Reply to The Best Remedy for Maryland K-12 Schooling.

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[quote=Anonymous]I am the OP.  I appreciate the thoughtful dialogue of the participants on this thread.  We lived in NJ.  While there are pros/cons to both systems (NJ and MCPS), I feel MCPS is too large with lot of centralization with attendant bureaucracy and remoteness to local/unique needs.  A simple example is that all schools shutdown or start late even when some towns had absolutely no snow!

To answer some shortcomings (real or not) raised by some posters on here:
1. In NJ some districts (not all) do have district wide test-in Whole High School Magnets that are science/humanities focused and district buses to transport students.
2. Some districts also have career-based trade schools in which some majors are test-in (eg. Healthcare concentration).
3. The state distributes state education funds based on the Socioeconomic Level of the residents of each school district with rich school districts receiving less money per student than poor districts.   https://www.state.nj.us/education/schools/achievement/dfg.htm
4. However, there is a case to be made that poorer school districts should be given even more money than they are currently receiving because they have greater needs (based on the student demographics and their level of school preparedness) http://www.edlawcenter.org/news/archives/school-funding/the-right-way-to-compare-nj-education-funding.html.  I must point out that this article in a footnote states that NJ already has a high degree of "equity" in terms of school district funding between rich and poor school districts.
5. With regard to the degree of PTA involvement, whether a school district is small as in NJ or large (MCPS) doesn't matter.  What matters is the ability of parents to devote their time and effort, their education level and skills, their level of involvement at home with their children's education on a daily basis.  In MCPS there is a large variation in how PTAs of various schools function in support of each school.
6. In my opinion, the achievement gap is being reduced in MCPS by accelerating the learning of some groups of students while simultaneously slowing (curtailing certain opportunities) some other groups of students.  Whereas, in smaller school districts (like in NJ) no student groups will be curtailed in how fast they are learning.  At the same time, smaller school districts where students need extra support, many different innovative methods can be tested, improved, and applied due to relative freedom each of those school districts will have to tailor the offerings to meet the specific needs of its student body.[/quote]

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