New curriculum selection process delayed— new RFP must be issues now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Discovery Education even a viable source of a K-8 curriculum? It just sounds awful, lets buy the curriculum from the TV station down the street we happen to be familiar with. How many former MCPS employees have already taken jobs there. It also sounds like the drumbeat for a tech heavy solution is still driving things. Even if this wasn't a corrupt process, it seems like leaving the old team in place was going to lead to more of the same. Very discouraging.

MCPS needs an independent ethics board.

MCPS needs its own soap opera show.

This is it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when Discovery Education wins this bid the kids will watch reruns of Discovery shows on TV all day instead of using textbooks?

After C2.0 there is no reason they should pick a sketchy provider. Should be a well-established provider like McGraw Hill or any number of other well-known vendors, not a TV producer.

+1 billion.

Well-established vendors have their own issues, including but not limited to heavy influence from states like Texas, where curricula are heavily influenced by right-wing politics.

I agree with the PP who said MCPS should select JHU to choose the new curriculum. Choose one of the many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states.

~Parent of a senior who is glad to leave this shit show behind

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Well-established vendors have their own issues, including but not limited to heavy influence from states like Texas, where curricula are heavily influenced by right-wing politics.

I agree with the PP who said MCPS should select JHU to choose the new curriculum. Choose one of the many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states.

~Parent of a senior who is glad to leave this shit show behind

Could you please list three of these many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states?

[Anonymous]

Is Discovery Education even a viable source of a K-8 curriculum? It just sounds awful, lets buy the curriculum from the TV station down the street we happen to be familiar with. How many former MCPS employees have already taken jobs there. It also sounds like the drumbeat for a tech heavy solution is still driving things. Even if this wasn't a corrupt process, it seems like leaving the old team in place was going to lead to more of the same. Very discouraging.

This X100 plus why on earth are they treating the selection of a new curriculum as if they are just buying another product? They aren't buying an IT system or refurnishing an office. I don't think any of these people have experience outside MCPS and have no idea how to run a school system.

There are many reputable research groups such ass NCEE and the department of education that assess the quality of various curriculums and publish actual research and scholarly articles. MCPS could contact Howard to understand what they are using - as Howard has been far more successful than MCPS on this front. Many different ways to approach this expeditiously and effectively BUT it requires competent staff.

Its excellent that so many incompetent people are leaving MCPS but so sad that their shenanigans are still screwing the students .

An another note, parents should write to Discovery Education and send them the JHU report about Eric Lang's great curriculum and 30% error rate on materials. Discovery recently just sold Discovery Education to a San Francisco firm. I wonder if they know what an incompetent fool they just hired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well-established vendors have their own issues, including but not limited to heavy influence from states like Texas, where curricula are heavily influenced by right-wing politics.

I agree with the PP who said MCPS should select JHU to choose the new curriculum. Choose one of the many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states.

~Parent of a senior who is glad to leave this shit show behind

Could you please list three of these many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states?

NP but here goes:

For ELA:
William and Mary
Lucy Calkins
Writers Workshop
McGraw Hill has good grammar workbooks

For Math:
Eureka Math
Go Math
Singapore Math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well-established vendors have their own issues, including but not limited to heavy influence from states like Texas, where curricula are heavily influenced by right-wing politics.

I agree with the PP who said MCPS should select JHU to choose the new curriculum. Choose one of the many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states.

~Parent of a senior who is glad to leave this shit show behind

Could you please list three of these many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states?

Eureka Math
Go Math
Singapore Math

Writers Workshop
McGraw Hill has good grammar workbooks
Lucy Calkins
William and Mary

[Anonymous]

(Sorry for the double post — got an error message when I posted and thought it hadn’t posted).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well-established vendors have their own issues, including but not limited to heavy influence from states like Texas, where curricula are heavily influenced by right-wing politics.

I agree with the PP who said MCPS should select JHU to choose the new curriculum. Choose one of the many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states.

~Parent of a senior who is glad to leave this shit show behind

Could you please list three of these many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states?

Eureka Math
Go Math
Singapore Math

Writers Workshop
McGraw Hill has good grammar workbooks
Lucy Calkins
William and Mary

Those are all copyrighted materials, aren't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well-established vendors have their own issues, including but not limited to heavy influence from states like Texas, where curricula are heavily influenced by right-wing politics.

I agree with the PP who said MCPS should select JHU to choose the new curriculum. Choose one of the many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states.

~Parent of a senior who is glad to leave this shit show behind

Could you please list three of these many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states?

NP but here goes:

For ELA:
William and Mary
Lucy Calkins
Writers Workshop
McGraw Hill has good grammar workbooks

For Math:
Eureka Math
Go Math
Singapore Math

exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well-established vendors have their own issues, including but not limited to heavy influence from states like Texas, where curricula are heavily influenced by right-wing politics.

I agree with the PP who said MCPS should select JHU to choose the new curriculum. Choose one of the many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states.

~Parent of a senior who is glad to leave this shit show behind

Could you please list three of these many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states?

Eureka Math
Go Math
Singapore Math

Writers Workshop
McGraw Hill has good grammar workbooks
Lucy Calkins
William and Mary

Those are all copyrighted materials, aren't they?

Of course they are. Why would that matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Could you please list three of these many options in the public domain that has been through a university level evidence based peer review assessment and that is used by high ranking school systems in other states?

Eureka Math
Go Math
Singapore Math

Writers Workshop
McGraw Hill has good grammar workbooks
Lucy Calkins
William and Mary

Those are all copyrighted materials, aren't they?

Of course they are. Why would that matter?

The term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it.

https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/

[Anonymous]

They likely just meant off the shelf curriculum, not public domain.

[Anonymous]

I had thought Smith to be a reasonably competent guy. This Debacle proves that he is not. If he can’t fix this as expeditiously as possible, his contract should be terminated. Full Stop! I also think the BOE should be held accountable for this idiocy at the ballot box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had thought Smith to be a reasonably competent guy. This Debacle proves that he is not. If he can’t fix this as expeditiously as possible, his contract should be terminated. Full Stop! I also think the BOE should be held accountable for this idiocy at the ballot box.

Yes, Rise up! I am so angry about this - central admin's unique skillset of arrogance+incompetence is punishing everybES student in the county with an extra year of a curriculum found to be substandard. I should have picked another County. Awful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They likely just meant off the shelf curriculum, not public domain.

+1 MCPS has money to pay for licenses (as it paid to develop its own 2.0 materials). We don't need to use open source.