How to help MCPS' lowest performing students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For meals, I’d like to see protein for breakfast - like some sort of egg dish. The kids eat pure sugar for breakfast and are starving two hours later, when a kindly teacher might give them a carb snack.

I’d limit the screen time in lower elementary and encourage parents to do the same. More time just reading a book to the class where they sit there and develop their listening and concentration skills.

I’d continually reinforce basic math facts - simple single digit addition, substitution, multiplication way longer than you’d think necessary.

Yes - identifying issues earlier, especially for kids whose parents can’t.

Encourage kids to do their multiplication flashcards at home and test them daily on it at the correct grade level.

Additional recess or outdoor time. Both a morning and afternoon recess or daily PE. Some hard exercise in the morning might really help the kids and lower the amount of time spent on classroom management.

THANK YOU!
Such great points!!

Those are great points, but so many of those require Home support and that’s exactly what so many of these kids lack. some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home? some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home

This is what original question asks...How? What is needed? Who does what? Who gets those parents the assistance? Some will say parents have to want the assistance. Some families are in situations where they can't help with assignments and it's a struggle to motivate kid. Adults are also working during hours when they could be at home reading with their kid or practicing math. Do you tell parents to tell Larla, "you have to get all As."? Does that work or will that backfire (you're not my Larla's parent)? Students say their parents get home later, they eat dinner later than what is considered dinner time in US of A, they sleep later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Public school cannot fix absent or uneducated parenting, OP. That is the main hurdle.

If you're going to pick ONE single act that will impact every child for the better, that would be smaller classroom sizes, so that every child receives more individual feedback from their teacher. Right now, at any grade level, you need to be pretty functional to follow instruction, just because the teacher cannot spend enough time with each student. Students fall through the cracks, especially if their parents don't know how to work the system, request 504s or IEPs, etc.

Of course, I know it's not one act. A lot of schools are overcrowded. It means building more schools, which is always a huge problem in MoCo. It means billions in expenditure that the County tells us we don't have.

Agree. Smaller class sizes and better enforcement of discipline. Both would go a long way in improving the environment in schools and improving teacher/student morale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have wasted enough money trying to fix cultural problems. It's time to re-prioritize.

Agree. Focus on the basics.

The school system and teachers cannot fix cultural problems. Let them focus on teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

All racial and ethnic groups prioritize education. Some people in each group don't or not in the way you believe they should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For meals, I’d like to see protein for breakfast - like some sort of egg dish. The kids eat pure sugar for breakfast and are starving two hours later, when a kindly teacher might give them a carb snack.

I’d limit the screen time in lower elementary and encourage parents to do the same. More time just reading a book to the class where they sit there and develop their listening and concentration skills.

I’d continually reinforce basic math facts - simple single digit addition, substitution, multiplication way longer than you’d think necessary.

Yes - identifying issues earlier, especially for kids whose parents can’t.

Encourage kids to do their multiplication flashcards at home and test them daily on it at the correct grade level.

Additional recess or outdoor time. Both a morning and afternoon recess or daily PE. Some hard exercise in the morning might really help the kids and lower the amount of time spent on classroom management.

THANK YOU!
Such great points!!

Those are great points, but so many of those require Home support and that’s exactly what so many of these kids lack. some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home? some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home

This is what original question asks...How? What is needed? Who does what? Who gets those parents the assistance? Some will say parents have to want the assistance. Some families are in situations where they can't help with assignments and it's a struggle to motivate kid. Adults are also working during hours when they could be at home reading with their kid or practicing math. Do you tell parents to tell Larla, "you have to get all As."? Does that work or will that backfire (you're not my Larla's parent)? Students say their parents get home later, they eat dinner later than what is considered dinner time in US of A, they sleep later.

That's where community comes in. You don't have to eat dinner at a specific time. Some folks eat at 5pm some folks eat at 8:30. Both is fine. The question is when does your family and community engage. This is why after school care, and Boys and Girls Club, and Church youth groups exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

All racial and ethnic groups prioritize education. Some people in each group don't or not in the way you believe they should.

Yep. And you have in each group who don't.

Believe there are more parents in mcps who prioritize than don't. But for those that don't, is there anything fellow teachers, other parents, commhnity, non profits, older students within same school district could do to get those students to improve their performance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For meals, I’d like to see protein for breakfast - like some sort of egg dish. The kids eat pure sugar for breakfast and are starving two hours later, when a kindly teacher might give them a carb snack.

I’d limit the screen time in lower elementary and encourage parents to do the same. More time just reading a book to the class where they sit there and develop their listening and concentration skills.

I’d continually reinforce basic math facts - simple single digit addition, substitution, multiplication way longer than you’d think necessary.

Yes - identifying issues earlier, especially for kids whose parents can’t.

Encourage kids to do their multiplication flashcards at home and test them daily on it at the correct grade level.

Additional recess or outdoor time. Both a morning and afternoon recess or daily PE. Some hard exercise in the morning might really help the kids and lower the amount of time spent on classroom management.

THANK YOU!
Such great points!!

Those are great points, but so many of those require Home support and that’s exactly what so many of these kids lack. some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home? some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home

This is what original question asks...How? What is needed? Who does what? Who gets those parents the assistance? Some will say parents have to want the assistance. Some families are in situations where they can't help with assignments and it's a struggle to motivate kid. Adults are also working during hours when they could be at home reading with their kid or practicing math. Do you tell parents to tell Larla, "you have to get all As."? Does that work or will that backfire (you're not my Larla's parent)? Students say their parents get home later, they eat dinner later than what is considered dinner time in US of A, they sleep later.

That's where community comes in. You don't have to eat dinner at a specific time. Some folks eat at 5pm some folks eat at 8:30. Both is fine. The question is when does your family and community engage. This is why after school care, and Boys and Girls Club, and Church youth groups exist.

Ok. Are B&G clubs in schools to engage and help students? Or do mcps students go to b&g clubs (is it a coordinated effort - bus comes picks them up at their school to take them to the club)? After care can be expensive for families. Not all schools have clubs in ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

All racial and ethnic groups prioritize education. Some people in each group don't or not in the way you believe they should.

Yep. And you have in each group who don't.

Believe there are more parents in mcps who prioritize than don't. But for those that don't, is there anything fellow teachers, other parents, commhnity, non profits, older students within same school district could do to get those students to improve their performance?

We have been asking and investigating that for years and years with nothing to show for it. Schools all over the country face these issues and there is no answer because it is not something the school system can fix. Meanwhile we have schools that are moldy, crumbling, and overdue for renovation. At a certain point the parents of these kids need to ask what they can do to improve their children's performance, and we need to meet the basic needs of all of our students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

All racial and ethnic groups prioritize education. Some people in each group don't or not in the way you believe they should.

The groups that are not sending their children to school regularly (chronic absenteeism) do not highly prioritize education. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about education but they are obviously prioritizing other things (keeping their job, babysitting toddler siblings, etc.) above education. Unfortunately racial and ethnic group is somewhat predictive of level of priority although every family is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

All racial and ethnic groups prioritize education. Some people in each group don't or not in the way you believe they should.

The groups that are not sending their children to school regularly (chronic absenteeism) do not highly prioritize education. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about education but they are obviously prioritizing other things (keeping their job, babysitting toddler siblings, etc.) above education. Unfortunately racial and ethnic group is somewhat predictive of level of priority although every family is different.

It's weird how families with fewer resources prioritize the more immediate needs over the less immediate ones, compared to families with more resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

All racial and ethnic groups prioritize education. Some people in each group don't or not in the way you believe they should.

The groups that are not sending their children to school regularly (chronic absenteeism) do not highly prioritize education. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about education but they are obviously prioritizing other things (keeping their job, babysitting toddler siblings, etc.) above education. Unfortunately racial and ethnic group is somewhat predictive of level of priority although every family is different.

You do know there are chronic absentee students in all the major racial/ethnic groups that MCPS measures? White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For meals, I’d like to see protein for breakfast - like some sort of egg dish. The kids eat pure sugar for breakfast and are starving two hours later, when a kindly teacher might give them a carb snack.

I’d limit the screen time in lower elementary and encourage parents to do the same. More time just reading a book to the class where they sit there and develop their listening and concentration skills.

I’d continually reinforce basic math facts - simple single digit addition, substitution, multiplication way longer than you’d think necessary.

Yes - identifying issues earlier, especially for kids whose parents can’t.

Encourage kids to do their multiplication flashcards at home and test them daily on it at the correct grade level.

Additional recess or outdoor time. Both a morning and afternoon recess or daily PE. Some hard exercise in the morning might really help the kids and lower the amount of time spent on classroom management.

THANK YOU!
Such great points!!

Those are great points, but so many of those require Home support and that’s exactly what so many of these kids lack. some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home? some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home

This is what original question asks...How? What is needed? Who does what? Who gets those parents the assistance? Some will say parents have to want the assistance. Some families are in situations where they can't help with assignments and it's a struggle to motivate kid. Adults are also working during hours when they could be at home reading with their kid or practicing math. Do you tell parents to tell Larla, "you have to get all As."? Does that work or will that backfire (you're not my Larla's parent)? Students say their parents get home later, they eat dinner later than what is considered dinner time in US of A, they sleep later.

So imo the solution isn’t at home, it needs to be occurring at the school and I agree with smaller class sizes and really helping the kids at their level. Not trying to push them through to the next grade or passing them just because it’s a nice thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For meals, I’d like to see protein for breakfast - like some sort of egg dish. The kids eat pure sugar for breakfast and are starving two hours later, when a kindly teacher might give them a carb snack.

I’d limit the screen time in lower elementary and encourage parents to do the same. More time just reading a book to the class where they sit there and develop their listening and concentration skills.

I’d continually reinforce basic math facts - simple single digit addition, substitution, multiplication way longer than you’d think necessary.

Yes - identifying issues earlier, especially for kids whose parents can’t.

Encourage kids to do their multiplication flashcards at home and test them daily on it at the correct grade level.

Additional recess or outdoor time. Both a morning and afternoon recess or daily PE. Some hard exercise in the morning might really help the kids and lower the amount of time spent on classroom management.

THANK YOU!
Such great points!!

Those are great points, but so many of those require Home support and that’s exactly what so many of these kids lack. some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home? some of these kids don’t have good parental oversight or involvement. Who is going to push them to do flashcards at home

This is what original question asks...How? What is needed? Who does what? Who gets those parents the assistance? Some will say parents have to want the assistance. Some families are in situations where they can't help with assignments and it's a struggle to motivate kid. Adults are also working during hours when they could be at home reading with their kid or practicing math. Do you tell parents to tell Larla, "you have to get all As."? Does that work or will that backfire (you're not my Larla's parent)? Students say their parents get home later, they eat dinner later than what is considered dinner time in US of A, they sleep later.

That's where community comes in. You don't have to eat dinner at a specific time. Some folks eat at 5pm some folks eat at 8:30. Both is fine. The question is when does your family and community engage. This is why after school care, and Boys and Girls Club, and Church youth groups exist.

Ok. Are B&G clubs in schools to engage and help students? Or do mcps students go to b&g clubs (is it a coordinated effort - bus comes picks them up at their school to take them to the club)? After care can be expensive for families. Not all schools have clubs in ES.

Not necessarily. But partnership with them including bus transportation would be something that most folks could get behind. Them and other similar programs offer a place for kids to engage in activities, do homework, get tutoring, etc. I would rather we invest in that across the district as opposed to Kids Museum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS lowest performing students are not predicted by rich or poor kids. It is predicted by race mainly.

which is correlated to rich and poor

No, it is related to group culture and identity, which is part of the racial identity.

Even a poor and uneducated ORM's kid will do well as it has been proven by the kids of uneducated Chinese restaurant workers in Chinatown in New York who end up in Stuyvesant magnet school.

Some racial, ethnic, national groups prioritize education.

All racial and ethnic groups prioritize education. Some people in each group don't or not in the way you believe they should.

The groups that are not sending their children to school regularly (chronic absenteeism) do not highly prioritize education. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about education but they are obviously prioritizing other things (keeping their job, babysitting toddler siblings, etc.) above education. Unfortunately racial and ethnic group is somewhat predictive of level of priority although every family is different.

You do know there are chronic absentee students in all the major racial/ethnic groups that MCPS measures? White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian.

DP. where is data? asking because don't know not to be snarky.