS to sell the new curriculum to other districts around the country. Projections are in the 7 or 8 figures for how much needed revenue this will generate. MCPS will also have a new reality show on one of the Discovery Networks either a crime in schools piece or something with parents who choose to go to MCPS schools real life experiences. They haven't settled on a name yet but I hope Curriculum 3.0 is in the running or maybe take a page from Apple and skip a few numbers and make it Curriculum V. Cohort 1 schools are all in the running to have the large shark head and tail that used to hang from the Discovery building put up at their school during shark week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that Discovery has a very strong bid. Very innovative - they are even willing to co-brand with MCPS to sell the new curriculum to other districts around the country. Projections are in the 7 or 8 figures for how much needed revenue this will generate. MCPS will also have a new reality show on one of the Discovery Networks either a crime in schools piece or something with parents who choose to go to MCPS schools real life experiences. They haven't settled on a name yet but I hope Curriculum 3.0 is in the running or maybe take a page from Apple and skip a few numbers and make it Curriculum V. Cohort 1 schools are all in the running to have the large shark head and tail that used to hang from the Discovery building put up at their school during shark week!

Any other staff starting to feel like they don't want to be associated with MCPS anymore? Serious question. So much bad crap goes unchecked. For me, not terminating the Damascus football program (even ONE varsity game) speaks volumes about MCPS priorities. I can't tell you the number of times I've hit brick walls trying to get myself proper professional development, or permission to do something better or more creative for kids, and been told to forget it, that my request was unreasonable. Or been ignored. But there's no end to what administrators and central officials will tolerate when it comes to bad behavior. Everything is about CYA and money and people looking to get promoted and winning sports teams. I am hoping that now that the media is getting to work, the system will be forced to make major changes.