Reply to MCPS Graduation Rate Drops to 88.7% for 2024-2025 School Year; Down from 91.85% Previous Year

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Reply to "MCPS Graduation Rate Drops to 88.7% for 2024-2025 School Year; Down from 91.85% Previous Year"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Stop passing kids who don’t show mastery of foundational skills. Those students almost always have low attendance rates too. [/quote]

STFU stupid supremacist MAGA[/quote]

Obviously a troll, but can you explain why you think this?

When schools offered wood shop, metal shop, auto shop, etc. many kids mostly boys) had some life skills to fall back on if they dropped out. I don’t know why public schools fail to offer alternative paths for kids who aren’t academically inclined or motivated. [/quote]

MCPS tends to centralize those programs, which does not mean they don't exist. There are plenty of kids doing half days at Thomas Edison and finishing HS with AA degrees in health sciences or child development, or partially through an apprenticeship in HVAC or carpentry.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/career-readiness/plans/hs-plans/[/quote]

That’s great, but the trades haven’t been pushed as strongly as college. If a kid isn’t “college material “ because of grades (which may be due to other factors) MCPS doesn’t do a great job in pushing the trades as an alternative. Oftentimes, such kids fall through the cracks and stop attending school (while being kept on the books for funding purposes).

Also, centralized trade programs mean that they’re out of sight, out of mind. Unless peers or teachers notice and suggest that path (see above), at risk kids won’t notice those trade programs.[/quote]

Honest question - do you have an MCPS high schooler? Because I do and hear about these programs all the time even as a parent whose kid is on a different path. You are basically saying that counselors don't tell kids about these programs, but do you have any experience behind that?

The decision to centralize programs allows MCPS to offer a more robust suite of programs. Instead of a kid being able to take maybe 2 years of shop at a regular high school (as was the case at my HS), they can earn and entire certification and be employable straight out of HS. That is objectively better for kids on a trades path. [/quote]

Yes I do. Two kids in fact. And yes, counselors haven’t pushed trade school over college over the last couple of generations of kids. Today, the interest in the trades is actually coming from kids - but some counselors are still stuck in the past, particularly where their school administrators or central office still want a high college attendance rate after graduation. I’ve heard this first hand from one counselor.

Also, many MCPS high schools are very short on counselors, so they can’t adopt the required personal approach for individual kids. MCPS could use more counselors instead of administrators and consultants. 
[/quote]

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