Laptops -- and smartboards for that matter -- are useless classroom distractions if they don't alleviate the problem I see all too often -- teachers whose primary mode of interaction with their (too many) students is irritation. Seriously, when's the last time you were in a K-2 classroom?

Anonymous wrote:Smaller class sizes -- at the very least in elementary school. The default mood of so many teachers and administrators is pure exasperation because there are just too many kids to rein in a classroom, in a grade, in a school. I think small children feed off that kind of noise and chaos and relentless adult negativity and subsequently up the ante attention/behavior-wise when they otherwise might not in a different context. Return the freaking Chromebooks and hire more teachers and build more schools.

The freaking Chromebooks cost $15 million, as a one-time expenditure, and part of that was federal money for technology in the schools.

You can't build even one new school for $15 million. And more teachers would cost however much they cost, year after year after year.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-to-spend-15m-on-40k-laptops-tablets-105128.html

Smaller class sizes -- at the very least in elementary school. The default mood of so many teachers and administrators is pure exasperation because there are just too many kids to rein in a classroom, in a grade, in a school. I think small children feed off that kind of noise and chaos and relentless adult negativity and subsequently up the ante attention/behavior-wise when they otherwise might not in a different context. Return the freaking Chromebooks and hire more teachers and build more schools.

Anonymous wrote:In 4th and 5th grade, teachers should give students a richer curriculum which does not have to be linked to any testing.
They can still do their common core and currciulum 2.0 and still have geography, history of art, learn about scientist and their inventions, just like they do in most countries.

My DC is in 4th grade and has done geography, study of Greek Mythology and Native Americans. There is still 2 quarters left in the school, and I'm sure DC will be learning other humanities type lessons. I'm sure they will eventually learn about inventions. Art history? I'm not sure about.

Anonymous wrote:Hmm..my 9th graders biology curriculum is being rewritten to comply with the common core (or so the teacher says) Next year will be the first year of it.

If the teacher said that, then the teacher is wrong. But perhaps the teacher said that the biology curriculum is being rewritten for the MCPS Curriculum 2.0? Curriculum 2.0 aligns with the Common Core standards for reading/language arts and math, but obviously does not align with the Common Core standards for biology, because there are no Common Core standards for biology.

Hmm..my 9th graders biology curriculum is being rewritten to comply with the common core (or so the teacher says) Next year will be the first year of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 4th and 5th grade, teachers should give students a richer curriculum which does not have to be linked to any testing.
They can still do their common core and currciulum 2.0 and still have geography, history of art, learn about scientist and their inventions, just like they do in most countries.

Shouldn't they be included in the common core/c 2.0 if they are important knowledge? And if they are important knowledge, shouldn't their be testing to make sure it was covered properly?

The Common Core standards are only for math and reading/language arts.

Curriculum 2.0 includes social studies, art, science, and so on. There are no standardized tests for these subjects, except for the science MSA in fifth grade, which is no longer (as far as I know) linked to the MCPS science curriculum.

Here is the curriculum guide for fourth grade: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/elementary/parent-guide-traditional-grade4-en.pdf
And here is the curriculum guide for fifth grade: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/elementary/parent-guide-traditional-grade5-en.pdf

Anonymous wrote:In 4th and 5th grade, teachers should give students a richer curriculum which does not have to be linked to any testing.
They can still do their common core and currciulum 2.0 and still have geography, history of art, learn about scientist and their inventions, just like they do in most countries.

Shouldn't they be included in the common core/c 2.0 if they are important knowledge? And if they are important knowledge, shouldn't their be testing to make sure it was covered properly?

Anonymous wrote:More transparency between school and parents.

What specifically do you mean by "more transparency", PP? Could you give some examples?

It's just that sometimes "more transparency" means "You're not telling me things that I have a right to know." Sometimes it means "I think that you should tell me everything I want to know, without my having to ask." And sometimes it means "You told me everything, but I didn't like what you said."

In 4th and 5th grade, teachers should give students a richer curriculum which does not have to be linked to any testing.
They can still do their common core and currciulum 2.0 and still have geography, history of art, learn about scientist and their inventions, just like they do in most countries.

Teacher here - I would love to compare notes with other grade levels. The problem is that unless we are forced to share materials and have those discussions in a professional development meeting, it's never going to happen. Teachers are SO overworked that there literally is never enough time to get the basic demands of the job done. Forget about doing anything extra...

Agree with all posters. I have a 5th grader and I'm always shocked to learn that teachers don't really know what grading systems look like from grade to grade. Why don't schools have a school-wide grading rubric (for both written comp ?s and paragraph writing) that builds upon itself every year? My DS was held to higher standards in 3rd grade than in 4th and 5th. All good teachers... but no consistency between them. I can't believe they've never had a chance to compare notes?

Better communication, most consistency among teachers, grading, teachers, homework.

More transparency between school and parents.

Our MCPS elem school principal recently asked the PTA for feedback. She wants parents to come up with a plus/delta... I chatted with some other parents and was surprised to hear how looong some parents' delta lists were. Curious to see how parents in other MCPS elem schools would answer. Let's compare!

IMO, what needs to change is:
-communication, examples: my kid did some sort of "MAP P" test... not sure why or how the data is used?? GT screening is coming up but honestly what's the point?
-access to instructional resources... no textbooks + new strategies for teaching math and writing = confusion for parents
-a searchable tutoring database would be nice
-parent workshops in reading/writing (led by the reading specialist?) might help me understand what the heck a BCR is and why my kid got a P on one writing assignment and an ES on another (the grading rubrics are not worded well)