MCPS Is Broken What Are Your Ideas to Fix It?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so many people don't realize how good they have it. Still one of the best school systems in the nation

give teachers hazard pay during this difficult time too

This must be a joke, right? I just pulled my kids out to go to private out of state. They have learned more in 10 school days then in 3 years in MCPS. They actually have tests they need to study for and aren’t given sentence starters for their writing assignments. It’s not a terrible district, but let’s not call it the BEST.

It seems like they have also learned more in that 10 days than you have in your lifetime.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely break up the county into smaller autonomous school districts.

I'd also like to see year-round school, though with built in breaks, obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer has been right in front of us all along:

Break up the county.
Too big to thrive.

There aren’t too many large school districts that are high-performing.

Most of the large urban public school districts aren’t all that great. And with the push to urbanize MoCo, it will just get worse.

This sounds bad but I actually agree with it. I have not looked too thoroughly but from what I can tell 60,000 students seems to be the limit for high performing school districts, which basically allows for breaking MCPS up into thirds: east, west and north. The benefit of this is that each of the new districts will be better placed to serve the needs of their districts.

Yes. And if we're being perfectly honest, there are cultural differences between TKPK and Poolesville/Damascus.

It would def be more expensive to break into 3 systems, but I do think that's the right decision.

Plus, one major bonus: snow decisions would be regional!

That’s exactly right. It would also allow each district to prioritize their resources as they see fit. The north of the county should be allowed to prioritize funding big time HS football, if that’s what they want. Let the west of the county do more tracking and then allow the east to focus on the achievement gap. It makes sense for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frankly the SMOB often seems like the best member— they take it very seriously and are very prepared. Look at the last board meeting for example.

Not that the others have been bad, but O'Looney has been exceptional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer has been right in front of us all along:

Break up the county.
Too big to thrive.

There aren’t too many large school districts that are high-performing.

Most of the large urban public school districts aren’t all that great. And with the push to urbanize MoCo, it will just get worse.

This sounds bad but I actually agree with it. I have not looked too thoroughly but from what I can tell 60,000 students seems to be the limit for high performing school districts, which basically allows for breaking MCPS up into thirds: east, west and north. The benefit of this is that each of the new districts will be better placed to serve the needs of their districts.

all depends which 60k students the circles are drawn around right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*These suggestions primarily relate to high school. Coming from a high school teacher.

- Require final exams at the end of each semester like we used to.
- At the high school level, eliminate Progress Checks given mid second and third quarters in favor of semester exams as listed above. We haven't even been allowed to count them as grades recently.
- Get rid of the due date/deadline nonsense and the 50% rule. Teach children the importance of meeting due dates.
- Calculate the semester transcript grade by adding first and second quarter percentages and dividing them by two.
- Calculate class rank and put it on the transcript.
- Have valedictorians and salutatorians at graduation and call them that.
- Reinstitute the loss of credit rule whereby students with a certain number of unexcused absences lose credit for high school courses.
- Get rid of all of these random days off. We hardly have a 5-day work week during the year. Once the year starts, keep it going.
- Incorporate virtual snow days so that instruction can continue in some form during inclement weather. This eliminates calendar changes, as well.
- Tweak SSL credit. Eliminate meaningless virtual means to earn SSL hours and allow SSL credit for students who do things like rake or shovel snow for people in their neighborhoods.
- Allow participate in club or varsity sports to count for PE credit to open up schedules for other courses.
- If high school students now have to take a full year of health, incorporate other life skills like financial literacy into this year-long course. Make it more of a healthy/functional living course.
- The student member of the board should not be a voting member as he/she is not elected by taxpayers.

Wow. These are all great ideas!

Agree with all points!

This is all too sensible. And I had to add I really really hate the due date/deadline nonsense. It just confuses kids, and this isn’t how life works. The 50% rule is also perverse.

Calling BS that this is from a HS teacher. Why does random HS teacher care about having valedictorians or putting class rank on the transcript? Or SSL hours for shoveling snow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*These suggestions primarily relate to high school. Coming from a high school teacher.

- Require final exams at the end of each semester like we used to.
- At the high school level, eliminate Progress Checks given mid second and third quarters in favor of semester exams as listed above. We haven't even been allowed to count them as grades recently.
- Get rid of the due date/deadline nonsense and the 50% rule. Teach children the importance of meeting due dates.
- Calculate the semester transcript grade by adding first and second quarter percentages and dividing them by two.
- Calculate class rank and put it on the transcript.
- Have valedictorians and salutatorians at graduation and call them that.
- Reinstitute the loss of credit rule whereby students with a certain number of unexcused absences lose credit for high school courses.
- Get rid of all of these random days off. We hardly have a 5-day work week during the year. Once the year starts, keep it going.
- Incorporate virtual snow days so that instruction can continue in some form during inclement weather. This eliminates calendar changes, as well.
- Tweak SSL credit. Eliminate meaningless virtual means to earn SSL hours and allow SSL credit for students who do things like rake or shovel snow for people in their neighborhoods.
- Allow participate in club or varsity sports to count for PE credit to open up schedules for other courses.
- If high school students now have to take a full year of health, incorporate other life skills like financial literacy into this year-long course. Make it more of a healthy/functional living course.
- The student member of the board should not be a voting member as he/she is not elected by taxpayers.

Wow. These are all great ideas!

Agree with all points!

This is all too sensible. And I had to add I really really hate the due date/deadline nonsense. It just confuses kids, and this isn’t how life works. The 50% rule is also perverse.

Calling BS that this is from a HS teacher. Why does random HS teacher care about having valedictorians or putting class rank on the transcript? Or SSL hours for shoveling snow

Because I'm also the parent of two high school students.
Because I see kids being given SSL credit for writing messages on post-it notes and completing useless online surveys in school rather than actually serving others.
Because I sit at graduation at the end of every school year and watch the valedictorian, listed as some sort of scholarship recipient, give a speech without ever being officially recognized for being #1 in the class.
Because students who are as competitive as many are in MCPS should actually know what their class ranks are and should be able to submit that information to colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:*These suggestions primarily relate to high school. Coming from a high school teacher.

- Require final exams at the end of each semester like we used to.
- At the high school level, eliminate Progress Checks given mid second and third quarters in favor of semester exams as listed above. We haven't even been allowed to count them as grades recently.
- Get rid of the due date/deadline nonsense and the 50% rule. Teach children the importance of meeting due dates.
- Calculate the semester transcript grade by adding first and second quarter percentages and dividing them by two.
- Calculate class rank and put it on the transcript.
- Have valedictorians and salutatorians at graduation and call them that.
- Reinstitute the loss of credit rule whereby students with a certain number of unexcused absences lose credit for high school courses.
- Get rid of all of these random days off. We hardly have a 5-day work week during the year. Once the year starts, keep it going.
- Incorporate virtual snow days so that instruction can continue in some form during inclement weather. This eliminates calendar changes, as well.
- Tweak SSL credit. Eliminate meaningless virtual means to earn SSL hours and allow SSL credit for students who do things like rake or shovel snow for people in their neighborhoods.
- Allow participate in club or varsity sports to count for PE credit to open up schedules for other courses.
- If high school students now have to take a full year of health, incorporate other life skills like financial literacy into this year-long course. Make it more of a healthy/functional living course.
- The student member of the board should not be a voting member as he/she is not elected by taxpayers.

MmmmmK, boomer

[Anonymous]

I substituted in my kids' school for a day last year. There is a large swath of low SES students who essentially behave like barn animals. I am a college professor, and I would be absolutely shocked if half of these kids end up in college at all. If they do, I'm not sure those colleges should exist (and financially, I expect many will probably fold in the upcoming student loan reckoning within a decade). So, why are they in the same school as my 99th percentile student? It does nothing but drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator. The U.S. has been coasting on entrepreneurial spirit, good planning, and good luck for the past 50 years. In my opinion "improving schools" is a losing battle until we recognize that 50% of students are better trained as bricklayers or for other rudimentary tasks. Forget algebra - they need to learn basic stuff like how to sit down quietly and concentrate on a task.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I substituted in my kids' school for a day last year. There is a large swath of low SES students who essentially behave like barn animals. I am a college professor, and I would be absolutely shocked if half of these kids end up in college at all. If they do, I'm not sure those colleges should exist (and financially, I expect many will probably fold in the upcoming student loan reckoning within a decade). So, why are they in the same school as my 99th percentile student? It does nothing but drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator. The U.S. has been coasting on entrepreneurial spirit, good planning, and good luck for the past 50 years. In my opinion "improving schools" is a losing battle until we recognize that 50% of students are better trained as bricklayers or for other rudimentary tasks. Forget algebra - they need to learn basic stuff like how to sit down quietly and concentrate on a task.

*I meant to say we have been coasting on the spirit, planning, and luck of previous generations for the past 50 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I substituted in my kids' school for a day last year. There is a large swath of low SES students who essentially behave like barn animals. I am a college professor, and I would be absolutely shocked if half of these kids end up in college at all. If they do, I'm not sure those colleges should exist (and financially, I expect many will probably fold in the upcoming student loan reckoning within a decade). So, why are they in the same school as my 99th percentile student? It does nothing but drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator. The U.S. has been coasting on entrepreneurial spirit, good planning, and good luck for the past 50 years. In my opinion "improving schools" is a losing battle until we recognize that 50% of students are better trained as bricklayers or for other rudimentary tasks. Forget algebra - they need to learn basic stuff like how to sit down quietly and concentrate on a task.

-I think one of the reasons some of the students in MCPS are struggling is because we've moved to making all students "Honors Level" in subjects like English and History. This is hurting most students. High-achieving students are having bored because the curriculum has, in a sense, been "dumbed down" to cater a much wider variety of skill levels. Struggling students, on the other hand, act out because they are not getting the remedial supports they need in a curriculum that must also cater to higher level students. Tracking students is not popular these days, but it's actually preferable.

-Along the same lines, I think we need to go back to having kids who are interested and motivated apply to middle school and high school magnet programs. These programs are also suffering now that we have eliminated most of the application process (essays, letters of recommendation, etc.) and are choosing students mostly based on diversity. The real world is a competitive place. Students who are interested should apply - granted, school counselors should help to identify strong candidates who may not have parental support at home - and the students accepted should be the ones who rank the highest in the application process, regardless of race or other criteria. This should be entirely merit based.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so many people don't realize how good they have it. Still one of the best school systems in the nation

give teachers hazard pay during this difficult time too

This must be a joke, right? I just pulled my kids out to go to private out of state. They have learned more in 10 school days then in 3 years in MCPS. They actually have tests they need to study for and aren’t given sentence starters for their writing assignments. It’s not a terrible district, but let’s not call it the BEST.

It seems like they have also learned more in that 10 days than you have in your lifetime.

DP

You’re not nearly as cute as you think. Maybe it was a typo. Or the PP might be an immigrant. My parents were immigrants and would make such errors. However, they wanted a better education for me and my siblings. Luckily, we lived elsewhere and I got a fantastic public education.

You mocking the PP for a grammar error? That’s just silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I substituted in my kids' school for a day last year. There is a large swath of low SES students who essentially behave like barn animals. I am a college professor, and I would be absolutely shocked if half of these kids end up in college at all. If they do, I'm not sure those colleges should exist (and financially, I expect many will probably fold in the upcoming student loan reckoning within a decade). So, why are they in the same school as my 99th percentile student? It does nothing but drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator. The U.S. has been coasting on entrepreneurial spirit, good planning, and good luck for the past 50 years. In my opinion "improving schools" is a losing battle until we recognize that 50% of students are better trained as bricklayers or for other rudimentary tasks. Forget algebra - they need to learn basic stuff like how to sit down quietly and concentrate on a task.

-I think one of the reasons some of the students in MCPS are struggling is because we've moved to making all students "Honors Level" in subjects like English and History. This is hurting most students. High-achieving students are having bored because the curriculum has, in a sense, been "dumbed down" to cater a much wider variety of skill levels. Struggling students, on the other hand, act out because they are not getting the remedial supports they need in a curriculum that must also cater to higher level students. Tracking students is not popular these days, but it's actually preferable.

-Along the same lines, I think we need to go back to having kids who are interested and motivated apply to middle school and high school magnet programs. These programs are also suffering now that we have eliminated most of the application process (essays, letters of recommendation, etc.) and are choosing students mostly based on diversity. The real world is a competitive place. Students who are interested should apply - granted, school counselors should help to identify strong candidates who may not have parental support at home - and the students accepted should be the ones who rank the highest in the application process, regardless of race or other criteria. This should be entirely merit based.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*These suggestions primarily relate to high school. Coming from a high school teacher.

- Require final exams at the end of each semester like we used to.
- At the high school level, eliminate Progress Checks given mid second and third quarters in favor of semester exams as listed above. We haven't even been allowed to count them as grades recently.
- Get rid of the due date/deadline nonsense and the 50% rule. Teach children the importance of meeting due dates.
- Calculate the semester transcript grade by adding first and second quarter percentages and dividing them by two.
- Calculate class rank and put it on the transcript.
- Have valedictorians and salutatorians at graduation and call them that.
- Reinstitute the loss of credit rule whereby students with a certain number of unexcused absences lose credit for high school courses.
- Get rid of all of these random days off. We hardly have a 5-day work week during the year. Once the year starts, keep it going.
- Incorporate virtual snow days so that instruction can continue in some form during inclement weather. This eliminates calendar changes, as well.
- Tweak SSL credit. Eliminate meaningless virtual means to earn SSL hours and allow SSL credit for students who do things like rake or shovel snow for people in their neighborhoods.
- Allow participate in club or varsity sports to count for PE credit to open up schedules for other courses.
- If high school students now have to take a full year of health, incorporate other life skills like financial literacy into this year-long course. Make it more of a healthy/functional living course.
- The student member of the board should not be a voting member as he/she is not elected by taxpayers.

Wow. These are all great ideas!

Agree with all points!

This is all too sensible. And I had to add I really really hate the due date/deadline nonsense. It just confuses kids, and this isn’t how life works. The 50% rule is also perverse.

Calling BS that this is from a HS teacher. Why does random HS teacher care about having valedictorians or putting class rank on the transcript? Or SSL hours for shoveling snow

DP

You know what’s BS? That anyone would dispute what that PP HS teacher is saying. Everything in her post makes total sense. No good reason to dispute it, I guess, so you call it BS.

[Anonymous]

The only people who don't support breaking up the district are the equity warriors. The problem with the equity warriors is when they couldn't raise the bar for the lowest performers, they lowered the bar for the high performers.
Those of you who are on the fence don't do anyone any favors by continuing to vote for leaders that lower the bar for all.