Reply to How big a deal are the recent teacher involuntary transfers?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?[/quote]

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased.  That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything.  At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them.  New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again.  (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers.  Usually they are found in the electives.  I can’t say I have liked all my admin.  Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability.  This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing.  But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore.  It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s.  These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching.  Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.[/quote]

This exactly. I am the poster you are responding to. I’ve been shocked how easy it is for students in MCPS to get a C or D or better while barely doing any work. MCPS creates disincentives for students to work hard. I teach at a low to middle income HS and it is not uncommon for students to get a C in, for example, Q3 and then skip class for the whole of Q4 and not turn in any work. When I chase them down, they say I know I can pass this semester with a D because I got a C in Q3. How is this good for anyone especially low income kids. Attendance means nothing. And then these kids get moved to the next level of math, etc., while lacking the knowledge of significant chunks of material. It is all so depressing. MCPS is not doing low income kids any favors. Teenagers are smart and know how to game the system. [/quote]

As a high school teacher I have realized that I have to make the 1st quarter of a semester more challenging to avoid an easy A,B,C's or else students slack off completely.   Next year I plan to be more ruthless.[/quote]

This exactly. Live and learn I guess. The grading policy demotivates almost all kids. Being a teacher these days is depressing.[/quote]

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