Got a letter today saying my middle schooler was recommended for summer school

[Anonymous]

I have a 6th grader who will be at Westland next year (we're in the RHPS/Westland/BCC zone, so 6th grade at CCES or NCC) and today we got a letter saying he'd been recommended for a month-long "support math" course during the summer. We thought he was holding his own in math - mostly solid Bs with the occasional A, which is amazing considering this is the first year since 2nd grade that he didn't have a tutor.

I'll reach out to his current teacher tomorrow but wondered how many kids get this kind of letter? Does this mean my kid is really having more difficulty than I realized? Or is it a mass distribution thing that is sent to many? The problem that I have is that we've already enrolled our son for camp during the month of July when this "extended year support" course would run. It would be a big deal to yank him out of camp (and cost us a lot too.) But now I'm worried we are going to miss a chance to keep him on (get him on?) the right track for HS math...

And whatever the answer is, I gotta say it's pretty clueless to send these kinds of letters out in late May, given that most people book camps in Jan/Feb/March.

[Anonymous]

They probably don't know in Jan/feb who will be recommended for summer school.

[Anonymous]

I have three kids in MCPS, the oldest in 11th grade. None of my kids has ever received such a letter. Only one of mine is a math whiz.

[Anonymous]

If he is getting B's I don't see how they can say he needs summer support. Must be a mistake.

[Anonymous]

Wait. how can your kid be getting As and Bs at an elementary school? How did you escape the punishment of 2.0 report cards?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait. how can your kid be getting As and Bs at an elementary school? How did you escape the punishment of 2.0 report cards?!

6th grade is middle school.

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP

When my DC was in middle school ( now in High school) she received those letters every summer and every summer we ignored them. Why? Because the summer school day started really early ( between 7-8am-12 or so) every day for a month. I admit my child is weak in math but I figured that forcing my DC to do something he hated would make the situation worst. I decided we would use tutors or work on our own over the summer but I would not force him to go.

If I were you I would continue with my plans for the summer. Perhaps you can find out from the teacher the areas he is weakest on and then work on those. But, I wouldn't send him and cancel his summer plans. Kids need breaks too.

[Anonymous]

We get letters reminding us there is summer school, but I've never had one specific to my child.

[Anonymous]

We receive a general letter describing MCPS summer school every year, but nothing with a specific invitation.

And DS has had pretty weak grades in math in the past!

[Anonymous]

My daughter is at Westland and we received the letter. She's definitely struggled at times this year but is getting As and Bs in math. It's not her strong subject and we accept that. Yes, I am worried about where she will end up in math in HS but there is no way in hell she would do summer school and I have already spent a couple of thousand on camp. Which brings up a point, it's pretty damn annoying they send those notices out so late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he is getting B's I don't see how they can say he needs summer support. Must be a mistake.

With the way they grade, B is like a C...totally average.

[Anonymous]

If a kid is truly struggling, then shouldn't a teacher recognize that before the end of May and reach out to the parent?

Time for parents to complain to the principal and superintendent. This is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a kid is truly struggling, then shouldn't a teacher recognize that before the end of May and reach out to the parent?

Time for parents to complain to the principal and superintendent. This is ridiculous.

+1. You should have known about a struggling student in January and been offered extra support in school.

I would ask to see the data upon which the decision was made. What were the criteria? Unit test scores? Quiz scores? MAP-M data? PARCC score? What are the specific skill deficits?

What is the summer course? Is it a repeat of tbe class? Small group instruction personalized to individual skill deficits? Pre-teaching next year's materials?

You need a lot more info to decide.

Sorry, but I think the teaching and instructional materials in 2.0 are weak, so I would really question the value of more of the same.

[Anonymous]

No one is saying they are struggling. Struggling means they are not up to their current grade level. If this was happening, you would have heard, and heard lots because if a child hits the struggling level, MCPS has to start doing paperwork to track the issue. You got the letter because MCPS wants you to do something this summer so they are a little more sure that your DC won't hit the struggling level next year. With math there are at least 3 years before algebra that teach nearly the same thing. As 6th grade ends, you have another year to tutor and make sure your DC makes algebra in the 8th grade. As long as your child is in algebra in the 8th grade, they won't be limited in HS and college. That does not mean that algebra in the 8th grade and barely making honors English is going to get them into UMd or UVa.

[Anonymous]

I just got the letter. It's based on PARCC scores. My son is in above grade level math, and has a B. I guess he didn't score as high on the test.

He seems upset, but we won't be attending summer school due to schedule conflicts. I told him we'd work on the summer packet and supplement if he struggled.