A lot. It was content rich. the PTA leaders reviewed outcomes for MCPS students (grades vs standardized test scores didn’t match — many kids who get good grades are not meeting grade-level standards in standardized tests). Discussed importance of a standards-aligned curriculum and implementation with fidelity. It does not seem like MCPS has either for secondary schools, based on chat comments. ES will have a new curriculum next year. MCPS gave an overview of the updated English 9 curriculum, which is clearly not on grade level. Includes several middle-grade graphic novels, and there is maybe one book in each marking period on grade level (and no guarantee students will read those). This is for “honors” English. Really disappointing, but at least parents know about it. They said they will be putting it online at some point, and I would encourage people to watch. |
I'm confused. You said it was a good meeting even though MCPS officials confirmed our English 9 curriculum is not on grade level and offered no solutions or plans to remedy what they admit to be a problem? |
That isn't going to work. And "stop the DEI bullshit" is such a weird, reactionary response. Let me guess, you're a white person who's tired of all this race talk already, think we live in a post-racial society and pride yourself on not seeing color? |
It wasn’t an MCPS meeting. It was a PTA meeting. It did a good job of highlighting what the problems are and how to fix them. |
This to me is the problem. That is NOT a good meeting. The issues highlighted have been highlighted for a long time. Evelyn Chung has been sounding the alarm about how our curriculum is NOT on grade level for years. If MCPS officials are going to show up, they should be showing up with plans and remedies for the problem. Not just acknowledging a problem that has been repeatedly brought up time and time again. This is a failure on the part of the PTA and why people become disillusioned with them. They don't hold MCPS's feet to the fire. |
+1 expecting kids to google stuff isn't the answer. There is lots of bad info on there, and some people just aren't good at googling stuff. My kid is smart, but not the best at googling stuff because they have a short attention span. If they can't find the answer in the first few sentence, they give up. This is what the internet age has done to our kids. And I worked for that big tech. I have a love/hate relationship with the internet. It's great for a lot of things, but expecting kids to teach themselves the curriculum using the internet is not the right approach. |
? why isn't adding textbooks going to work? And the comment about stopping the DEI BS is about using the funds to buy textbooks rather than DEI initiatives that clearly aren't working if the academic achievement of a certain group of kids is further falling behind even with all the DEI stuff that MCPS spends money on. -dp and not a white person |
NOBODY in MCPS central office cares about local PTAs or MCPTA. Principals MAY care about their individual PTA for fundraising efforts, but that is it. MCPTA is a complete joke and should be disbanded. It is just another level of MCPS-adjacent bureaucracy that isn't providing any value-added to students. |
The Internet is also just worse now. It's literally more difficult to google things than it was in 2014, or 2004. |
This 1000%. And I say that as a PTA person. When MCPS CO comes back with solutions or rather non-solutions, MCCPtA should easily point them back to what the problems were they said they fix, indicate how this does not solve the problem, and then make their membership aware of the disconnect and have them rally to put pressure on MCPS to resolve which includes highlighting for the BOE where CO is failing. Further, MCCPTA needs to focus on which issues they want addressed. If there are 10 issues within the secondary ELA classes, pick 4 and give them full attention for advocacy and resolution. That doesn’t mean ignoring the other 6, it means deciding a plan how to move forward. |
wow, who would've thought that dumbing down the curriculum would cause students to not be achieving at grade level. So shocking. /s I swear.. MCPS administrators are dumb. They also probably can't achieve at grade level. |
Total disservice to our kids. And it hurts them when applying to colleges because they know MCPS has grade inflation. |
Great idea. Someone should do it while you and I drink wine. |
Maybe they can come up with a plan around lowering the standardized test score benchmarks. It could work. |
DCUM in a nutshell |