Here is the thing I don't understand, if you child received less than a P, because the work was extremely challenging, would you be happier?

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is only in K and is writing worse than preschool and getting P's on everything. She went to a play-based preschool and they did more curriculum than K does. The bar is set so low at MCPS it is pathetic. Must get the poor non-english speaking kids caught up. That means your average kids get ignored.

You need to be proactive at home if you want your child to survive. I might as well homeschool because I teach more at home in one week than the school does. This is only 1 hour a day. I used to think homeschooling was really strange but this public school is making me think otherwise. I am trying to envision what they are doing with 6hrs of teaching time that my child is actually getting worse.

This was our experience in K last year also. Honestly, you really have to do some work with your kid at home if you want to keep him/her appropriately challenged in the early grades.

We didn't go crazy, but I made sure to get appropriately leveled readers to keep DD reading at home. I got some Kumon workbooks to keep things moving in math, keep her handwriting neat and get her learning new concepts. We spent about a half hour each day - 15 minutes in the AM, 15 min in the PM. Plus, I would always go over her HW with her and try to build on it/challenge her myself.

Anonymous wrote:I think is true that there are some kinds now that are underachieving. IMO this happens because they took away all acceleration until grade 4. After grade 4 there are only limited opportunities in the magnet programs.

Most kids however are doing just fine. Its the ones at the very top and towards the very bottom that are not served by a one size fits all situation.

Yes, I know MCPS says there are all kinds of "enrichment" opportunities built in. This seems to happen at some schools but not others.

That's what it seems like but I don't understand why? I wonder if enrichment happens less in the red zone schools because there are not enough higher achievers, that the expectations are set low for minority kids?

Just read the article about how schools tend to have lower expectations of minority children. Sad really.

http://qz.com/289843/60-years-late-the-us-is-finally-trying-to-desegregate-its-classrooms/

I think is true that there are some kinds now that are underachieving. IMO this happens because they took away all acceleration until grade 4. After grade 4 there are only limited opportunities in the magnet programs.

Most kids however are doing just fine. Its the ones at the very top and towards the very bottom that are not served by a one size fits all situation.

Yes, I know MCPS says there are all kinds of "enrichment" opportunities built in. This seems to happen at some schools but not others.

Anonymous wrote:
I'm sorry that your child is not having a good experience in kindergarten. But I think it would be a mistake to assume that everybody in MCPS is having the same experience as your child.


+1 My now 1st grader jumped leaps and bounds in reading during K. I didn't push DC before K to read. I encouraged and read every night to DC, but didn't really push. After a few months in K, DC started to really ramp up in reading. I'm now seeing the same in math in 1st grade.

This has been our experience in MCPS as well. My kindergartener has really started to read, comes home will all sorts of fun science facts and projects, and has gotten much better at writing and fine motor skills in general. He already was pretty ahead in math, so I haven't seen many gains there, though he's certainly being exposed to new ideas and ways to think about numbers and shapes (ten frames, graphs, tally marks). No complaints here.

OP, is there any chance you could consider private schooling? Truly, every time I read stories like this I am simply grateful that we have managed private schools for our kids.

I think this is really a combination of personality and parental pressure.

Parental Pressure:
We try not to push our kids. We tell them to just try their very best, and sometimes, their very best can end up being an I or a P, never an ES. We said that was ok as long as they know they tried their best.

Sometimes I see their HW/CW is sloppy. I ask them if that was their best work. They are usually honest and say no. So, then I tell them next time tried your best. We set the expectation to try your best in everything they do, whether they fail at it or not.

Personality:
My older DC likes to do well in school, regardless of a P or an ES. The younger one, not so much. FWIW, my older DC is in HGC but we didn't push DC into it. We encouraged DC to look into the program, go to the Open House, etc.. but the final decision was up to DC.

I also think this is a teacher issue because my DC's 3rd grade teacher last year corrected all the spelling mistakes and told DC that if she can't read DC's writing, DC will get an I. Needless to say, DC's writing improved that year.

You need to be proactive at home if you want your child to survive.??? Survive? Kindergarten?

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry that your child is not having a good experience in kindergarten. But I think it would be a mistake to assume that everybody in MCPS is having the same experience as your child.

+1 My now 1st grader jumped leaps and bounds in reading during K. I didn't push DC before K to read. I encouraged and read every night to DC, but didn't really push. After a few months in K, DC started to really ramp up in reading. I'm now seeing the same in math in 1st grade.

I'm sorry that your child is not having a good experience in kindergarten. But I think it would be a mistake to assume that everybody in MCPS is having the same experience as your child.

My daughter is only in K and is writing worse than preschool and getting P's on everything. She went to a play-based preschool and they did more curriculum than K does. The bar is set so low at MCPS it is pathetic. Must get the poor non-english speaking kids caught up. That means your average kids get ignored.

You need to be proactive at home if you want your child to survive. I might as well homeschool because I teach more at home in one week than the school does. This is only 1 hour a day. I used to think homeschooling was really strange but this public school is making me think otherwise. I am trying to envision what they are doing with 6hrs of teaching time that my child is actually getting worse.

You know you are allowed to set the bar higher than the public school teachers do.

I agree. Why do we always have to say "we don't push"?

If your child is underachieving, then it is time to push!

Anonymous wrote:Talking with another set of parents this weekend and we're all dealing with kids that are underachieving at school. We don't push them. We're not looking to get into a GT school. These are smart kids that were very into learning before MCPS. Now they do the bare minimum and get rewarded with P grades. They don't care about anything academic. DS brought home a paper with P on it. It was really bad work and way below what I've seen him do before. I tried to get him to correct it or at least add some more ideas. When I asked him if he had run out of time. He said no and there were doodles on the back of the paper. I asked him why he didn't include his other ideas or go back and proofread. His response was an honest "why". The teacher only asked for 2 points and she doesn't grade spelling or punctation. Why waste the time.

Why not?

Talking with another set of parents this weekend and we're all dealing with kids that are underachieving at school. We don't push them. We're not looking to get into a GT school. These are smart kids that were very into learning before MCPS. Now they do the bare minimum and get rewarded with P grades. They don't care about anything academic. DS brought home a paper with P on it. It was really bad work and way below what I've seen him do before. I tried to get him to correct it or at least add some more ideas. When I asked him if he had run out of time. He said no and there were doodles on the back of the paper. I asked him why he didn't include his other ideas or go back and proofread. His response was an honest "why". The teacher only asked for 2 points and she doesn't grade spelling or punctation. Why waste the time.