Tx. Have no desire to get in the political mix of the Parents Coalition but definitely want to aim for transparency for all GT kids!

^^^but try just plain asking MCPS, first! The PIA request should be plan B.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that crowdsourcing at DCUM will give a good idea of what's going on around the county...

But asking MCPS might. If I were you, I would start by calling here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/directory/directory_Boxoffice.aspx?processlevel=32211

And keep in the back of your mind that this is surely public information (though I am not a lawyer), and wouldn't it be easier for them to just give you the information now, instead of having to respond to a Maryland Public Information Act request.

I wish and I'll happily file a FOIA request for the information. But have you ever done one? It's cumbersome and there's no guarantee of when you'll get the information. As we're all getting info now, we could pull together something that's the start of transparency much more quickly if we all pool together what's going on at our schools.

Yes, I have done a PIA (not a FOIA - that's federal).

Here's a sample request letter:

http://www.oag.state.md.us/Opengov/Appendix_A.pdf

Here's the manual:

http://www.oag.state.md.us/Opengov/pia.htm

Here's where you should send it:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/news/mpia-info-sheet.pdf

And if MCPS turns down your request, I'm sure that the Gazette would be happy to run a story about it. (The Montgomery Parents Coalition, too... )

Anonymous wrote:I don't think that crowdsourcing at DCUM will give a good idea of what's going on around the county...

But asking MCPS might. If I were you, I would start by calling here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/directory/directory_Boxoffice.aspx?processlevel=32211

And keep in the back of your mind that this is surely public information (though I am not a lawyer), and wouldn't it be easier for them to just give you the information now, instead of having to respond to a Maryland Public Information Act request.

I wish and I'll happily file a FOIA request for the information. But have you ever done one? It's cumbersome and there's no guarantee of when you'll get the information. As we're all getting info now, we could pull together something that's the start of transparency much more quickly if we all pool together what's going on at our schools.

Anonymous wrote:It's a little weird that you know how many kids in the Oak View class are in the HGC and how mamy aren't. My kid is in that class and the school has not discussed these numbers, though they made it clear that non HGC kids were in there.

I'm not the one who posted the info, but this discussion was taking place on the MoCo Gifted and Talented list serve. Some of the posts seem to be a cut and paste from there.

It's a little weird that you know how many kids in the Oak View class are in the HGC and how mamy aren't. My kid is in that class and the school has not discussed these numbers, though they made it clear that non HGC kids were in there.

Anonymous wrote:With regard to CCES HGC, what does 3 levels in one group mean?

I assume it means high, medium and low groups within the compacted 4/5 curriculum to accommodate how quickly/slowly the kids are progressing.

Wood Acres Elementary: approximately 30-31 kids taught compacted 4/5 math by 4th grade teacher during regular math time.

for 22:18
I'm not OP but saw this in a recent yahoo group and think it answers your question.
classroom will be all in one level for math, the compacted 4/5 math curriculum. The teacher says that she will have 3 flexible groupings in the classroom by proficiency. (In previous years, I believe the HGC 4th grade were sorted into math 5, 6 or 7.)

2. They will cover math 4 in one semester (first half of 4th grade), they will take 2 semester to cover math 5 (second half of 4th grade and first half of 5th grade -- ie not compacted), they will cover math 6 in one semester (second half of 5th grade).

I don't think that crowdsourcing at DCUM will give a good idea of what's going on around the county...

But asking MCPS might. If I were you, I would start by calling here:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/directory/directory_Boxoffice.aspx?processlevel=32211

And keep in the back of your mind that this is surely public information (though I am not a lawyer), and wouldn't it be easier for them to just give you the information now, instead of having to respond to a Maryland Public Information Act request.

WTF?? My kids are K and 2 nd but MCPS is actually busing students around for one subject??? Why don't they just offer a better math curriculum and allow compacted accelerated math in the home school. Its an incredible waste of time for the students and expense to the tax payers to be busing kids around when this could be done in the home school.

With regard to CCES HGC, what does 3 levels in one group mean?

I haven't even heard from the school my child goes to that this type of program exists.

Where did you get this information?

I have this crazy idea to Google map what the different schools/clusters are doing. But can only do this if we crowdsource the information. I think it will be interesting/informative for all of us to know what's going on around the county.

Will you help?

Post your school and what the school is doing.

For instance:

Chevy Chase Elementary HGC: Full class with three levels in one group, all getting compacted math in classroom.

Oak View HGC / Math specialist teaching 29 children in pullout (24 magnet kids/5 non-magnet).

Richard Montgomery Cluster: 4th graders taking bus to Julius West Middle School for math during JW's first period. Bused back to ES after math ends at 8:45 a.m. Do homework during elementary school math block

Stonegate: Busing to White Oak/Farguhar? Anyone have more detail?

Carderock Springs Elementary School: 25 4th graders in class/taught by?