New curriculum selection process delayed— new RFP must be issues now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is MCPS in a nutshell. I’m a teacher and our chains are yanked every which way constantly, so none of this surprises me. My Outlook still freezes constantly and a single email can take me 10 minutes to write. That’s a great use of my time. It still hasn’t been fixed and our tech guy has just shrugged his shoulders and acts perplexed. The network in general either is incredibly slow or is flat out down multiple times per week.

MCPS didn’t actually expect thousands of teachers to actually sign up for summer training like we were told to at the time the window opened and the process took hours of our personal time (the window opened at 4:30pm) and it was blamed on an outside vendor and Central Office took absolutely no responsibility. If I’m responsible for test scores for children who don’t have enough to eat, share a house with 2 other families and have very little parental support, then MCPS can take responsibility for not planning correctly and having crappy infrastructure.

Teachers have been providing feedback on Curriculum 2.0 for years and it’s fallen on deaf ears. It took spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Central Office arrive at that conclusion. Teachers have spent hundreds and even thousands of their own money on supplemental materials because the 2.0 materials were worthless.

Are there any consequences for the people in charge of these blunders? Of course not. They sit in their offices and collect their paychecks whether they actually do their jobs or not. Meanwhile, the burden is completely put on teachers if the data isn’t as wonderful as Central Office and administration would like for it to be. We’re constantly asked what we could be doing more of or what we can be doing better. I’m so tired of this double standard. Central Office (and the ridiculous Code of Conduct) is making it actively HARDER to do our jobs, but the hammer only comes down on teachers. What a crock.

I am so sorry. As a MCPS parent, I really feel for the teachers, since you are squeezed between the parents and administration and it does, indeed, all fall on you. You have my respect and sympathy.

+1

Another MCPS parent who feels the same. I volunteer a ton in my kids’ classrooms and have gotten to know a good number of their teachers. So many of them say the same things that the PP has said. Over and over. Year after year. It is tough to be a teacher, and MCPS makes it even harder. The great teachers that we know have been great despite MCPS, IMO.

I compare it to being a nurse. Nurses are overworked and pulled in a million different directions. Their priority should be patients but they need to report to Absent administrators who have no direct experience with patients and doctors with big egos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when Discovery Education wins this bid the kids will watch reruns of Discovery shows on TV all day instead of using textbooks?

Hopefully that will be better than GoNoodle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when Discovery Education wins this bid the kids will watch reruns of Discovery shows on TV all day instead of using textbooks?

After C2.0 there is no reason they should pick a sketchy provider. Should be a well-established provider like McGraw Hill or any number of other well-known vendors, not a TV producer.

[Anonymous]

I asked my kid what they did in Math class the other day. They said they watched PBS kids and played prodigy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I asked my kid what they did in Math class the other day. They said they watched PBS kids and played prodigy.

what school. That doesn't happen in ours and I'm an active patent volunteer.

[Anonymous]

Honestly MCPS did the right thing. It sucks that it had to happen but they did the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Here’s what the President of MCEA sent out today:


Dear Colleagues,

Last night, the MCPS Board of Education acted to halt the current process of purchasing a new curriculum for the 2018-2019 school year. This action resulted following concerns that one of the vendors submitting a proposal for curriculum had extended offers of employment to two employees in the Office of the Chief Academic Officer. While unclear when the offers were made and their resultant impact on the process, at the advice of the Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Education withdrew the Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new curriculum.

As educators, we have consistently communicated to our school system leadership the need for a new curriculum. Nevertheless, last year the system commissioned a curriculum audit at a cost of $446,000. The contract for that study was awarded to Johns Hopkins University, under the direction of Dr. David Steiner. Following the contract being awarded, Dr. Steiner was appointed to the State Board of Education by Governor Hogan, a seat which he held when presenting the findings of the audit to the MCPS Board of Education in March of this year.

Based on the audit, the Board of Education approved the RFP for the purchase of a new curriculum. This RFP was published on April 13, 2018 and closed on May 11, 2018. This past week, a team of educators from schools and central office started to review the proposals, with the intent of choosing a few vendors who would then present their products to a larger group of educators, parents and community members next week. The review was interrupted, and no finalists will be selected at this juncture.

We have been clear that we need a new curriculum and have expressed the need for proper professional development prior to implementation. Many of us as educators had expressed an excitement and desire to begin implementing a new and better curriculum this fall. We also expressed a desire to have ample professional development prior to the beginning of school, so that we could be prepared to meet the needs of the young scholars before us.

That’s why this news is challenging for so many of us, because we will not have a new curriculum in the fall of 2018. We understand the school system plans to publish a new RFP in the months ahead and look forward to working together in a deliberate process to review and select curriculum, plan appropriate professional development, and provide support to educators. In this new window, we have an opportunity to slow down our thinking and collaboratively develop a process and plan that will lead to success. Be sure to talk with your building rep about what professional development you need in order to be successful with your young scholars.

As more information becomes available, I’ll provide additional updates. Thank you for your work with children in the sunset of this school year. Once again, we have demonstrated to a community our commitment and dedication to the hearts, souls, and minds of its most precious citizens.

Christopher Lloyd, NBCT
Loving Husband
President, MCEA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I asked my kid what they did in Math class the other day. They said they watched PBS kids and played prodigy.

what school. That doesn't happen in ours and I'm an active patent volunteer.

DP

It happens at our school also. DD came home last week and showed us the website for Math games that they were on that day for Math. I will have to log in to find the site, but the games barely worked well and were loosely related to math. And she is in Compacted Math, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s what the President of MCEA sent out today:


Dear Colleagues,

Last night, the MCPS Board of Education acted to halt the current process of purchasing a new curriculum for the 2018-2019 school year. This action resulted following concerns that one of the vendors submitting a proposal for curriculum had extended offers of employment to two employees in the Office of the Chief Academic Officer. While unclear when the offers were made and their resultant impact on the process, at the advice of the Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Education withdrew the Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new curriculum.

As educators, we have consistently communicated to our school system leadership the need for a new curriculum. Nevertheless, last year the system commissioned a curriculum audit at a cost of $446,000. The contract for that study was awarded to Johns Hopkins University, under the direction of Dr. David Steiner. Following the contract being awarded, Dr. Steiner was appointed to the State Board of Education by Governor Hogan, a seat which he held when presenting the findings of the audit to the MCPS Board of Education in March of this year.

Based on the audit, the Board of Education approved the RFP for the purchase of a new curriculum. This RFP was published on April 13, 2018 and closed on May 11, 2018. This past week, a team of educators from schools and central office started to review the proposals, with the intent of choosing a few vendors who would then present their products to a larger group of educators, parents and community members next week. The review was interrupted, and no finalists will be selected at this juncture.

We have been clear that we need a new curriculum and have expressed the need for proper professional development prior to implementation. Many of us as educators had expressed an excitement and desire to begin implementing a new and better curriculum this fall. We also expressed a desire to have ample professional development prior to the beginning of school, so that we could be prepared to meet the needs of the young scholars before us.

That’s why this news is challenging for so many of us, because we will not have a new curriculum in the fall of 2018. We understand the school system plans to publish a new RFP in the months ahead and look forward to working together in a deliberate process to review and select curriculum, plan appropriate professional development, and provide support to educators. In this new window, we have an opportunity to slow down our thinking and collaboratively develop a process and plan that will lead to success. Be sure to talk with your building rep about what professional development you need in order to be successful with your young scholars.

As more information becomes available, I’ll provide additional updates. Thank you for your work with children in the sunset of this school year. Once again, we have demonstrated to a community our commitment and dedication to the hearts, souls, and minds of its most precious citizens.

Christopher Lloyd, NBCT
Loving Husband
President, MCEA

The ‘loving husband’ part made me laugh. That’s sweet!

Hope the teachers get better support for whatever curriculum gets chosen in the end.

[Anonymous]

Can people who are discussing what their kids did in class specify their school? It won’t out you, but will make your comment more helpful to others, especially those of us new to mcps and looking to learn more about experiences at various schools.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here who has never stopped getting a google out of that loving husband signature. It is sweet. So kooky too. And good for him for saying it like it is—a disaster whose only upside is that now they can slow down and ensure smart choices and adequate training.

[Anonymous]

Giggle not google

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here who has never stopped getting a google out of that loving husband signature. It is sweet. So kooky too. And good for him for saying it like it is—a disaster whose only upside is that now they can slow down and ensure smart choices and adequate training.

Fingers crossed they use the time that way. I feel like a school system like this can only afford one huge screw up like this before people start to opt out en masse, whether through moving or switching to private. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Discovery Education even a viable source of a K-8 curriculum? It just sounds awful, lets buy the curriculum from the TV station down the street we happen to be familiar with. How many former MCPS employees have already taken jobs there. It also sounds like the drumbeat for a tech heavy solution is still driving things. Even if this wasn't a corrupt process, it seems like leaving the old team in place was going to lead to more of the same. Very discouraging.

MCPS needs an independent ethics board.

MCPS needs its own soap opera show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when Discovery Education wins this bid the kids will watch reruns of Discovery shows on TV all day instead of using textbooks?

After C2.0 there is no reason they should pick a sketchy provider. Should be a well-established provider like McGraw Hill or any number of other well-known vendors, not a TV producer.

+1 billion.