Reply to TPMS magnet changes

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "TPMS magnet changes"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is not DCC middle schools that run an 8 period schedule, it is the middle school magnet consortium (Parkland, Argyle, Loiederman).  And no, teachers there do not teach 1 class every other day - on a 5 of 8 schedule, they teach 3 blocks one day and 2 blocks the next.  TPMS could have gone to a 5 of 8 schedule but significant class size increases would have been the trade-off.  Any parent who thinks 4-6 more students in every one of their child's classes would not impact the quality of instruction has clearly not spent time in a middle school. [/quote]

Wait, are you saying that in addition to 3 electives and the other benefits of the magnet, those classes are also smaller, at least 4-6 students below the middle school class size recommendations? [/quote]

I don’t think that’s what the PP is saying.  I read it as other schools accommodate the block schedule by having teachers teach 5 classes that are each larger than middle school class size recommendations by 4-6 students, while TPMS has been having teachers teach 6 classes that are each the standard size according to tge middle school class size recommendations.

It seems to me that the answer is to follow the model of the other school and have 5 larger classes.  If, as a prior poster suggests, this causes problems with classroom behavior, then we should revise our discipline policies so that teachers are empowered to maintain order in their classrooms. [/quote]

I believe this is  correct. TPMS class sizes are currently on the larger side of standard but other school are smaller, so their class sizes with five classes per teacher are already equivalent to TPMS with six classes per teacher. So if class sizes increased my kids class of 29 would become 33-35 and her class of 32 would be 36-38. My non magnet kid hates losing an elective but I know she would not do well in a class of 38.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics