Is anyone happy with MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be interested in hearing from the large number of people that came from DC to MCPS. This is mostly because we have comparison points whereas others may not. I can say that even the best schools in DC (and many of them are charters) offer far less than MCPS.

OP here. I would be interested to hear from former DCPS parents whose kids switched to MCPS, too, for comparison.

I read the DCPS forum sometimes and it does feel like those parents (in WOTP and CH schools) are happier overall than MCPS parents, aside from MCPS parents in “W” school pyramids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

We were originally told there would be 4 books, one per semester. Teacher seems good but there should also be longer pieces of literature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

Well that's stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

There are different posters. If they want a book on critical race theory, I'd be thrilled as at least they were reading a book.

Bottomline is some of these AP classes do not prepare students. Only one AP classes even uses a textbook. I cannot see how the kids will get 4/5's given the minimal curriculum. And, that's the point that posters are making is there is no consistency between schools or even teachers. Zero accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

Well that's stupid.

Our history teachers consistently use text books, regular assignments, required note taking, and tests and the kids ALL do much better on the tests than in other subjects where there are no textbooks and really nothing AP about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

Well that's stupid.

What would be your metric oh brilliant one? AP test scores are national independently assessed exams.

MCPS publishes AP scores by subject and school if you were interested looking at outcome data rather than posting whiny messages about MCPS teaching your kid only one book about “critical race theory” at a school you won’t name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be interested in hearing from the large number of people that came from DC to MCPS. This is mostly because we have comparison points whereas others may not. I can say that even the best schools in DC (and many of them are charters) offer far less than MCPS.

+1
I also came from DC, and thanks to the DCC my kids were able to pursue each, their own academic interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

There are different posters. If they want a book on critical race theory, I'd be thrilled as at least they were reading a book.

Bottomline is some of these AP classes do not prepare students. Only one AP classes even uses a textbook. I cannot see how the kids will get 4/5's given the minimal curriculum. And, that's the point that posters are making is there is no consistency between schools or even teachers. Zero accountability.

What you “see” and predict that students will score (particularly students who are not your own kids) is useless. As the other PP mentioned, look up your school’s historical AP performance by school as it’s posted on the MCPS site. If it’s bad, perhaps it’s a problem of your kid’s teacher and/or their chosen curriculum, or perhaps your kids are just at a poorly performing school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

Well that's stupid.

What would be your metric oh brilliant one? AP test scores are national independently assessed exams.

MCPS publishes AP scores by subject and school if you were interested looking at outcome data rather than posting whiny messages about MCPS teaching your kid only one book about “critical race theory” at a school you won’t name.

DP.

People who whine about "critical race theory" ar outing themselves as idiots.

https://www.albert.io/blog/ultimate-ap-english-literature-reading-list/

1. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Ellison’s Invisible Man is a long read but it is definitely worth your time. It expertly tackles race and bigotry, and its effect on the minds of everyone involved. Themes of race, identity, ideology, and stereotypes are explored.

This is the most frequently referenced title on the AP® English Literature book list since 1971.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 My kid is reading a Shakespeare play in MCPS middle school. And some short stories by widely respected authors. And 2 books as of MP2. But even if they were reading zero books and all plays and short stories, I wouldn’t complain that having no books made the class inherently bad. That’s just narrow -minded thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

Well that's stupid.

What would be your metric oh brilliant one? AP test scores are national independently assessed exams.

MCPS publishes AP scores by subject and school if you were interested looking at outcome data rather than posting whiny messages about MCPS teaching your kid only one book about “critical race theory” at a school you won’t name.

DP.

People who whine about "critical race theory" ar outing themselves as idiots.

https://www.albert.io/blog/ultimate-ap-english-literature-reading-list/

1. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Ellison’s Invisible Man is a long read but it is definitely worth your time. It expertly tackles race and bigotry, and its effect on the minds of everyone involved. Themes of race, identity, ideology, and stereotypes are explored.

This is the most frequently referenced title on the AP® English Literature book list since 1971.

If that’s the book that the PP is writing about it in such a derogatory way, I pity them. Too bad they are allowing political views get in their way of appreciating a great work of literature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

This. The academic rigor just isn’t there compared with my rigorous private school education 30 years ago. They barely teach writing. My 6th grader has never been asked to write even a book report let alone a real essay or paper. But I’m not sure any other local public is better. We don’t have the money for private. As far as school experience goes it’s been fine. Just I wonder about the curriculum. My 3rd grader is doing a bit more writing so maybe it is improving.

Reading books is overrated and doesn't necessarily make a school rigorous.
Welcome to the 21st century.

Teaching writing well is hard with such big class sizes that MCPS has, but my MCPS 4th grader does weekly reading reports that are similar to the book reports I did as a kid (although they're shorter). My 6th grader did essays (and they definitely increase in frequency in 7th and 8th grade).

That's fantastic, but that wasn't our experience at all in ES or MS. We didn't have weekly book reports in 4th. We had a chart where kids had to pick one activity (i.e. read for 15 minutes, or anwser one question in 2-3 sentences). MCPS really varies by school and teachers.

Yes, of course that's the case, and most people recognize that their experiences aren't universal in a large public school system, which is why I take statements like "my AP English kid read only 1 book" with a grain of salt. My kid struggled in 7th grade English with a teacher who assigned a lot of writing and some texts that I honestly thought were more suitable to high school. I was told he was the toughest English teacher in the school. My kid's 8th grade teacher assigns a lot more multiple choice assignments and a lot less writing.

You were really lucky then. We have had one book in AP English this year. We have never had more than 2 books a year, maybe one year we had three but that wasn't the norm. Never had lots of multiple choice. Most writing assignments are a paragraph or two.

I wouldn’t judge the rigor of an AP English class on the number of books they’ve read. Are they reading historic texts? Classic short stories that are considered exemplary literary works? Sometimes the teacher is showing a specific literary device or teaching a specific theme that is featured for the AP exam and can do that with a shorter piece of literature. And you can do that whether or not something is a “book.”

+1 I would judge the rigor/quality of an AP English class by how many kids are earning 4s/5s. How has the school that the PP won’t name but allegedly only assigns one book on critical race theory (the name of which book PP won’t name) performing?

Well that's stupid.

What would be your metric oh brilliant one? AP test scores are national independently assessed exams.

MCPS publishes AP scores by subject and school if you were interested looking at outcome data rather than posting whiny messages about MCPS teaching your kid only one book about “critical race theory” at a school you won’t name.

How dare you bring data on educational outcomes into a discussion about the PP’s opinions into what makes a good education. /s