I am a teacher and a parent...I agree that there is way too much emphasis on testing! Many teachers feel this way but when they share their thoughts they are viewed as complainers. In my experience it is much better for parents to voice their concerns! Parents really do have so much power! Never be afraid to speak up for your child. However, I agree that if 8th graders are unable to name the VP, that is truly the parents' fault in the end. Teachers are trying to meet the needs of all the different types of learners in their classrooms. As a parent, you have the opportunity to teach your child one on one and address their individual needs. I believe in public education, but if parents leave it up to the schools, they will be doing a disservice to their children.

I would take these scores with a grain of salt. Many kids in my children's schools do not take these tests seriously and don't even bothering reading the questions.

Schools have the individual scores...scores will be released to the general public at the end of September...

My ES does at least 4 interesting field trips. Field Trips (or lack thereof) are a school issue. A co-worker told me that his school's (a W feeder school) principal didn't like taking the kids into DC. He told me that one the day my 2nd grader was at one of the Smithsonian museums on a field trip with her non-W school.

Complain to your principal about lack of interesting field trips. That is controlled by the school. It is not MCPS policy.

One reason math scores are bad is that MCPS doesn't use textbooks so there is no no way for kids to study on their own or review, or have explanations of the concepts other than what the teacher says in class. It's very hard to learn math without a book to look at.

My kids do one field trip a quarter in ES.

Does anyone know when any more detailed data is coming out for MD PARCC results? DC's results are out.

Well testing showed interesting non-increase.
Just look at failed rate. Math 8th grade and Algebra 2. Consistent 30%.
We can congratulate ourselves... So now we would be testing and prepping our kids to death for this test...

Schools near a place as special as DC should be teaching about the local "culture" and what goes on. One field trip per year in ES and on up is not enough. We lived in Canada for a while and they had field trips every 1-2 months. And they were actually fun. They saw plays, Chinatown, historical places, the beach, museums, fairs. Happy students learn better. And only brief standardized tests, only in 4th and 8th grade. They also had a lot more assemblies and fun activities like parents coming to make sushi, hip hop for the whole school, culture sharing from students, playtime, more recess, more community building among students across grades. Kids have more fun in school and do well on international comparisons. The PARRC benefits no one. If they want to help individual kids grow, all they have to do is look at their grades and help struggling students. The testing data don't have additional benefit and cause so much stress to students, teachers, and administrators. The big thing we noticed upon moving back here was STRESS, at ALL levels.

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree. Best way is to expose them to experiences other than the familiar. Such a shame MCPS doesn't do field trips or group Service projects in the interesting area we live in. They don't even teach about government or anything about Wash DC except the zoo and air and space museum. My DC was talking to a bunch of high achieving 8th graders who couldn't name the Vice President!

My elementary school does interesting field trips. It's the individual school's fault if they are not taking their kids on field trips.

I agree they should be teaching more about goverment, but it's also the parents fault if high achieving 8th graders can't name the Vice President.

Wow, that's sad but not surprising. Parents should be outraged by the status quo.

Totally agree. Best way is to expose them to experiences other than the familiar. Such a shame MCPS doesn't do field trips or group Service projects in the interesting area we live in. They don't even teach about government or anything about Wash DC except the zoo and air and space museum. My DC was talking to a bunch of high achieving 8th graders who couldn't name the Vice President!

PARCC along with all these other state exams are destroying the educational system as we speak. It is not preparing our children for the global marketplace. I am always looking for opportunities outside of school to expose my child to activities that enhance ingenuity, creativity and thinking "outside the box". This is the sad state of our education!

Looking at http://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/ParccTrends.aspx?PV=71:3:99:AAAA:1:N:10:13:1:2:5:1:1:1:3 I don't see any significant changes from the 2015 results.

I was surprised to see this data in August and hope they publish the school data soon.

I see that the scores for MD in general are available. Wondering when other info will be available.