Reply to The legislature may end up reverting the makeup days...

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math?  But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.
 
[quote]
On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360. 
[/quote][/quote]

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues.  Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years.  MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable.  The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.[/quote]

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent.  If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind. [/quote]

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.[/quote]

You sound dim.   I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.[/quote]

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.[/quote]

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all.  Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.[/quote]

+1  This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather. [/quote]

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.[/quote]

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction. [/quote]

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.[/quote]

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good. [/quote]

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.[/quote]

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years. [/quote]

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.[/quote]

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.[/quote]

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all.  Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America.  I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.  [/quote]

Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine. [/quote]

Schools in Colorado don't opt for the bare minimum that is legally mandated, unlike MCPS.[/quote] Well it's a lot easier to cover the minimum there so why would that be a surprise. 180 days is tough with more holidays and worse with makeup day requirements.[/quote]

31 states have a 180-day school year requirement.[/quote] Ah and this is where people are fooled. While 31 states says "180 days" most of them are more flexible; some like Virginia allow an hours substitute, some like New York allow a few PD days to count and some like California require 180 scheduled calendar school days but forgive all emergency closures. In NY schools can now go virtual to avoid makeup days. Maryland doesn't have any of those flexibilities.[/quote]

Maryland needs to keep up with the times. [/quote]

Yeah, math and reading proficiency hasn't dropped enough in MD, let's help it along[/quote]

It has everywhere. It’s a parenting problem, not a public education problem. [/quote]

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