New middle school enriched and accelerated classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:wait till more upcounty parents hear about this. If they find out their kids are missing out on enriched classes at the home school, they are going to be pissed. My kids aren't in MS yet but by the time they get there i for sure would want this at their school.

Don't sweat it, pilot testing is par for the course with MCPS.

I believe the month after they announced the new Scoring System for CES (center for enriched studies, the former Gifted Centers. You know, it's not the kids that are smart it's now the materials are smart), they had a lot of valid complaints and thus are PILOTING these new enriched classes at 20 or 30 schools and then will roll out more the following year if they think it can work.

MCPS does a lot of test piloting in ES and MSs all around the county. Most of the time you never hear aobut it until 1 or 2 years later. Could be your school, who knows.

What I'd love to know is what ES schools MCPS game JHU to student/survey and what ES schools JHU choose of the 20. It was half given, half choice. Those were studied and surveyed last spring and last fall. Never heard a peep about it until SPring Break. Which is also pretty slick, I must add.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New course description:

This course is built around the core Grade 6 social studies curriculum that includes historical content from early civilizations, the empires of Greece and Rome, the dynasties of China, and civilizations of the first millennium. Cohort students will go beyond this core however as they learn additional content, explore deeper connections to today, engage in investigative inquiry to strengthen their writing through Document Based Questions, and enhance their learning through relevant literature connections.


Existing course description in some of the MS - 2016-17 Advanced World Studies 6 (7897)

This course provides enriched opportunities for learning about ancient world history. Building on the current four units of Grade 6 world studies [Greece, Rome, China, etc..], students will deepen their understanding of the rich cultures and history from the earliest human settlements to great civilizations of the year 1000 CE. Students are challenged to analyze archaeological evidence, ask questions to further their knowledge, and understand history as an ongoing investigation. These historical thinking, reading, and writing skills support success in future Advanced Placement and honors social studies courses.

No kidding. Pyle has been missing the boat on this for several years. Parents have been screaming from the rooftops that it's needed for years...
I don't see all that much difference.

Sounds much better to me, especially surrounded by peer students who do their homework, pay attention and speak up in class, and are aiming for better than MoC Community College (which is a WRITTEN goal of C2.0: be able to get in to that community college. they also have a fast track degree for MCPS students who want to be eSOl teachers with MCPS).

That would happen regardless of the change in curriculum. Even without this "new" change, those same 5th graders going into 6th would've been assigned to take this existing Advanced World Studies class. All of DC's HGC friends had this same Advanced class.

Are your kids at Pyle? Ours are and their 4&5th grade HGC pulled from 8-10 ES’ most of which do not roll up to Pyle. So he did not have “all his HGC friends” in his MS classes. That would have been great, since those are some good buddies now all over the county but not the case for Pyle students.

I’m talking about level setting peers within each classroom in order to challenge and teach to ability. Not attempt to teach to 3-6 abilities in the same classroom. I am not talking about “my kid took the same class as everyone,” I am talking about who is sitting in the classroom.. mS needs differentiation. Badly.

[Anonymous]

No kidding. Pyle has been missing the boat on this for years. Parents have been screaming from the rooftops that it's needed for a while now...

[Anonymous]

My kids are at Pyle, and neither was in the HGC although they are smart kids and engaged students. Most of their friends at Pyle are similar regardless of whether they attended the HGC. What has been most disappointing to me at Pyle is the lack of quality of the teaching. It makes little difference what the course descriptions say and how smart the peer group is if the teachers themselves are not engaged in the material and don’t encourage class discussions or thinking beyond the set materials. So unless the teachers are being trained to new standards for the differentiated classes, I can’t see them providing anything like the experience of what the magnets do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Pyle, and neither was in the HGC although they are smart kids and engaged students. Most of their friends at Pyle are similar regardless of whether they attended the HGC. What has been most disappointing to me at Pyle is the lack of quality of the teaching. It makes little difference what the course descriptions say and how smart the peer group is if the teachers themselves are not engaged in the material and don’t encourage class discussions or thinking beyond the set materials. So unless the teachers are being trained to new standards for the differentiated classes, I can’t see them providing anything like the experience of what the magnets do.

Exactly. Not sure what that’s all about. I know a lot of teachers have moved on to other schools in the county since my older child was there. Some excellent ones left. Maybe it’s that, plus a problem with the new hire choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Pyle, and neither was in the HGC although they are smart kids and engaged students. Most of their friends at Pyle are similar regardless of whether they attended the HGC. What has been most disappointing to me at Pyle is the lack of quality of the teaching. It makes little difference what the course descriptions say and how smart the peer group is if the teachers themselves are not engaged in the material and don’t encourage class discussions or thinking beyond the set materials. So unless the teachers are being trained to new standards for the differentiated classes, I can’t see them providing anything like the experience of what the magnets do.

I fail to see how you can confidently make this generalization. Unless you've traveled with your child(ren) throughout the day from grade 6 to grade 8, you simply cannot state that teachers aren't engaged.

This is another ignorant statement made by an entitled parent, as I see it.

So if this is indeed the case - b/c perhaps you've done your own study - you times 50 other similar parents would indeed squash a teacher's desire to reach beyond any instructional guide.

[Anonymous]

Teachers need to feel supported by school leadership more than parents, actually. Disengaged teachers usually indicate an internal problem more than a parent problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at Pyle, and neither was in the HGC although they are smart kids and engaged students. Most of their friends at Pyle are similar regardless of whether they attended the HGC. What has been most disappointing to me at Pyle is the lack of quality of the teaching. It makes little difference what the course descriptions say and how smart the peer group is if the teachers themselves are not engaged in the material and don’t encourage class discussions or thinking beyond the set materials. So unless the teachers are being trained to new standards for the differentiated classes, I can’t see them providing anything like the experience of what the magnets do.

I fail to see how you can confidently make this generalization. Unless you've traveled with your child(ren) throughout the day from grade 6 to grade 8, you simply cannot state that teachers aren't engaged.

This is another ignorant statement made by an entitled parent, as I see it.

So if this is indeed the case - b/c perhaps you've done your own study - you times 50 other similar parents would indeed squash a teacher's desire to reach beyond any instructional guide.

Of course it is a generalization - as is your opinion. Mine is based on actually talking to my kids, asking specific questions of them and of other parents, at least the other parents who I know pay attention to what is going on in their kids’ school and don’t just take Pyle’s “great reputation” at face value. And I have come as close as possible to travelling with each of my kids from class to class, in that I attend each open house during the school day and goto back to school night and conferences. These are moments when typically teachers are on their top game, and even then it is apparent that many are less than inspiring. For the record, my kids (between the two of them) have had a handful of teachers who seem great - but as your point out, that, too, is a generalization so who really knows.

[Anonymous]

There are so many intangibles that go into teacher satisfaction, and that can impact our engagement in the classroom. I don’t know about all of you in other fields, but I know I do my best work as a teacher when I’m trusted with autonomy and feel respected and supported. And when there’s support among my colleagues for each other. Even the so-called “best” schools will fall apart at the seams when the overall tone is bad, and Pyle is no exception.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how they will decide who will be able to take the new enriched classes? PP mentioned schools have had a list for a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how they will decide who will be able to take the new enriched classes? PP mentioned schools have had a list for a month.

Presumably all the kids who got 99s in 2 or more areas (especially composite) who were rejected from the magnets--the "20 peer cohort" groups. How far they go down into the 90s after that will likely vary and depend on how many "top scorers" they have, then available spots in terms of how large they plan for those sections to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how they will decide who will be able to take the new enriched classes? PP mentioned schools have had a list for a month.

Presumably all the kids who got 99s in 2 or more areas (especially composite) who were rejected from the magnets--the "20 peer cohort" groups. How far they go down into the 90s after that will likely vary and depend on how many "top scorers" they have, then available spots in terms of how large they plan for those sections to be.

+1 It will vary depending on the middle school. Some schools will have enough 99ers to fill one or more sections of 25 kids, other schools may admit low or mid-90s to fill a class of 25 kids, especially if the 2 or 3 99ers from each of the elementary or HGC schools in that MS pyramid accepted a space at the magnets.

I assume the central office sent the packaged info with data from the magnet admissions round to the middle schools. The newsletter also said they will consider kids that opted out of magnet testing, so I think schools will also review MAP scores, grades and PARCC from 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Did they say whether each school will have at most one section of each class or whether in some schools there might be 2 or more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Grade 5 students whose parents had opted them out of testing for the middle school magnet programs also are being considered for the enriched and accelerated courses. Middle school principals are reviewing their incoming Grade 6 student data and notification of individual student placements will be sent to parents in early April.

For questions about programming, parents may contact Accelerated and Enriched Instruction, 240.740.3110. After individual placement notifications occur in April, questions about course(s) availability, sections, and scheduling may be directed to your middle school principal.

I cringe that I'm actually asking this but will there be an appeals process if your child does not get in but you think your child should have gotten in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did they say whether each school will have at most one section of each class or whether in some schools there might be 2 or more?

That is not clear from anything I read. I guess it would depend on staffing/training teachers.