Thank god freshman year of HS is done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tough year for my ninth grader too. What was challenging for us was the many different rules teachers had, many of which seemed totally inconsistent with the McPS reputation of “oh, stuff is rretakable, etc.”. Examples:

Child was sick for an entire week. Came back and trying to make up tests from 7 classes at lunch, while still recovering. One teacher had a sjngle day for test makeup. Kid missed it and was given a zero on the test, no retake.

Lots of teachers with No ippprtunity for late turn in of Hw, even with a 504. If you forget to turn it in at start of class, it’s a zero.

A couple of teachers who didn’t put grades into gradebook until day before interim grades. Realized then that she didn’t have an important assignment my kid thought he had turned in, but no chance to turn in late because it’s already interim deadline.

One teacher who was just …. Mean and arbitrary. A bunch of kids dropped class and a bunch of parents have complained and I think teacher is in a disciplinary process but it made for a really hard year with a lot of mental energy expended trying to avoid minimize conflict with teacher and figure out their expectations.

In general, I think McPS is pretty good but it is really a lot to deal with…

Yes! Yes! All of this! You captured it.
If you have a kid with executive functioning issues, you are screwed. My kid has a 504 and had all of these same experiences.
I have friend with no complaints bc their kids are self sufficient in this way. I get it, I have one of those too. But my other kid is not like that.
Get an EF coach. Seriously best decision we made. But again this relies on parents to put in the time to help with content and pay for external resources.

The funny thing is most people complain that teachers are too lenient with all the retakes etc. No matter what MCPS does you just can't please everyone.

I've had three kids now go through MCPS and it is COMPLETELY ARBITRARY. Some teachers are really lenient with retakes. Others are completely strict and unreasonable. My kids take the advanced classes, and in my experience, the vast majority of tests are NOT eligible for retake. Maybe 1-2 a semester might be. And a lot of teachers have very strict rules about when you can take the retake (only one option, if you can't make it that day or don't have time to restudy prior to that, too bad). If I had to discern any particular rule, is that the teachers teaching the easy classes are just handing out A's, whereas the teachers teaching the harder classes can be incredibly strict.
I don't ever complain about the retake policy -- if kids can learn the materials at any point, that is the most important.

I actually think they should report straight-up percentage points for every class for each semester. That would be more fair than this system where the kids that are most successful at gaming the system to end up with 89.5% in one quarter for each class (and 79.5% in the other quarter) somehow end up with straight A's.

For us MCPS has been great. I've had two kids go through it. Both were 99% on all their standardized tests and in magnets from early on. Overall think it's great because there are so many opportunities for kids who want to learn.

[Anonymous]

It was a great year for my HS freshman. One AP and an honors class, great grades. The things that surprised me though was how little homework he seemed to have. He said he got a lot done in his last class period but I was expecting an overwhelming amount. Maybe next year will be different. And those random test taking half days when the kids had to find there way back to school for the afternoon or were told just to stay home. No school on the day the seniors graduated. I can’t remember if it was like that when I was in high school.

[Anonymous]

OP I have rising seniors, but I felt the same way about their getting through 9th. It was their first year physically back in a school after the pandemic when the left in the middle of 7th grade. So there was a lot hinging on it, not just academic but also social things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a tough one because mcps doesn't support students.
It shouldn't have been tough.
Spend your summer mentally and emotionally ally preparing for 3 worse years.

How did it not support your student this year?

Mcps operates under the theory that children are adults. There is a classroom. As many students can be squeezed into that classroom as space allows. Classes are as large as some college classes. If your student is motivated, intelligent, has adult like executive functioning skills and had the social support and financial resources to take care of any short comings that prevent them from doing well- then they will do well
If not- screw you, you lazy pos!

Wow! This has not been our experience at all. DS has disabilities and while I overall think MCPS sucks for special education, this is just so inaccurate. DS was never in a class as big as a college class. 30 kids? Sure. 32? Yep. But have you seen the size of college classes? He had kind and caring teachers in the majority of classes over freshman and sophomore year. Were there some duds? You bet. I can think of a math teacher who didn’t believe he had a disability and wanted him to transfer out. He got a D. The next semester his counselor made sure he had a supportive teacher and he turned that math grade around. Most teachers were very kind and patient. He was a mess at the start of freshman year. Missing work. Poor grades. Just lost! His teachers offered extra help. Made sure he had his accommodations. Gave him encouragement. He went from a C student freshman year to an A student sophomore year and he will tell you it’s because of his teachers and counselor. They spent the time to support him and cheer him on. MCPS has its shortcomings, especially at the top, but you are fooling yourself if you think that you won’t find that same ineptitude everywhere.

Can i ask where your kid ended up getting into college?

He hasn’t yet. He is a rising junior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a tough one because mcps doesn't support students.
It shouldn't have been tough.
Spend your summer mentally and emotionally ally preparing for 3 worse years.

How did it not support your student this year?

Mcps operates under the theory that children are adults. There is a classroom. As many students can be squeezed into that classroom as space allows. Classes are as large as some college classes. If your student is motivated, intelligent, has adult like executive functioning skills and had the social support and financial resources to take care of any short comings that prevent them from doing well- then they will do well
If not- screw you, you lazy pos!

Wow! This has not been our experience at all. DS has disabilities and while I overall think MCPS sucks for special education, this is just so inaccurate. DS was never in a class as big as a college class. 30 kids? Sure. 32? Yep. But have you seen the size of college classes? He had kind and caring teachers in the majority of classes over freshman and sophomore year. Were there some duds? You bet. I can think of a math teacher who didn’t believe he had a disability and wanted him to transfer out. He got a D. The next semester his counselor made sure he had a supportive teacher and he turned that math grade around. Most teachers were very kind and patient. He was a mess at the start of freshman year. Missing work. Poor grades. Just lost! His teachers offered extra help. Made sure he had his accommodations. Gave him encouragement. He went from a C student freshman year to an A student sophomore year and he will tell you it’s because of his teachers and counselor. They spent the time to support him and cheer him on. MCPS has its shortcomings, especially at the top, but you are fooling yourself if you think that you won’t find that same ineptitude everywhere.

I think this experience is uncommon. Glad someone is getting support though. At QO there is little to nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Every transition year is difficult, no matter where your child is, private or public.

K, 6th, 9th, college freshman year, are all difficult adjustments. Or other transition grades in other school systems.

- parent of young adults and teens.

I tend to agree. My rising senior had a very rough freshman year. My current rising sophomore had what I would consider a very good freshman year, but it required a lot of adjustment. They went to different middle and high schools, but I don’t think there’s anything the schools or MCPS could have done that would have made a difference. (And one of them does have a 504.)

[Anonymous]

This year's 9th graders were a weird class because they did their last big transition, from 5th to middle school, during covid. I think that created a lot of issues because many never really got organized in MS and skated through with low covid era expectations and social isolation.

Then they go to high school, the 50% rule disappears, they have EOY MISA testing, and other demands are way higher and it's sink or swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This year's 9th graders were a weird class because they did their last big transition, from 5th to middle school, during covid. I think that created a lot of issues because many never really got organized in MS and skated through with low covid era expectations and social isolation.

Then they go to high school, the 50% rule disappears, they have EOY MISA testing, and other demands are way higher and it's sink or swim.

I think you can say the same for current 10th graders too (except for the MISA testing). Pretty much missed all of middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year's 9th graders were a weird class because they did their last big transition, from 5th to middle school, during covid. I think that created a lot of issues because many never really got organized in MS and skated through with low covid era expectations and social isolation.

Then they go to high school, the 50% rule disappears, they have EOY MISA testing, and other demands are way higher and it's sink or swim.

I think you can say the same for current 10th graders too (except for the MISA testing). Pretty much missed all of middle school.

You're right but there's something particularly hard about missing 6th or 9th. I have a 10th grader too so a kid who did virtual 7th but at least she had one year to make friends and was familiar with how MS works. Younger sibling did 9th online and it was really different seeing all strangers on the screen and feeling no connection to the school. She had never been to the MS school once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a tough one because mcps doesn't support students.
It shouldn't have been tough.
Spend your summer mentally and emotionally ally preparing for 3 worse years.

MCPS supports students. MCPS doesn't coddle students. Teach your kid self-advocacy skills.

Not all children are capable of learning to advocate for themselves but thank you for reinforcing the earlier post about mcps being a great place for students who don't need any help.

I respectfully disagree as the parent of a SN child. Unless they are acutely disabled every child can learn to advocate for themselves.

I’m not sure why anything a child can’t do is automatically the schools issue to fix and should be built into the curriculum. When our child has an issue that requires self-advocacy we rehearse it at home, repeatedly, and give feedback so she can do better. If she is writing an email we help her think through how to identify a specific ask and articulate it respectfully and clearly.

It took practice and work and now she is good at it. You are right it doesn’t come without effort but parents can and should intervene when necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a tough one because mcps doesn't support students.
It shouldn't have been tough.
Spend your summer mentally and emotionally ally preparing for 3 worse years.

MCPS supports students. MCPS doesn't coddle students. Teach your kid self-advocacy skills.

Not all children are capable of learning to advocate for themselves but thank you for reinforcing the earlier post about mcps being a great place for students who don't need any help.

I respectfully disagree as the parent of a SN child. Unless they are acutely disabled every child can learn to advocate for themselves.

I’m not sure why anything a child can’t do is automatically the schools issue to fix and should be built into the curriculum. When our child has an issue that requires self-advocacy we rehearse it at home, repeatedly, and give feedback so she can do better. If she is writing an email we help her think through how to identify a specific ask and articulate it respectfully and clearly.

It took practice and work and now she is good at it. You are right it doesn’t come without effort but parents can and should intervene when necessary.

I agree with all this but also think we need to recognize that with the demands on teacher, some subset have now just stopped responding to things like emails. I've had multiple kids have this problem with multiple teachers. It often takes a month for me to get a response from the teacher, or they never respond. The system is starting to crumble around the edges due to the burdens on the teachers. It's a bad combination of overworked teachers, and kids who really didn't have an opportunity to scale up with gradually increasing demands on their executive function due to a combination of COVID during middle school plus the general fact that MCPS middle school isn't great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Celebrating making it through the year. This was a tough one.

Congratulations to everyone who also made it through the year, too!

That is all!!!

You must be at B-CC?

Or at the vowel school Wootton, or something like that.

Definitely Wonton now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a tough one because mcps doesn't support students.
It shouldn't have been tough.
Spend your summer mentally and emotionally ally preparing for 3 worse years.

MCPS supports students. MCPS doesn't coddle students. Teach your kid self-advocacy skills.

Not all children are capable of learning to advocate for themselves but thank you for reinforcing the earlier post about mcps being a great place for students who don't need any help.

I respectfully disagree as the parent of a SN child. Unless they are acutely disabled every child can learn to advocate for themselves.

I’m not sure why anything a child can’t do is automatically the schools issue to fix and should be built into the curriculum. When our child has an issue that requires self-advocacy we rehearse it at home, repeatedly, and give feedback so she can do better. If she is writing an email we help her think through how to identify a specific ask and articulate it respectfully and clearly.

It took practice and work and now she is good at it. You are right it doesn’t come without effort but parents can and should intervene when necessary.

I agree with all this but also think we need to recognize that with the demands on teacher, some subset have now just stopped responding to things like emails. I've had multiple kids have this problem with multiple teachers. It often takes a month for me to get a response from the teacher, or they never respond. The system is starting to crumble around the edges due to the burdens on the teachers. It's a bad combination of overworked teachers, and kids who really didn't have an opportunity to scale up with gradually increasing demands on their executive function due to a combination of COVID during middle school plus the general fact that MCPS middle school isn't great.

This is true…and…kids see teachers face to face almost every day which gives them a natural opportunity to ask in person if email isn’t working.

I acknowledge email is easier to track and it would be better if teachers were more consistently responsive, but my boss doesn’t always respond to emails and sometimes self-advocacy includes managing up. This may be the first opportunity to start to learn those skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rising sophomore did AMAZING! Like everyone she did virtual MCPS in 6th except for the last 6 weeks, did half of seventh before being admitted for suicidal ideation and attempts, missed all of eighth while at a therapeutic school, and came home last June. She started ninth with a safety plan and not knowing a single person. She made friends, enjoyed her teachers, and just graduated from therapy last week. Her grades were As and Bs but that wasn’t the priority.

Yay!! Have to come in here and say congrats. I know two kids going through the same thing right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a tough one because mcps doesn't support students.
It shouldn't have been tough.
Spend your summer mentally and emotionally ally preparing for 3 worse years.

MCPS supports students. MCPS doesn't coddle students. Teach your kid self-advocacy skills.

Not all children are capable of learning to advocate for themselves but thank you for reinforcing the earlier post about mcps being a great place for students who don't need any help.

I respectfully disagree as the parent of a SN child. Unless they are acutely disabled every child can learn to advocate for themselves.

I’m not sure why anything a child can’t do is automatically the schools issue to fix and should be built into the curriculum. When our child has an issue that requires self-advocacy we rehearse it at home, repeatedly, and give feedback so she can do better. If she is writing an email we help her think through how to identify a specific ask and articulate it respectfully and clearly.

It took practice and work and now she is good at it. You are right it doesn’t come without effort but parents can and should intervene when necessary.

There's no greater enemy to special needs parents than other special needs parents whos kids don't have problems learning things because they get out infront of an ignorant crowd and chant how it's not really a disability and no one should really help them.

Congratulations that your kid can do The Thing.
My kid had poor coordination but we worked on balance so now they do better.
That doesn't mean that ANOTHER, totally DIFFERENT child with coordination disability is able to learn to do better. The cause of their disability may be different.

My neighbor sat around chastising (behind their back) another parent who's autistic child cursed.
"Well *my* larlo is autistic and *he* never curses! What terrible parents they must be tsk tsk"
A few years later I found out that the larlo in question also had tuerrets syndrome in addition to the autism. "

If YOU don't understand how self advocacy is a huge IEP goal exactly because it makes an enormous impact on a child's education and a child with a disability may not be able to translate what is spoken about at home to be put I to practice in the classroom - that's your problem.

If you can parent YOUR child oit of their "disability " I would have to guess YOUR child probably doesn't really have any special needs. You just paid for a doctor to recommend extra time.

Some of our children actually have true disabilities that parenting doesn't fix.
"MY larlo