PSA MCPS math warning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

i wrote it. Lived in dc since 2004, worked at Lockheed Martin HQ in north bethesda, bought a house in Bethesda when we had kids, had done a decent amount of diligence of schools, colleagues were very happy with MCPS UNTIL 2013, then I heard all negative diligence and aspects of MCPS, so we do a ton of science camps, math workbooks, spanish at 8am and sports since MCPS does zero spanish, zero sports, zero science except some reading modules, and BS "math." My other colleagues at Lockheed do private or a lot of supplementing like we do. Overall, I wish we hadn't bothered to move to Bethesda, would have done the same Momwork in DC.

Zero sports and zero science in MCPS? Huh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pearsons actually has some good workbooks and textbooks out.

Can you expand on this a bit? I had asked a similar question earlier (i.e., is EnVision better than 2.0 and, if so, why doesn't MCPS just work with Pearson to roll out EnVision instead). I'm trying to understand how much of the 2.0 complaining is targeted at MCPS v. Pearson.

[Anonymous]

the worst was when colleagues pulled out of MCPS and did private. 2012-2015, they were done and had seen enough.
that's a family budget question for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

i wrote it. Lived in dc since 2004, worked at Lockheed Martin HQ in north bethesda, bought a house in Bethesda when we had kids, had done a decent amount of diligence of schools, colleagues were very happy with MCPS UNTIL 2013, then I heard all negative diligence and aspects of MCPS, so we do a ton of science camps, math workbooks, spanish at 8am and sports since MCPS does zero spanish, zero sports, zero science except some reading modules, and BS "math." My other colleagues at Lockheed do private or a lot of supplementing like we do. Overall, I wish we hadn't bothered to move to Bethesda, would have done the same Momwork in DC.

Zero sports and zero science in MCPS? Huh.

ES yes. reading modules, PE 1 time a week. during school hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

i wrote it. Lived in dc since 2004, worked at Lockheed Martin HQ in north bethesda, bought a house in Bethesda when we had kids, had done a decent amount of diligence of schools, colleagues were very happy with MCPS UNTIL 2013, then I heard all negative diligence and aspects of MCPS, so we do a ton of science camps, math workbooks, spanish at 8am and sports since MCPS does zero spanish, zero sports, zero science except some reading modules, and BS "math." My other colleagues at Lockheed do private or a lot of supplementing like we do. Overall, I wish we hadn't bothered to move to Bethesda, would have done the same Momwork in DC.

Zero sports and zero science in MCPS? Huh.

ES yes. reading modules, PE 1 time a week. during school hours.

It was the same before 2013.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, lots of "Mom-work" going on here. But we knew that would be the case and opted for MCPS over privates since I kind of have the time to stay on top of it.

This was not the case when we bought back in 2010. MCPS was like a different school district. Everyone with kids there (I had worked at Lockheed) were super happy. Then in 2013, ppl started looking at privates if their kids were just starting, or rejoicing that their kid was already at Churchill, WJ, or Whitman and getting out in 4-6 years, bypassing Common Core.

There's nothing like people condemning a thing without having any personal experience of it, is there?

DP here.

What are you talking about??

The PP said she has kids in MCPS.

The PP is citing the opinions of people whose children were in private school or in high school.

i wrote it. Lived in dc since 2004, worked at Lockheed Martin HQ in north bethesda, bought a house in Bethesda when we had kids, had done a decent amount of diligence of schools, colleagues were very happy with MCPS UNTIL 2013, then I heard all negative diligence and aspects of MCPS, so we do a ton of science camps, math workbooks, spanish at 8am and sports since MCPS does zero spanish, zero sports, zero science except some reading modules, and BS "math." My other colleagues at Lockheed do private or a lot of supplementing like we do. Overall, I wish we hadn't bothered to move to Bethesda, would have done the same Momwork in DC.

Oh it's you again crazy always-mentioning-Lockheed poster. MCPS does zero science?

[Anonymous]

Asian-American parent here. Our children are in MCPS magnet schools and we still supplement because the standards are pretty low in Math and English.

The issue is not only of curriculum but also lack of content knowledge among teachers. The education system and the low pay is not attracting the best and brightest in the teaching profession.

We have tried private school as well and while they work well because of small class size and overall discipline, they are even more lacking in academic rigor. Magnets are far superior in the way of peergroup, discipline, enrichment opportunities, academic rigor and acceleration. Are all teachers excellent in the magnet programs? Not really. There is a general hit and miss as far as quality is concerned for teachers in MCPS as well as private schools. The only good thing is that MCPS teachers are more qualified (in terms of Master degrees and other professional certification) than private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asian-American parent here. Our children are in MCPS magnet schools and we still supplement because the standards are pretty low in Math and English.

The issue is not only of curriculum but also lack of content knowledge among teachers. The education system and the low pay is not attracting the best and brightest in the teaching profession.

We have tried private school as well and while they work well because of small class size and overall discipline, they are even more lacking in academic rigor. Magnets are far superior in the way of peergroup, discipline, enrichment opportunities, academic rigor and acceleration. Are all teachers excellent in the magnet programs? Not really. There is a general hit and miss as far as quality is concerned for teachers in MCPS as well as private schools. The only good thing is that MCPS teachers are more qualified (in terms of Master degrees and other professional certification) than private schools.

I don't get this. All my son's private school teachers starting from preschool has master degrees. Several were formal MCPS teachers. I don't see the private school teachers are less qualified part at all. I also think there is a difference between rigor and speed. I found private school in earlier years are not into acceleration or differentiation. But what they do teach is very in-depth.

[Anonymous]

Parents need to realize that MAP tests are not the same as a normal test. MAP tests are multiple choice and adaptive. We were also lulled into the myth that MCPS is just fine because the kids score very, very high on MAP and get everything right on their assignments/As in MS etc.

Its a crime that kids don't receive actual tests where if you get the wrong answer you see a lower percentage grade. My kids were in shock when we moved and they went from being straight A students to getting 77% or lower on tests because they made a mistake and didn't correct it. They kept trying to argue that they understood it and it shouldn't be counted wrong if they just made a simple mistake. The entire concept of precision was lost on them as they had never once received this expectation in school. My kids would get ES grades on paper with spelling and grammar mistakes.

They eventually adjusted but it really sucked that they had to go through this after a stressful move. It wasn't their fault that MCPS sucks and as a parent I deeply not regret doing private school instead of MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Your kids don't lose points when they make mistakes on math tests??

[Anonymous]

I'm beginning to think someone is trying to drum up business for the new Chinese immersion private school being advertised to open in DC.

[Anonymous]

I have a 2nd grader in MCPS right now. He was definitely doing 2 digit, and even 3 digit, addition last year (in 1st, contrary to a PP), and at least on the worksheets I see, he does lose points for wrong answers. He is good at math but not exceptional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to realize that MAP tests are not the same as a normal test. MAP tests are multiple choice and adaptive. We were also lulled into the myth that MCPS is just fine because the kids score very, very high on MAP and get everything right on their assignments/As in MS etc.

Its a crime that kids don't receive actual tests where if you get the wrong answer you see a lower percentage grade. My kids were in shock when we moved and they went from being straight A students to getting 77% or lower on tests because they made a mistake and didn't correct it. They kept trying to argue that they understood it and it shouldn't be counted wrong if they just made a simple mistake. The entire concept of precision was lost on them as they had never once received this expectation in school. My kids would get ES grades on paper with spelling and grammar mistakes.

They eventually adjusted but it really sucked that they had to go through this after a stressful move. It wasn't their fault that MCPS sucks and as a parent I deeply not regret doing private school instead of MCPS.

K-3 in mcps still get P, I, N, but 4th+ get letter grades. And they do get dinged for wrong answers. As for ESs with spelling mistakes, an ES is not about every word being spelled correctly or grammar being perfect. It's about concepts - does the child grasp concepts, put together thoughts and ideas that are beyond what was taught. If the your child got an ES on a spelling test even though there were incorrectly spelled words, then yes, that would be BS. But grading on critical thinking/writing is not about spelling.

[Anonymous]

I thought MCPS was doing pretty good in math. My 7-year-old is doing multiplication and division up to 12 and factoring fractions. Last year they covered 3 digit addition and subtraction with refactoring. Their MAP-P score was in the high 220s. It's a national test and I think that's in the 99.9%% for their age, but we're in the DCC which has small classes (<20).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to realize that MAP tests are not the same as a normal test. MAP tests are multiple choice and adaptive. We were also lulled into the myth that MCPS is just fine because the kids score very, very high on MAP and get everything right on their assignments/As in MS etc.

Its a crime that kids don't receive actual tests where if you get the wrong answer you see a lower percentage grade. My kids were in shock when we moved and they went from being straight A students to getting 77% or lower on tests because they made a mistake and didn't correct it. They kept trying to argue that they understood it and it shouldn't be counted wrong if they just made a simple mistake. The entire concept of precision was lost on them as they had never once received this expectation in school. My kids would get ES grades on paper with spelling and grammar mistakes.

They eventually adjusted but it really sucked that they had to go through this after a stressful move. It wasn't their fault that MCPS sucks and as a parent I deeply not regret doing private school instead of MCPS.

K-3 in mcps still get P, I, N, but 4th+ get letter grades. And they do get dinged for wrong answers. As for ESs with spelling mistakes, an ES is not about every word being spelled correctly or grammar being perfect. It's about concepts - does the child grasp concepts, put together thoughts and ideas that are beyond what was taught. If the your child got an ES on a spelling test even though there were incorrectly spelled words, then yes, that would be BS. But grading on critical thinking/writing is not about spelling.

They started giving letter grades starting in 1st or 2nd this year.