My son is an 8th grader taking 2.0 algebra. He was just telling me the other day how much better the teaching techniques are under 2.0 (for him at least). He said they have to figure out how to solve problems which makes him truely understand what is going on. In the past, he said teachers wouldl just say..follow these 5 steps to get the answer. Now he understands how it all fits together. Sounds good to me!

Anonymous wrote:But Curriculum 2.0 is the problem and its been an incredibly negative experience for my kids and the kids of our friends. I'm not the only one experiencing this. A group of parents was talking about these exact issues a few nights ago. Several came from other schools so it isn't just one school. Its isn't just my kid's teacher. I've talked with parents in the other classes and same damn thing. I have 3 kids, one pre 2.0 and 2 who have also had 2.0. The teachers are the same. The difference is 2.0.

If there are people whose experience is better under Curriculum 2.0, and people whose experience is worse under Curriculum 2.0, that suggests that Curriculum 2.0 itself is actually not the problem. The problem seems to be the implementation of Curriculum 2.0, especially differences between schools. I don't know enough to be able to assess whether this is unique to Curriculum 2.0, or whether there were the same problems with previous new curricula. However, I suspect that there were the same problems with previous curricula.

But Curriculum 2.0 is the problem and its been an incredibly negative experience for my kids and the kids of our friends. I'm not the only one experiencing this. A group of parents was talking about these exact issues a few nights ago. Several came from other schools so it isn't just one school. Its isn't just my kid's teacher. I've talked with parents in the other classes and same damn thing. I have 3 kids, one pre 2.0 and 2 who have also had 2.0. The teachers are the same. The difference is 2.0.

I'm not after ES grades, though, I will comment that ES is the most inconsistent and irrational assessment measure ever developed. What were they thinking? My child will get ES grades randomly and sometimes on work that is a lower quality than work he is getting a P on. Sometimes it appears that it is given for volume but this sucks because more does not mean better, so its sending the wrong message. It makes no sense to him or me. Either the teachers are playing a random lottery with this one or they are giving it in comparison. On days when he gets an ES, the rest of the class was just out to lunch. Trust me, it does not correlate to any higher quality work. These measurements provide NO meaningful feedback to students on how to improve their writing.

I think since the standards are so low and there is such a broad range for "P" that the system considers improving beyond that point unnecessary. Why provide any feedback if you are already meeting the bar or their goal seems to be the pervasive attitude. This is so wrong because kids should be learning how to reach goals, improve their work, and how to learn even if they have the misfortune of already coming in hitting the low bar.

I also believed that elementary school is where you learned how to learn. Hopefully, you learned important lessons like how to work through something you don't know or everyone can always improve. Hopefully, you learned that learning is interesting and if you apply yourself you'll be proud of what you do. For all the talk of social emotional intelligence and self awareness, curriculum 2.0 is creating the exact opposite!

Its as if the students are all just going through the motions of being assessed to meet a lower bar to justify the school system's existence. This isn't education its sustaining a bureaucracy.

Anonymous wrote:

I am the PP with the second-grader who does a lot more writing in class, compared to the older child with the BCRs. My second-grader's writing assignments all get written feedback, both on the piece of writing itself, and on a sheet with a scoring rubric.

No feedback at all from our second grade and there wasn't any in first grade either. The rubrics must be considered classified information at our school. At our school, the teachers keep the writing work that supposedly goes toward the grade and you have to schedule a meeting during the day if you want to see their writing. Its a very small amount and hardly anything goes home. Perhaps, they write in invisible ink at our school and store it in a special safe not accessible during conference OR perhaps they just aren't doing it! As parents, we are expected to just accept that if our child is getting a P on the grade card that our child is doing great in writing.

With the old BCRs and more writing homework, I saw what my child was doing and if he was doing the bare minimum then I could easily point out for him to include more details, did you really answer the question, can you think of anything else etc. Again, I don't care whether the kids write in the more formulaic style of BCRs or of they switch between different styles. Either is valid, IMO. However, they need feedback and its way to easy for the kids to just do the bare minimum or learn bad habits in writing below their abilities. I see my younger child just skating by very easily and not practicing writing at all.

I am sorry to read this. If you're not getting feedback or work sent home, that's a real problem. But I don't think it's Curriculum 2.0's problem -- it's the individual school's problem, or perhaps even the individual teacher's problem.

For what it's worth, my older kid's feedback on the BCRs was usually "needs more detail", which my kid usually interpreted as "you're supposed to throw a bunch of stuff into your answer, even if it doesn't relate to the question at all".

I am the PP with the second-grader who does a lot more writing in class, compared to the older child with the BCRs. My second-grader's writing assignments all get written feedback, both on the piece of writing itself, and on a sheet with a scoring rubric.

No feedback at all from our second grade and there wasn't any in first grade either. The rubrics must be considered classified information at our school. At our school, the teachers keep the writing work that supposedly goes toward the grade and you have to schedule a meeting during the day if you want to see their writing. Its a very small amount and hardly anything goes home. Perhaps, they write in invisible ink at our school and store it in a special safe not accessible during conference OR perhaps they just aren't doing it! As parents, we are expected to just accept that if our child is getting a P on the grade card that our child is doing great in writing.

With the old BCRs and more writing homework, I saw what my child was doing and if he was doing the bare minimum then I could easily point out for him to include more details, did you really answer the question, can you think of anything else etc. Again, I don't care whether the kids write in the more formulaic style of BCRs or of they switch between different styles. Either is valid, IMO. However, they need feedback and its way to easy for the kids to just do the bare minimum or learn bad habits in writing below their abilities. I see my younger child just skating by very easily and not practicing writing at all.

Anonymous wrote:

She is expected to read each night and she has monthly book presentations that aren't graded but that are expected to be completed.

She has monthly assignments with words (patterns, prefixes/suffixes, etc) and a sheet of math problems that can easily take 20 minutes just to complete one.

Ugh, this is fourth grade? One math sheet and a little vocab/language sheet with prefixes/suffixes..oh and a monthly book report? This is VERY minimal. There is nothing under Common Core that states that the workload has to drop and the school must make sure no one goes above the standard.

I don't object if MCPS wants to change from BCR to another form of writing assignment. I do object that there is no homework and very little writing in class. I also object to the utter lack of feedback that the kids are given on the writing assignments that they get in class. There is a huge range for a "P" and this does nothing to give students any feedback on how to improve their writing.

I am so sick of MCPS holding everyone back. This system sucks!

I am the PP with the second-grader who does a lot more writing in class, compared to the older child with the BCRs. My second-grader's writing assignments all get written feedback, both on the piece of writing itself, and on a sheet with a scoring rubric.

She is expected to read each night and she has monthly book presentations that aren't graded but that are expected to be completed.

She has monthly assignments with words (patterns, prefixes/suffixes, etc) and a sheet of math problems that can easily take 20 minutes just to complete one.

Ugh, this is fourth grade? One math sheet and a little vocab/language sheet with prefixes/suffixes..oh and a monthly book report? This is VERY minimal. There is nothing under Common Core that states that the workload has to drop and the school must make sure no one goes above the standard.

I don't object if MCPS wants to change from BCR to another form of writing assignment. I do object that there is no homework and very little writing in class. I also object to the utter lack of feedback that the kids are given on the writing assignments that they get in class. There is a huge range for a "P" and this does nothing to give students any feedback on how to improve their writing.

I am so sick of MCPS holding everyone back. This system sucks!

My daughter switched from private to public when she entered 4th grade this year. The work done in class exhausted her early on. She's used to it now, but what she "learned" with worksheets last year, she learned through differentiated group work where concepts were reinforced through different modes.

She is expected to read each night and she has monthly book presentations that aren't graded but that are expected to be completed.

She has monthly assignments with words (patterns, prefixes/suffixes, etc) and a sheet of math problems that can easily take 20 minutes just to complete one.

As an educator, I'm not unhappy with 2.0, nor am I disappointed with the PARCC assessments, as both revolved around critical thinking skills.

I will say, however, that teachers MUST understand how 2.0 works and in schools with challenging populations, differentiation is crucial.

Very minimal HW also in MCPS 4th grade at Bethesda Elememtary. 5-10 minutes of math, occasional word study, once a week writing prompt paragraph. And then 20 min of choice reading.

Yes, I have an older child. In second and third grade, my older child wrote BCRs. That's it -- BCRs. Lots and lots and lots of four-sentence BCRs. First sentence: turn the question around. Second sentence: "I know this because..." Third sentence: "I also know this because..." Fourth sentence: "That is why I think that [refer back to first sentence]."

My younger child (second grade) is writing pieces that are a full page long, or more. Opinion pieces, fiction, information pieces, personal narratives, and so on. Good stuff.

They are writing intensively in second grade (if not earlier). Just not as homework.

What do you consider intensive writing? Do you have an older child? Our second grader did very little in school writing and as homework compared to her older brother in the previous curriculum. My expectations may just be high since we experienced the previous curriculum.

I'm on the fence about this. On the one hand, its great because I felt no guilt in taking the kids out of school for vacation this spring. Its nice not to have any homework in the evening. My youngest participates in more sports. However, my older child really learned to be a strong writer early on in the old system. Writing is about practice.

They are writing intensively in second grade (if not earlier). Just not as homework.

In my opinion, there should be little or no homework in elementary school.

Wow, we had no writing homework in 2nd grade and none in 3rd grade now too. There wasn't much writing homework in 2nd grade under the previous system so I didn't think anything about it.

When do they start writing more intensively in 2.0 4th or 5th grade? Is everything just pushed back a few years?

In 2nd grade, under 2.0, DC had a lot more hw than now in 3rd. 1st and 2nd grade seems to have a lot of writing hw. From what I have been told, the writing hw tapers off a lot in 3rd grade. Yea, math is too easy for my DC. I don't worry about it though, esp. after the horrendous fights we had when DC was in 2nd and HATED the writing HW. DC does have math facts and reading log HW everyday though.

My older kid pre-2.0 had a ton of homework starting in 3rd grade. Younger kid has basically nothing. A short math homework assignment that takes less than 5 minutes and some weeks there are one page vocabulary sheets that also take less than 5 minutes. No writing homework ever.

Is this just our school or a new MCPS policy?