Reply to Should MCPS be sued too?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When someone digs a little deeper, the MCPS skeletons will be uncovered. The achievement gap between special populations have plagued MCPS for decades. [/quote]

Skeletons? Every school system has problems with the achievement gap between "special" populations. You make it sound like this is some hidden deep dark secret when the data is out there for everyone to see. The issue is the only people who care about that are parents of the "special" population. This isn't something MCPS is doing intentionally. No one knows what to do to fix this. If the special ed population is who you are referring to, none of the school systems does a very good job and most try to pretend like the kids don't exist. It's going to get worse because of teacher shortages which mean not only fewer teachers but out of desperation they hire people they never should hire.

If it's minority students you're referring to, programs have been tried and numerous studies have been done. I know good educators who are so frustrated by this themselves not knowing what to do to remedy this. [/quote]

I often think of the saying you can lead a horse to water. Education is about providing opportunities. The demographics of the county have changed radically over the past few decades. This impacts test score averages. It doesn't mean that there is less opportunity to obtain a first-rate education; however, many students just aren't interested. I don't have the answers but I often wonder if maybe we should meet kids where they are instead of insisting that everyone go to college or take advanced math.[/quote]

We [i]don't [/i] insist that everyone go to college or take advanced math. MCPS has been increasing the number of programs for career preparation in high school, and there are lots of interesting options. Kids should be encouraged to explore these and not feel stigmatized about them.[/quote]

[b]So much of HS seems geared toward this though[/b] and we even rank HS based on college readiness. This seems kind of silly in low-income areas where there is lower college participation. Now don't get me wrong I feel we should  help everyone pursue that if that's their goal. I just don't think we should make it the default.[/quote]

But I think it's changing, in a positive direction. "College and career readiness" is the phrase being used in high schools all the time these days. [/quote]

Heck, our Focus elementary school had a college day every year. They really pumped up kids to expect that they could and would go to college one day. They kind of tied it into the colleges their teachers had graduated from, presumably because many of them didn’t have a parent or other family member who had gone to college (at least not in the US). [/quote]

There is nothing wrong with getting the idea in these kids' heads that they will go to college -- especially if their parents didn't go. What's wrong with you? These kids deserve a chance and they have potential just like kids in better public elementary schools. FYI many parents choose the college that offers the most financial aid to their kid. In addition to teaching them the expectation that they will go to college, they also need counseling to get all the financial aid they need and DESERVE. MC and UMC kids get loads of financial aid in college.[/quote]

No one *deserves* anything. In any case, presenting multiple options can remove the stigma for everyone. College is expensive and not required to have a great life. [/quote]

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