Is your child’s learning gaps being filled in?

[Anonymous]

Thank you, OP. Because rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

All the evidence suggests otherwise. When I was in MCPS 30 years ago the average SAT score was maybe 1000. Today it's more like 1400. It's pretty clear this dramatic increase in these standardized test scores is because the high-quality of education is just getting better and better with each year.

Stop contradicting our narrative about failing schools with facts!!

These tests have been revised several times since then. Its not the same test and the same scale for the past 30 years.

Nice try but that doesn't cut it since it accounts only for a small portion of the vast gains made.

Very true but facts aren't popular with this crowd.

Lol. It's sad how the MCPS crowd puff themselves up to look good.

If you look at the High School statistics, you also need to take into account the number of children who did not take the SAT (surprisingly high) or overall readiness for college according to UofM standards. If you use a zero for every child who didn't take the SAT, the numbers look very different.

And yet far more take it now than 20 years ago which contradicts your narrative. Scores today are higher and more kids take it today.

20 years ago??? You've got to be kidding. That's your metric??? What a JOKE.

Watkins Mill HS has a Graduation Rate of 81.2%, Attendance Rate of 87.3%, Dropout Rate of 9.6%, Suspension Rate of 4.9%, and less than half met University of Maryland Entrance Requirements. I know someone out there will argue, "oh, but Watkins Mill is different." No it's not. Blair (MCPS' premier magnet HS) only has an Attendance Rate of 90.4%, a Graduation Rate of 86.1% and Dropout Rate of 8.8%. Only 62.9% of Blair kids met UofM entrance requirements. Remember, Blair is the top-of-the-line premier magnet program of MCPS. There is nothing better, according to the MCPS narrative that showcases the results of their stellar academic policies.

The HS that are doing well are the schools that are not following the MCPS academic path. These are the schools where parents are taking it upon themselves to tutor or offer enrichment, etc. because MCPS has failed so miserably in providing fundamentals and basic programs.

You claim MCPS is doing so well - so where's your proof of this? Post the links.

?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[guardian]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math and foreign languages are the areas that are most impacted by learning gaps. Skills build from unit to unit and year to year. MCPS is ignoring this problem so some students are dropping foreign language or struggling in their current math placement.

MCPS needs to do something about this problem. Give assessments and in school tutoring services to target the students with learning losses. Sitting back and doing nothing shows lack of leadership. Universal testing is not being done because MCPS wants to hide a problem vs. fixing a problem. The Board of Ed flat out doesn’t care to require MCPS to address problems.

Why should MCPS have to do something about this? The entire problem only affects students who decided to drop out of school during DL. Maybe it's their parents fault but still why should all the kids who actually did the work be penalized and forced to go back over this material.

MCPS has a responsibility to teach all students. Not every student in MCPS had equal access to the technology, accommodations, and support that they needed to learn. It’s a Civil Rights issue, especially for students with disabilities.

Every student was given a chrome book and if needed hot spot. Mcps has never given most kids with sn everything they need and deserve. Many of us have spent a fortune on outside help long before Covid. This is not a Covid issue and kids have been in person since the fall. The only kids going without are kids in virtual.

MCPS does have a responsibility that includes the kids that showed up during DL and did the work. They shouldn't simply be warehoused for the next 2 years so a few kids who went AWOL during DL can catch up.

They should have made attendance and work mandatory and failed any kid who didn't do the work or show up. Those kids were warehoused before and will be till graduation.

However, MCPS has been open since September in person so stop complaining already.

MCPS had a legal responsibility to provide students with disabilities the services and accommodations they needed. MCPS said that they couldn’t do so during online learning and kept students online for six quarters. As a result, students with disabilities fell behind at a disproportionate rate. MCPS promised compensatory services for students with disabilities to make up for the denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education, but has not followed through with the promise. As a result, students with disabilities are still struggling. Passing students through to the next level without the necessary skills to be at the next level puts a student in an inappropriate placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*Are* your child’s learning tapas being filled in?

Grammar starts at home.

LOL

And proofreading!

Sorry - I graduated from MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[guardian]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math and foreign languages are the areas that are most impacted by learning gaps. Skills build from unit to unit and year to year. MCPS is ignoring this problem so some students are dropping foreign language or struggling in their current math placement.

MCPS needs to do something about this problem. Give assessments and in school tutoring services to target the students with learning losses. Sitting back and doing nothing shows lack of leadership. Universal testing is not being done because MCPS wants to hide a problem vs. fixing a problem. The Board of Ed flat out doesn’t care to require MCPS to address problems.

Why should MCPS have to do something about this? The entire problem only affects students who decided to drop out of school during DL. Maybe it's their parents fault but still why should all the kids who actually did the work be penalized and forced to go back over this material.

MCPS has a responsibility to teach all students. Not every student in MCPS had equal access to the technology, accommodations, and support that they needed to learn. It’s a Civil Rights issue, especially for students with disabilities.

Every student was given a chrome book and if needed hot spot. Mcps has never given most kids with sn everything they need and deserve. Many of us have spent a fortune on outside help long before Covid. This is not a Covid issue and kids have been in person since the fall. The only kids going without are kids in virtual.

MCPS does have a responsibility that includes the kids that showed up during DL and did the work. They shouldn't simply be warehoused for the next 2 years so a few kids who went AWOL during DL can catch up.

They should have made attendance and work mandatory and failed any kid who didn't do the work or show up. Those kids were warehoused before and will be till graduation.

However, MCPS has been open since September in person so stop complaining already.

MCPS had a legal responsibility to provide students with disabilities the services and accommodations they needed. MCPS said that they couldn’t do so during online learning and kept students online for six quarters. As a result, students with disabilities fell behind at a disproportionate rate. MCPS promised compensatory services for students with disabilities to make up for the denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education, but has not followed through with the promise. As a result, students with disabilities are still struggling. Passing students through to the next level without the necessary skills to be at the next level puts a student in an inappropriate placement.

Yes, MCPS bends over backwards doing this. More the half the kids at my child's school claim to have various forms ADD and receive accommodations. At this point I'm more worried about the kids that don't have these issues since they're routinely ignored.

[Anonymous]

Greater issue at hand is there are so many sp. Ed vacancies. Our AMAZING sp. Ed teachers (spent their entire careers helping children) quit after last year and this is happening all over the county. Positions are not getting filled because they don’t make enough $ for the amount of paperwork and demanding parents they have to deal with. Kids will not get services that they are legally entitled to until the system changes to compensate and make these positions more desirable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Greater issue at hand is there are so many sp. Ed vacancies. Our AMAZING sp. Ed teachers (spent their entire careers helping children) quit after last year and this is happening all over the county. Positions are not getting filled because they don’t make enough $ for the amount of paperwork and demanding parents they have to deal with. Kids will not get services that they are legally entitled to until the system changes to compensate and make these positions more desirable.

Supply and demand is hard!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Greater issue at hand is there are so many sp. Ed vacancies. Our AMAZING sp. Ed teachers (spent their entire careers helping children) quit after last year and this is happening all over the county. Positions are not getting filled because they don’t make enough $ for the amount of paperwork and demanding parents they have to deal with. Kids will not get services that they are legally entitled to until the system changes to compensate and make these positions more desirable.

It's an incredibly draining job. Many teachers spend evenings and weekends writing IEPs while trying to plan for multiple students who may have different needs. It's hard enough to be a teacher but then not to have any downtime at all because your weekends and consumed with IEP writing and preparing for meetings. It's really two jobs. Very few people last long in the position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Greater issue at hand is there are so many sp. Ed vacancies. Our AMAZING sp. Ed teachers (spent their entire careers helping children) quit after last year and this is happening all over the county. Positions are not getting filled because they don’t make enough $ for the amount of paperwork and demanding parents they have to deal with. Kids will not get services that they are legally entitled to until the system changes to compensate and make these positions more desirable.

It's an incredibly draining job. Many teachers spend evenings and weekends writing IEPs while trying to plan for multiple students who may have different needs. It's hard enough to be a teacher but then not to have any downtime at all because your weekends and consumed with IEP writing and preparing for meetings. It's really two jobs. Very few people last long in the position.

At our high school, the RTSE writes the IEPs. She doesn’t actually teach a class. The special education teachers are limited to specific classes such as Resource.

[Anonymous]

At my school, the special ed teachers write their own student's IEPs while teaching FT. The longest-serving special ed teacher I know just moved into ESOL after 8 yrs in special ed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[guardian]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math and foreign languages are the areas that are most impacted by learning gaps. Skills build from unit to unit and year to year. MCPS is ignoring this problem so some students are dropping foreign language or struggling in their current math placement.

MCPS needs to do something about this problem. Give assessments and in school tutoring services to target the students with learning losses. Sitting back and doing nothing shows lack of leadership. Universal testing is not being done because MCPS wants to hide a problem vs. fixing a problem. The Board of Ed flat out doesn’t care to require MCPS to address problems.

Why should MCPS have to do something about this? The entire problem only affects students who decided to drop out of school during DL. Maybe it's their parents fault but still why should all the kids who actually did the work be penalized and forced to go back over this material.

MCPS has a responsibility to teach all students. Not every student in MCPS had equal access to the technology, accommodations, and support that they needed to learn. It’s a Civil Rights issue, especially for students with disabilities.

Every student was given a chrome book and if needed hot spot. Mcps has never given most kids with sn everything they need and deserve. Many of us have spent a fortune on outside help long before Covid. This is not a Covid issue and kids have been in person since the fall. The only kids going without are kids in virtual.

MCPS does have a responsibility that includes the kids that showed up during DL and did the work. They shouldn't simply be warehoused for the next 2 years so a few kids who went AWOL during DL can catch up.

They should have made attendance and work mandatory and failed any kid who didn't do the work or show up. Those kids were warehoused before and will be till graduation.

However, MCPS has been open since September in person so stop complaining already.

MCPS had a legal responsibility to provide students with disabilities the services and accommodations they needed. MCPS said that they couldn’t do so during online learning and kept students online for six quarters. As a result, students with disabilities fell behind at a disproportionate rate. MCPS promised compensatory services for students with disabilities to make up for the denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education, but has not followed through with the promise. As a result, students with disabilities are still struggling. Passing students through to the next level without the necessary skills to be at the next level puts a student in an inappropriate placement.

Yes, MCPS bends over backwards doing this. More the half the kids at my child's school claim to have various forms ADD and receive accommodations. At this point I'm more worried about the kids that don't have these issues since they're routinely ignored.

Your statements are false and filled with implicit biases against students with disabilities. Name the school and I can looking up the true percentage of students with disabilities.

For students with ADHD, MCPS rarely does a comprehensive evaluation to determine the child’s disability and needs. The IEP process is grossly flawed with how they are conducted and parents often have to pay for a private evaluation so their child can get the needed services.

MCPS has done an incredibly awful job for students with disabilities during online learning and helping students makeup for the regression. There were no meetings to discuss compensatory services at our high school so I filed a state complaint and won. Multiple violations of the IDEA were discovered.

MCPS needs retraining and more Special Ed staff to help students with disabilities. I am disappointed at the lack of leadership by Dr. McKnight and Gwen Mason to address the crisis.

[Anonymous]

2 year gaps in education fulfilled within months of interrupted school with quarantines...that’s reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 year gaps in education fulfilled within months of interrupted school with quarantines...that’s reasonable.

It would be doable with extra staff and services. Dr. McKnight didn’t address the learning gap issue with a planned response and resources. The gaps will keep growing until they are addressed.

My child needs to go back two grade levels in math because he didn’t make progress during online learning. He didn’t receive his accommodations and special education services. To keep him on the trajectory he once was on without the skills he was supposed to have learned is inappropriate and he is struggling without any extra support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[guardian]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math and foreign languages are the areas that are most impacted by learning gaps. Skills build from unit to unit and year to year. MCPS is ignoring this problem so some students are dropping foreign language or struggling in their current math placement.

MCPS needs to do something about this problem. Give assessments and in school tutoring services to target the students with learning losses. Sitting back and doing nothing shows lack of leadership. Universal testing is not being done because MCPS wants to hide a problem vs. fixing a problem. The Board of Ed flat out doesn’t care to require MCPS to address problems.

Why should MCPS have to do something about this? The entire problem only affects students who decided to drop out of school during DL. Maybe it's their parents fault but still why should all the kids who actually did the work be penalized and forced to go back over this material.

MCPS has a responsibility to teach all students. Not every student in MCPS had equal access to the technology, accommodations, and support that they needed to learn. It’s a Civil Rights issue, especially for students with disabilities.

Every student was given a chrome book and if needed hot spot. Mcps has never given most kids with sn everything they need and deserve. Many of us have spent a fortune on outside help long before Covid. This is not a Covid issue and kids have been in person since the fall. The only kids going without are kids in virtual.

MCPS does have a responsibility that includes the kids that showed up during DL and did the work. They shouldn't simply be warehoused for the next 2 years so a few kids who went AWOL during DL can catch up.

They should have made attendance and work mandatory and failed any kid who didn't do the work or show up. Those kids were warehoused before and will be till graduation.

However, MCPS has been open since September in person so stop complaining already.

MCPS had a legal responsibility to provide students with disabilities the services and accommodations they needed. MCPS said that they couldn’t do so during online learning and kept students online for six quarters. As a result, students with disabilities fell behind at a disproportionate rate. MCPS promised compensatory services for students with disabilities to make up for the denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education, but has not followed through with the promise. As a result, students with disabilities are still struggling. Passing students through to the next level without the necessary skills to be at the next level puts a student in an inappropriate placement.

Yes, MCPS bends over backwards doing this. More the half the kids at my child's school claim to have various forms ADD and receive accommodations. At this point I'm more worried about the kids that don't have these issues since they're routinely ignored.

Your statements are false and filled with implicit biases against students with disabilities. Name the school and I can looking up the true percentage of students with disabilities.

For students with ADHD, MCPS rarely does a comprehensive evaluation to determine the child’s disability and needs. The IEP process is grossly flawed with how they are conducted and parents often have to pay for a private evaluation so their child can get the needed services.

MCPS has done an incredibly awful job for students with disabilities during online learning and helping students makeup for the regression. There were no meetings to discuss compensatory services at our high school so I filed a state complaint and won. Multiple violations of the IDEA were discovered.

MCPS needs retraining and more Special Ed staff to help students with disabilities. I am disappointed at the lack of leadership by Dr. McKnight and Gwen Mason to address the crisis.

They do a terrible job in person, even before covid. Let's be real. Covid is not to blame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 year gaps in education fulfilled within months of interrupted school with quarantines...that’s reasonable.

It would be doable with extra staff and services. Dr. McKnight didn’t address the learning gap issue with a planned response and resources. The gaps will keep growing until they are addressed.

My child needs to go back two grade levels in math because he didn’t make progress during online learning. He didn’t receive his accommodations and special education services. To keep him on the trajectory he once was on without the skills he was supposed to have learned is inappropriate and he is struggling without any extra support.

Did you work with him at all? Or, get a tutor? Or use the free supports they offered last year? Or, right now Saturday school?