MCCPTA Gifted Education Committee's Complaint about Systemic Failures by MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked at the MCPS response and whoever is in charge should be fired.
We need a judge to make them comply and to expose this to more taxpayers. Are you listening Bethesda Beat person and other reporters?


The PTA asked for very basic information that should require one of their data people about a half hour to produce.
Yet they claim it will take a huge amount of time and will be very expensive to produce. This is a complete lie and everyone knows it.

SHAME ON YOU MCPS

To sum up - they are not going to make it transparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am holding out hope that the Superintendent McKnight fixes this culture of sneakiness.

The goal of equity are important but the way MCPS is going about hiding things and not being transparent is hurting the entire community. It is extremely divisive and I see parents who are angry and kids who are accusing each other of getting into programs just because prepping in the past and now because they are of a certain race. This is a situation that MCPS has created.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also appreciate the MCCPTA GEC advocacy. I agree with those who would like to take all of the eggs out of the magnet basket and upgrade home school curriculum. The state of Middle School curriculum is troubling for advanced learners. The two enriched classes (AIM HIGH) are better than nothing, but the level of instruction for English and Science should be upgraded. Too much filling in work sheets and busy work.

High School has lots of opportunities for kids to challenge themselves.

High school is not as rigorous as it used to be. No exams. Very little homework. For English, your child is lucky if more than two books are read in a semester (and this includes AP Literature). No penalty if a child turns in assignments late. At least half of my child’s teachers do not take attendance. When he is sick, he is still marked present.

I worry about what MCPS thinks they are preparing students for beyond high school.

Which school does you student attend?!?!?!?!?!?!? We have exams. We have homework. We have late penalties. We get notices if the kid is 3 minutes late to a class.

Is your student telling you this stuff?

I'm guessing it's just fiction because we are at a DCC high school and none of what they're saying is true.

My child attends Churchill.

Parentvue tells me my child was recorded as present for most periods when my child was home sick. Parentvue also reflects full credit for assignments turned in late. Two books assigned for AP English each semester this year, about the same as previous years in the cluster. The rigor has been non-existent for current students at the school.

Perhaps the problem in MCPS is that some schools offer more opportunities than others. Just because a school labels a class as an AP class doesn’t mean necessarily that it’s a rigorous course and that students have to meet high standards.

You have no idea how advanced and rigorous the programs are at Churchill. Do not post wrong information please.

Please enlighten DCUM readers then. I posted examples of how standards have slipped. Why don’t you post your own examples if I am wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm more concerned about the bulk of average kids who don't get the attention and help they need to reach their potential.

It’s really concerning that MCPS is incapable of serving anyone. Gifted, special needs and average kids are all being left behind. It’s not good.

Many kids are well served; you rarely here about them, though. My kid didn't get into a magnet but got all 5s but one 4 (and still frosted) on APs, a 36 on the ACT, and is currently at a top 10 school. Not sure how much better it could have gone (besides that one 4).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm more concerned about the bulk of average kids who don't get the attention and help they need to reach their potential.

It’s really concerning that MCPS is incapable of serving anyone. Gifted, special needs and average kids are all being left behind. It’s not good.

Many kids are well served; you rarely here about them, though. My kid didn't get into a magnet but got all 5s but one 4 (and still frosted) on APs, a 36 on the ACT, and is currently at a top 10 school. Not sure how much better it could have gone (besides that one 4).

Your kids may have been well served, but many are not. I don't know any kids trebly well served. But, it also depends on the school/teachers you have. You have smart kids who would have done well anywhere regardless of the theaters/school system and probably could afford to supplement with tutors, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also appreciate the MCCPTA GEC advocacy. I agree with those who would like to take all of the eggs out of the magnet basket and upgrade home school curriculum. The state of Middle School curriculum is troubling for advanced learners. The two enriched classes (AIM HIGH) are better than nothing, but the level of instruction for English and Science should be upgraded. Too much filling in work sheets and busy work.

High School has lots of opportunities for kids to challenge themselves.

High school is not as rigorous as it used to be. No exams. Very little homework. For English, your child is lucky if more than two books are read in a semester (and this includes AP Literature). No penalty if a child turns in assignments late. At least half of my child’s teachers do not take attendance. When he is sick, he is still marked present.

I worry about what MCPS thinks they are preparing students for beyond high school.

Which school does you student attend?!?!?!?!?!?!? We have exams. We have homework. We have late penalties. We get notices if the kid is 3 minutes late to a class.

Is your student telling you this stuff?

I'm guessing it's just fiction because we are at a DCC high school and none of what they're saying is true.

My child attends Churchill.

Parentvue tells me my child was recorded as present for most periods when my child was home sick. Parentvue also reflects full credit for assignments turned in late. Two books assigned for AP English each semester this year, about the same as previous years in the cluster. The rigor has been non-existent for current students at the school.

Perhaps the problem in MCPS is that some schools offer more opportunities than others. Just because a school labels a class as an AP class doesn’t mean necessarily that it’s a rigorous course and that students have to meet high standards.

You have no idea how advanced and rigorous the programs are at Churchill. Do not post wrong information please.

That is just one school out of how many? That's great Churchill is special but generally all the W schools get more with that kind of stuff as they have wealthier parents. That's not true at other schools so you just proved part of the concern.

[Anonymous]

Lets be honest folks. The gifted programs at all levels probably decrease diversity. The BoE has prioritized increasing diversity for any school or program. As an example MCPS knows it would look bad if Asians are getting in at a very low acceptance rate I’m order to increase the acceptance rate of other groups.

What needs to be done is increase the number of programs and put them in more schools. Take the top 20% like Fairfax Co does any give them enrichment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lets be honest folks. The gifted programs at all levels probably decrease diversity. The BoE has prioritized increasing diversity for any school or program. As an example MCPS knows it would look bad if Asians are getting in at a very low acceptance rate I’m order to increase the acceptance rate of other groups.

What needs to be done is increase the number of programs and put them in more schools. Take the top 20% like Fairfax Co does any give them enrichment.

Yeah, why can’t each school have enrichment. Bus the kids who are gifted at their schools without enough students to form a gifted class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lets be honest folks. The gifted programs at all levels probably decrease diversity. The BoE has prioritized increasing diversity for any school or program. As an example MCPS knows it would look bad if Asians are getting in at a very low acceptance rate I’m order to increase the acceptance rate of other groups.

What needs to be done is increase the number of programs and put them in more schools. Take the top 20% like Fairfax Co does any give them enrichment.

Yeah, why can’t each school have enrichment. Bus the kids who are gifted at their schools without enough students to form a gifted class.

Our ES had a classroom that was dedicated to all the IEP kids (which should be illegal). So, why can't they also have a classroom for the smarter kids. One SN, one regular and one more advanced classroom. Simple enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also appreciate the MCCPTA GEC advocacy. I agree with those who would like to take all of the eggs out of the magnet basket and upgrade home school curriculum. The state of Middle School curriculum is troubling for advanced learners. The two enriched classes (AIM HIGH) are better than nothing, but the level of instruction for English and Science should be upgraded. Too much filling in work sheets and busy work.

High School has lots of opportunities for kids to challenge themselves.

High school is not as rigorous as it used to be. No exams. Very little homework. For English, your child is lucky if more than two books are read in a semester (and this includes AP Literature). No penalty if a child turns in assignments late. At least half of my child’s teachers do not take attendance. When he is sick, he is still marked present.

I worry about what MCPS thinks they are preparing students for beyond high school.

Which school does you student attend?!?!?!?!?!?!? We have exams. We have homework. We have late penalties. We get notices if the kid is 3 minutes late to a class.

Is your student telling you this stuff?

We've never had any of that stuff. You are at MCPS? We don't have any accelerated classes in MS either, including HIGH. My child has read two books this year in English.

My kid read two over the weekend. Brought them home from the school library.

That's good. We are talking about assigned reading, not ES kids bring home two books a week to read. Our school doesn't have a school library.

Which MCPS school doesn't have a library?

Virtual kids have no access to library beyond public or online.

But isn't that the point of virtual schooling is you don't go into a physical building?

In any case I think Montgomery county is hiring a librarian for virtual academy next year I am not sure if their responsibility will be to help students access on my resources or if they will be some sort of physical library that is dedicated to virtual students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lets be honest folks. The gifted programs at all levels probably decrease diversity. The BoE has prioritized increasing diversity for any school or program. As an example MCPS knows it would look bad if Asians are getting in at a very low acceptance rate I’m order to increase the acceptance rate of other groups.

What needs to be done is increase the number of programs and put them in more schools. Take the top 20% like Fairfax Co does any give them enrichment.

Yeah, why can’t each school have enrichment. Bus the kids who are gifted at their schools without enough students to form a gifted class.

Our ES had a classroom that was dedicated to all the IEP kids (which should be illegal). So, why can't they also have a classroom for the smarter kids. One SN, one regular and one more advanced classroom. Simple enough.

I think it would be smarter to have a gifted cohort in a classroom vs an all gifted class especially in elementary.

You can have a classroom that has a concentrated number of kids with IEPs but it doesn't mean that every single child in there has an IEP. And most schools have more than three classrooms per grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also appreciate the MCCPTA GEC advocacy. I agree with those who would like to take all of the eggs out of the magnet basket and upgrade home school curriculum. The state of Middle School curriculum is troubling for advanced learners. The two enriched classes (AIM HIGH) are better than nothing, but the level of instruction for English and Science should be upgraded. Too much filling in work sheets and busy work.

High School has lots of opportunities for kids to challenge themselves.

High school is not as rigorous as it used to be. No exams. Very little homework. For English, your child is lucky if more than two books are read in a semester (and this includes AP Literature). No penalty if a child turns in assignments late. At least half of my child’s teachers do not take attendance. When he is sick, he is still marked present.

I worry about what MCPS thinks they are preparing students for beyond high school.

Nice try: they read almost a dozen books in AP Lit. They take tons of AP exams. If a kid wants rigor it's there.

Where did pp's kids go to high school. That isn't like any hs I know of. My kids had so much work it was insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also appreciate the MCCPTA GEC advocacy. I agree with those who would like to take all of the eggs out of the magnet basket and upgrade home school curriculum. The state of Middle School curriculum is troubling for advanced learners. The two enriched classes (AIM HIGH) are better than nothing, but the level of instruction for English and Science should be upgraded. Too much filling in work sheets and busy work.

High School has lots of opportunities for kids to challenge themselves.

High school is not as rigorous as it used to be. No exams. Very little homework. For English, your child is lucky if more than two books are read in a semester (and this includes AP Literature). No penalty if a child turns in assignments late. At least half of my child’s teachers do not take attendance. When he is sick, he is still marked present.

I worry about what MCPS thinks they are preparing students for beyond high school.

Nice try: they read almost a dozen books in AP Lit. They take tons of AP exams. If a kid wants rigor it's there.

Where did pp's kids go to high school. That isn't like any hs I know of. My kids had so much work it was insane.

Probably not MCPS. We get random non-NoCo posters here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lets be honest folks. The gifted programs at all levels probably decrease diversity. The BoE has prioritized increasing diversity for any school or program. As an example MCPS knows it would look bad if Asians are getting in at a very low acceptance rate I’m order to increase the acceptance rate of other groups.

What needs to be done is increase the number of programs and put them in more schools. Take the top 20% like Fairfax Co does any give them enrichment.

Yeah, why can’t each school have enrichment. Bus the kids who are gifted at their schools without enough students to form a gifted class.

Our ES had a classroom that was dedicated to all the IEP kids (which should be illegal). So, why can't they also have a classroom for the smarter kids. One SN, one regular and one more advanced classroom. Simple enough.

Well, for starters, there are some kids who are gifted/advanced learners and also receive supports and accommodations!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked at the MCPS response and whoever is in charge should be fired.
We need a judge to make them comply and to expose this to more taxpayers. Are you listening Bethesda Beat person and other reporters?


The PTA asked for very basic information that should require one of their data people about a half hour to produce.
Yet they claim it will take a huge amount of time and will be very expensive to produce. This is a complete lie and everyone knows it.

SHAME ON YOU MCPS

To sum up - they are not going to make it transparent.

It sounds like they are but likely need to scrub the data since they can't release personal info about minors and also have other pressing duties.