Anonymous wrote:I came to this forum curious about MCPS math and this very germane thread happened to be at the top.

We transferred to an affluent town in the south, mostly populated by coastal transplants. The math has been a shock for my kids-- despite being in compacted/accelerated math in MCPS. It's just much more rigorous here.

I read the article and it appears MCPS has been sliding since 2013 and the pandemic accelerated what was already occurring. This is illuminating for me. In the MCPS bubble, it always sounded like they were getting a great education, and now that Im outside of it, I realize it was a mirage. Hopefully people demand better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no doubt that there is a loss of learning due to the pandemic and virtual learning. Im just curious as to what some of you would have done differently? I mean going virtual was the only option at a time. Our kids are alive. Not saying they didn’t pay a price, of course, but what’s here is here .

No. Actually, it’s possible we lost more kids due to school buildings being shut down from the pandemic. There has been a huge increase in mental health issues and suicides amongst kids since Covid began.

Zero kids age 0-17 have died of Covid in Montgomery County as a result of Covid. ZERO. That was with schools open/schools closed, prior to the Covid shot/after the Covid shot.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/data/case-counts.html#deaths-age

We did not ‘save kids’ lives’ by keeping schools closed. Not at all.

We saved the lives of the parents who were the breadwinners for the family. So the kids were helped because they did not become orphans.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well gee we had a global pandemic, a president that would rather let people die than tell the truth, a republican party spewing lies and misinformation and you all are thinking the schools are the problem??

OMG Parents are the problem.

Any idiot in the US that voted for Republicans because of schools is a literal idiot.

If your kid lost education during that time it is on you, not the teachers not the administrators. YOU

+ 1 million. But unfortunately things will only get worse and worse because fewer and fewer parents accept that responsibility. There’s no changing a culture that doesn’ty value education. I grew up in Germany and it is night and day.

So true!

Oh? Does Germany have the level of ethnic/cultural diversity that the US does? Does Germany welcome undocumented immigrants and offer them all asylum, as the US (and more locally, Montgomery County) does?

Demographic changes have most definitely had an effect on public schools in the US. And in MCPS.

Comparing Montgomery County to Germany is disingenuous.

NP. Can't tell if you're trolling. Germany is consistently in the top 10 countries internationally for taking in refugees. E.g., https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/global-refugee-crisis-statistics-and-facts/

Clearly you and the PP are trolling.

What percentage of the German population is not white? Compare that to the population of Montgomery County.

Are you really arguing that Germany is as diverse as the US/Montgomery County? Not a chance.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-ethnic-groups-in-germany.html

Ugh! The premise here that non-white means lower test scores is nauseating. And, I was just enjoying my burger!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no doubt that there is a loss of learning due to the pandemic and virtual learning. Im just curious as to what some of you would have done differently? I mean going virtual was the only option at a time. Our kids are alive. Not saying they didn’t pay a price, of course, but what’s here is here .

No. Actually, it’s possible we lost more kids due to school buildings being shut down from the pandemic. There has been a huge increase in mental health issues and suicides amongst kids since Covid began.

Zero kids age 0-17 have died of Covid in Montgomery County as a result of Covid. ZERO. That was with schools open/schools closed, prior to the Covid shot/after the Covid shot.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/data/case-counts.html#deaths-age

We did not ‘save kids’ lives’ by keeping schools closed. Not at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no doubt that there is a loss of learning due to the pandemic and virtual learning. Im just curious as to what some of you would have done differently? I mean going virtual was the only option at a time. Our kids are alive. Not saying they didn’t pay a price, of course, but what’s here is here .

What a joke.

Relocated to a southern state. Schools were open. Kids excelled.

Anonymous wrote:We're just coming off a Pandemic - how is anyone surprised by this data? MCPS just began using Really Great Reading this year as the core curriculum for foundational skills in grades K - 2. Up until this point, the emphasis in MCPS (and most of the US) was around teaching guided reading and balanced literacy to elementary students. This whole language approach to reading instruction was never supported by science; yet school districts across the country jumped on board twenty years ago. I know that's how I learned to teach reading when I was in college to become a teacher back in the early 2000's.
Combine this with increased levels of poverty and trauma in our schools and it's going to take years to right this ship.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well gee we had a global pandemic, a president that would rather let people die than tell the truth, a republican party spewing lies and misinformation and you all are thinking the schools are the problem??

OMG Parents are the problem.

Any idiot in the US that voted for Republicans because of schools is a literal idiot.

If your kid lost education during that time it is on you, not the teachers not the administrators. YOU

+ 1 million. But unfortunately things will only get worse and worse because fewer and fewer parents accept that responsibility. There’s no changing a culture that doesn’ty value education. I grew up in Germany and it is night and day.

So true!

Oh? Does Germany have the level of ethnic/cultural diversity that the US does? Does Germany welcome undocumented immigrants and offer them all asylum, as the US (and more locally, Montgomery County) does?

Demographic changes have most definitely had an effect on public schools in the US. And in MCPS.

Comparing Montgomery County to Germany is disingenuous.

NP. Can't tell if you're trolling. Germany is consistently in the top 10 countries internationally for taking in refugees. E.g., https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/global-refugee-crisis-statistics-and-facts/

Clearly you and the PP are trolling.

What percentage of the German population is not white? Compare that to the population of Montgomery County.

Are you really arguing that Germany is as diverse as the US/Montgomery County? Not a chance.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-ethnic-groups-in-germany.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well gee we had a global pandemic, a president that would rather let people die than tell the truth, a republican party spewing lies and misinformation and you all are thinking the schools are the problem??

OMG Parents are the problem.

Any idiot in the US that voted for Republicans because of schools is a literal idiot.

If your kid lost education during that time it is on you, not the teachers not the administrators. YOU

+ 1 million. But unfortunately things will only get worse and worse because fewer and fewer parents accept that responsibility. There’s no changing a culture that doesn’ty value education. I grew up in Germany and it is night and day.

So true!

Oh? Does Germany have the level of ethnic/cultural diversity that the US does? Does Germany welcome undocumented immigrants and offer them all asylum, as the US (and more locally, Montgomery County) does?

Demographic changes have most definitely had an effect on public schools in the US. And in MCPS.

Comparing Montgomery County to Germany is disingenuous.

NP. Can't tell if you're trolling. Germany is consistently in the top 10 countries internationally for taking in refugees. E.g., https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/global-refugee-crisis-statistics-and-facts/

Clearly you and the PP are trolling.

What percentage of the German population is not white? Compare that to the population of Montgomery County.

Are you really arguing that Germany is as diverse as the US/Montgomery County? Not a chance.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-ethnic-groups-in-germany.html

Why does it matter if they're white?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For some reason Asian kids did fine during the pandemic. Their scores, including SAT scores, just keep going up. Why is that?

The article says that the downward trend was from 2013. Asian-Americans have already figured out that there are a lot of weaknesses in American education system and so they have been supplementing and teaching their kids at home.

Mostly the Asian-American parents (and specifically the moms) are very well-educated and can teach Math to their children so the children are coming out ahead in STEM. Culturally, there is a huge emphasis on education within families and the community as a whole. Finally, most Asian-Americans first gen were highly educated people from their countries who came to the US. They are not the poorest of the poor, uneducated migrants.

The weaknesses in American education system that most Asians notice and try to overcome are -
1) Shortened school year
2) Lack of textbooks
3) Lack of final exams
4) Lack of discipline in classrooms. Disruptive students are tolerated. Parents are not responsible.
5) Lack of a well defined curriculum, syllabus that is shared with students and parents. Textbooks and units of study that are mapped to the syllabus and curriculum.
6) Not failing any students in any grade and holding them back
7) Grade inflation. Students earn grades for doing homework.
8) Graded assignments and tests are not returned back to students and parents.
9) No comprehensive, standardized curriculum, syallabus, textbooks, testing and school year nationally for all grades and all subjects. Even SAT is going away.

What the US does extremely well -
1) Free education for everybody
2) Free transportation for coming and going to school
3) Free meals
4) Free school supplies.

+1

I agree with most of this, which is why the academic success of Asian-American students should not be used to argue why what we are doing now is just fine for any family that cares about their kids' education. If you can only succeed through extensive supplementation, there is a problem. The lack of textbooks and defined syllabus are a huge part of why it is hard for parents to help their kids - it takes independent work to provide that support, which may don't have.

+1. I was reading through the exhaustive list of what needs to be overcome, it's no wonder parents are daunted. My dad used to read my textbooks to help me with math. My kids have no textbooks! Not to mention that the way kids teach math is different from when I was a kid.

I also just don't understand how parents find all this time for extra supplementation and have kids willing to sit and do it after a full day of school plus homework. Are no one else's kids exhausted at the end of the day?

There is no exhaustive list to overcome. There is no extensive supplementation. It is normal daily teaching at home so that the kids are able to review what they learned at school and if there are any lack of comprehension the parents can clarify for the child.

The parents need to priortize their kid's education above all. The school system is already giving free schooling, meals, supplies and transportation. Sometimes they are also giving free after and before care. They cannot do much more than this. Maybe they can give textbooks.

Parents need to step up and make sure that their kids are studying at home every day. 1 hour of daily review at home in the ES and MS years is all that is needed. However, only 40% of White Americans are college educated. Can you imagine that? Most parents are incapable of teaching their children because they are also basically uneducated. Never mind the URM and low SES households.

You do need textbooks and that is one thing that parents can do for their children. Get them textbooks before school opens. Buy the textbooks second hand from Amazon and use that to guide your children.

Are the kids exhausted from being in school? Sure. My kids are. But, they are expected to do all homework at school during lunch break and during the bus-ride home. The daily teaching happens when my husband or I get back from work and it happens for an hour or so every day. Weekends and holidays also include an hour or so of studying daily. Summer will also include vacation travel, some fun camps and some academic camps. Of course, this also means that the lives of parents revolve around the kids and their education.

Ultimately, parents are responsible if their kids are at or below grade.

I feel like you are illustrating part of the problem though- how do you do a daily review at home when they are provided so little materials to bring home? Oh, you're buying textbooks that used to be provided by the school. So now parents have to figure out WHICH textbook to buy and then pay for them. Textbooks aren't cheap, even used ones, and then what if you make a poor selection that doesn't jive with what is being taught in class?

Also, just because someone is college educated doesn't make them a good teacher. But it's great that you are and I'm sure your kids are high achievers because of it.

Ignore the textbook harpy. They're simply misguided and attached to 19th century teaching methods. MCPS has everything online. If they knew how to use a computer, they'd realize what a waste of time that nonsense is. I'm glad I live in a county that doesn't spend $$$ on making kids lug those vestiges of old times around and helps them learn how things get done today.

Listen, I work in high tech. Have done so for 20 years. Reading a text book is a lot better than reading online. Plus not all the textbooks are online. After I got my DC a textbook from Amazon for a particular class, their grades went up. Textbooks alone aren't the answer, but it can help as a companion.

Clearly, whatever MCPS is doing, it's not working since the achievement gap continues to grow, and not just for illegal immigrant children.

My kids are now in HS. So, we've gone through 2.0 (guinea pig) all the way through. I was willing to give 2.0 a shot. But MCPS blew it. Even with 2.0 being deprecated by the time my youngest was in 7th grade, the bar was set so low that they could sleep through class and get an A. MS did jacksh1t to prepare kids for the more rigorous AP classes.

It seems to be fairly well known that MCPS has massive grade inflation. You can get an extra point for Honors Health. Really? Honors Health? My kids have stated that the "honors" classes are a joke.

MCPS lowers the bar in the name of "equity". The honors classes are labeled as such to boost lower performing kids GPA so they don't feel badly. It's like the "everyone gets a trophy for just participating" crap. It's not helping these kids.. at all.

Me too! I've worked in high-tech, including multiple fang companies, over the past 30 years but almost never buy textbooks these days because they're better resources available to anyone who bothers looking online.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For some reason Asian kids did fine during the pandemic. Their scores, including SAT scores, just keep going up. Why is that?

The article says that the downward trend was from 2013. Asian-Americans have already figured out that there are a lot of weaknesses in American education system and so they have been supplementing and teaching their kids at home.

Mostly the Asian-American parents (and specifically the moms) are very well-educated and can teach Math to their children so the children are coming out ahead in STEM. Culturally, there is a huge emphasis on education within families and the community as a whole. Finally, most Asian-Americans first gen were highly educated people from their countries who came to the US. They are not the poorest of the poor, uneducated migrants.

The weaknesses in American education system that most Asians notice and try to overcome are -
1) Shortened school year
2) Lack of textbooks
3) Lack of final exams
4) Lack of discipline in classrooms. Disruptive students are tolerated. Parents are not responsible.
5) Lack of a well defined curriculum, syllabus that is shared with students and parents. Textbooks and units of study that are mapped to the syllabus and curriculum.
6) Not failing any students in any grade and holding them back
7) Grade inflation. Students earn grades for doing homework.
8) Graded assignments and tests are not returned back to students and parents.
9) No comprehensive, standardized curriculum, syallabus, textbooks, testing and school year nationally for all grades and all subjects. Even SAT is going away.

What the US does extremely well -
1) Free education for everybody
2) Free transportation for coming and going to school
3) Free meals
4) Free school supplies.

+1

I agree with most of this, which is why the academic success of Asian-American students should not be used to argue why what we are doing now is just fine for any family that cares about their kids' education. If you can only succeed through extensive supplementation, there is a problem. The lack of textbooks and defined syllabus are a huge part of why it is hard for parents to help their kids - it takes independent work to provide that support, which may don't have.

+1. I was reading through the exhaustive list of what needs to be overcome, it's no wonder parents are daunted. My dad used to read my textbooks to help me with math. My kids have no textbooks! Not to mention that the way kids teach math is different from when I was a kid.

I also just don't understand how parents find all this time for extra supplementation and have kids willing to sit and do it after a full day of school plus homework. Are no one else's kids exhausted at the end of the day?

There is no exhaustive list to overcome. There is no extensive supplementation. It is normal daily teaching at home so that the kids are able to review what they learned at school and if there are any lack of comprehension the parents can clarify for the child.

The parents need to priortize their kid's education above all. The school system is already giving free schooling, meals, supplies and transportation. Sometimes they are also giving free after and before care. They cannot do much more than this. Maybe they can give textbooks.

Parents need to step up and make sure that their kids are studying at home every day. 1 hour of daily review at home in the ES and MS years is all that is needed. However, only 40% of White Americans are college educated. Can you imagine that? Most parents are incapable of teaching their children because they are also basically uneducated. Never mind the URM and low SES households.

You do need textbooks and that is one thing that parents can do for their children. Get them textbooks before school opens. Buy the textbooks second hand from Amazon and use that to guide your children.

Are the kids exhausted from being in school? Sure. My kids are. But, they are expected to do all homework at school during lunch break and during the bus-ride home. The daily teaching happens when my husband or I get back from work and it happens for an hour or so every day. Weekends and holidays also include an hour or so of studying daily. Summer will also include vacation travel, some fun camps and some academic camps. Of course, this also means that the lives of parents revolve around the kids and their education.

Ultimately, parents are responsible if their kids are at or below grade.

I feel like you are illustrating part of the problem though- how do you do a daily review at home when they are provided so little materials to bring home? Oh, you're buying textbooks that used to be provided by the school. So now parents have to figure out WHICH textbook to buy and then pay for them. Textbooks aren't cheap, even used ones, and then what if you make a poor selection that doesn't jive with what is being taught in class?

Also, just because someone is college educated doesn't make them a good teacher. But it's great that you are and I'm sure your kids are high achievers because of it.

Ignore the textbook harpy. They're simply misguided and attached to 19th century teaching methods. MCPS has everything online. If they knew how to use a computer, they'd realize what a waste of time that nonsense is. I'm glad I live in a county that doesn't spend $$$ on making kids lug those vestiges of old times around and helps them learn how things get done today.

Listen, I work in high tech. Have done so for 20 years. Reading a text book is a lot better than reading online. Plus not all the textbooks are online. After I got my DC a textbook from Amazon for a particular class, their grades went up. Textbooks alone aren't the answer, but it can help as a companion.

Clearly, whatever MCPS is doing, it's not working since the achievement gap continues to grow, and not just for illegal immigrant children.

My kids are now in HS. So, we've gone through 2.0 (guinea pig) all the way through. I was willing to give 2.0 a shot. But MCPS blew it. Even with 2.0 being deprecated by the time my youngest was in 7th grade, the bar was set so low that they could sleep through class and get an A. MS did jacksh1t to prepare kids for the more rigorous AP classes.

It seems to be fairly well known that MCPS has massive grade inflation. You can get an extra point for Honors Health. Really? Honors Health? My kids have stated that the "honors" classes are a joke.

MCPS lowers the bar in the name of "equity". The honors classes are labeled as such to boost lower performing kids GPA so they don't feel badly. It's like the "everyone gets a trophy for just participating" crap. It's not helping these kids.. at all.

I have a HS sophomore and also watched the mess that was Curriculum 2.0. Agree with all of this.

+1000 MCPS administrators always create new curriculums to justify their jobs. This had disastrous before the pandemic and online learning let parents see what bs their students were being taught in MCPS schools.

Weird, because I heard Curriculum 3.0 is just amazing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For some reason Asian kids did fine during the pandemic. Their scores, including SAT scores, just keep going up. Why is that?

The article says that the downward trend was from 2013. Asian-Americans have already figured out that there are a lot of weaknesses in American education system and so they have been supplementing and teaching their kids at home.

Mostly the Asian-American parents (and specifically the moms) are very well-educated and can teach Math to their children so the children are coming out ahead in STEM. Culturally, there is a huge emphasis on education within families and the community as a whole. Finally, most Asian-Americans first gen were highly educated people from their countries who came to the US. They are not the poorest of the poor, uneducated migrants.

The weaknesses in American education system that most Asians notice and try to overcome are -
1) Shortened school year
2) Lack of textbooks
3) Lack of final exams
4) Lack of discipline in classrooms. Disruptive students are tolerated. Parents are not responsible.
5) Lack of a well defined curriculum, syllabus that is shared with students and parents. Textbooks and units of study that are mapped to the syllabus and curriculum.
6) Not failing any students in any grade and holding them back
7) Grade inflation. Students earn grades for doing homework.
8) Graded assignments and tests are not returned back to students and parents.
9) No comprehensive, standardized curriculum, syallabus, textbooks, testing and school year nationally for all grades and all subjects. Even SAT is going away.

What the US does extremely well -
1) Free education for everybody
2) Free transportation for coming and going to school
3) Free meals
4) Free school supplies.

+1

I agree with most of this, which is why the academic success of Asian-American students should not be used to argue why what we are doing now is just fine for any family that cares about their kids' education. If you can only succeed through extensive supplementation, there is a problem. The lack of textbooks and defined syllabus are a huge part of why it is hard for parents to help their kids - it takes independent work to provide that support, which may don't have.

+1. I was reading through the exhaustive list of what needs to be overcome, it's no wonder parents are daunted. My dad used to read my textbooks to help me with math. My kids have no textbooks! Not to mention that the way kids teach math is different from when I was a kid.

I also just don't understand how parents find all this time for extra supplementation and have kids willing to sit and do it after a full day of school plus homework. Are no one else's kids exhausted at the end of the day?

There is no exhaustive list to overcome. There is no extensive supplementation. It is normal daily teaching at home so that the kids are able to review what they learned at school and if there are any lack of comprehension the parents can clarify for the child.

The parents need to priortize their kid's education above all. The school system is already giving free schooling, meals, supplies and transportation. Sometimes they are also giving free after and before care. They cannot do much more than this. Maybe they can give textbooks.

Parents need to step up and make sure that their kids are studying at home every day. 1 hour of daily review at home in the ES and MS years is all that is needed. However, only 40% of White Americans are college educated. Can you imagine that? Most parents are incapable of teaching their children because they are also basically uneducated. Never mind the URM and low SES households.

You do need textbooks and that is one thing that parents can do for their children. Get them textbooks before school opens. Buy the textbooks second hand from Amazon and use that to guide your children.

Are the kids exhausted from being in school? Sure. My kids are. But, they are expected to do all homework at school during lunch break and during the bus-ride home. The daily teaching happens when my husband or I get back from work and it happens for an hour or so every day. Weekends and holidays also include an hour or so of studying daily. Summer will also include vacation travel, some fun camps and some academic camps. Of course, this also means that the lives of parents revolve around the kids and their education.

Ultimately, parents are responsible if their kids are at or below grade.

I feel like you are illustrating part of the problem though- how do you do a daily review at home when they are provided so little materials to bring home? Oh, you're buying textbooks that used to be provided by the school. So now parents have to figure out WHICH textbook to buy and then pay for them. Textbooks aren't cheap, even used ones, and then what if you make a poor selection that doesn't jive with what is being taught in class?

Also, just because someone is college educated doesn't make them a good teacher. But it's great that you are and I'm sure your kids are high achievers because of it.

Ignore the textbook harpy. They're simply misguided and attached to 19th century teaching methods. MCPS has everything online. If they knew how to use a computer, they'd realize what a waste of time that nonsense is. I'm glad I live in a county that doesn't spend $$$ on making kids lug those vestiges of old times around and helps them learn how things get done today.

Listen, I work in high tech. Have done so for 20 years. Reading a text book is a lot better than reading online. Plus not all the textbooks are online. After I got my DC a textbook from Amazon for a particular class, their grades went up. Textbooks alone aren't the answer, but it can help as a companion.

Clearly, whatever MCPS is doing, it's not working since the achievement gap continues to grow, and not just for illegal immigrant children.

My kids are now in HS. So, we've gone through 2.0 (guinea pig) all the way through. I was willing to give 2.0 a shot. But MCPS blew it. Even with 2.0 being deprecated by the time my youngest was in 7th grade, the bar was set so low that they could sleep through class and get an A. MS did jacksh1t to prepare kids for the more rigorous AP classes.

It seems to be fairly well known that MCPS has massive grade inflation. You can get an extra point for Honors Health. Really? Honors Health? My kids have stated that the "honors" classes are a joke.

MCPS lowers the bar in the name of "equity". The honors classes are labeled as such to boost lower performing kids GPA so they don't feel badly. It's like the "everyone gets a trophy for just participating" crap. It's not helping these kids.. at all.

I have a HS sophomore and also watched the mess that was Curriculum 2.0. Agree with all of this.

+1000 MCPS administrators always create new curriculums to justify their jobs. This had disastrous before the pandemic and online learning let parents see what bs their students were being taught in MCPS schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For some reason Asian kids did fine during the pandemic. Their scores, including SAT scores, just keep going up. Why is that?

The article says that the downward trend was from 2013. Asian-Americans have already figured out that there are a lot of weaknesses in American education system and so they have been supplementing and teaching their kids at home.

Mostly the Asian-American parents (and specifically the moms) are very well-educated and can teach Math to their children so the children are coming out ahead in STEM. Culturally, there is a huge emphasis on education within families and the community as a whole. Finally, most Asian-Americans first gen were highly educated people from their countries who came to the US. They are not the poorest of the poor, uneducated migrants.

The weaknesses in American education system that most Asians notice and try to overcome are -
1) Shortened school year
2) Lack of textbooks
3) Lack of final exams
4) Lack of discipline in classrooms. Disruptive students are tolerated. Parents are not responsible.
5) Lack of a well defined curriculum, syllabus that is shared with students and parents. Textbooks and units of study that are mapped to the syllabus and curriculum.
6) Not failing any students in any grade and holding them back
7) Grade inflation. Students earn grades for doing homework.
8) Graded assignments and tests are not returned back to students and parents.
9) No comprehensive, standardized curriculum, syallabus, textbooks, testing and school year nationally for all grades and all subjects. Even SAT is going away.

What the US does extremely well -
1) Free education for everybody
2) Free transportation for coming and going to school
3) Free meals
4) Free school supplies.

+1

I agree with most of this, which is why the academic success of Asian-American students should not be used to argue why what we are doing now is just fine for any family that cares about their kids' education. If you can only succeed through extensive supplementation, there is a problem. The lack of textbooks and defined syllabus are a huge part of why it is hard for parents to help their kids - it takes independent work to provide that support, which may don't have.

+1. I was reading through the exhaustive list of what needs to be overcome, it's no wonder parents are daunted. My dad used to read my textbooks to help me with math. My kids have no textbooks! Not to mention that the way kids teach math is different from when I was a kid.

I also just don't understand how parents find all this time for extra supplementation and have kids willing to sit and do it after a full day of school plus homework. Are no one else's kids exhausted at the end of the day?

There is no exhaustive list to overcome. There is no extensive supplementation. It is normal daily teaching at home so that the kids are able to review what they learned at school and if there are any lack of comprehension the parents can clarify for the child.

The parents need to priortize their kid's education above all. The school system is already giving free schooling, meals, supplies and transportation. Sometimes they are also giving free after and before care. They cannot do much more than this. Maybe they can give textbooks.

Parents need to step up and make sure that their kids are studying at home every day. 1 hour of daily review at home in the ES and MS years is all that is needed. However, only 40% of White Americans are college educated. Can you imagine that? Most parents are incapable of teaching their children because they are also basically uneducated. Never mind the URM and low SES households.

You do need textbooks and that is one thing that parents can do for their children. Get them textbooks before school opens. Buy the textbooks second hand from Amazon and use that to guide your children.

Are the kids exhausted from being in school? Sure. My kids are. But, they are expected to do all homework at school during lunch break and during the bus-ride home. The daily teaching happens when my husband or I get back from work and it happens for an hour or so every day. Weekends and holidays also include an hour or so of studying daily. Summer will also include vacation travel, some fun camps and some academic camps. Of course, this also means that the lives of parents revolve around the kids and their education.

Ultimately, parents are responsible if their kids are at or below grade.

I feel like you are illustrating part of the problem though- how do you do a daily review at home when they are provided so little materials to bring home? Oh, you're buying textbooks that used to be provided by the school. So now parents have to figure out WHICH textbook to buy and then pay for them. Textbooks aren't cheap, even used ones, and then what if you make a poor selection that doesn't jive with what is being taught in class?

Also, just because someone is college educated doesn't make them a good teacher. But it's great that you are and I'm sure your kids are high achievers because of it.

Ignore the textbook harpy. They're simply misguided and attached to 19th century teaching methods. MCPS has everything online. If they knew how to use a computer, they'd realize what a waste of time that nonsense is. I'm glad I live in a county that doesn't spend $$$ on making kids lug those vestiges of old times around and helps them learn how things get done today.

Listen, I work in high tech. Have done so for 20 years. Reading a text book is a lot better than reading online. Plus not all the textbooks are online. After I got my DC a textbook from Amazon for a particular class, their grades went up. Textbooks alone aren't the answer, but it can help as a companion.

Clearly, whatever MCPS is doing, it's not working since the achievement gap continues to grow, and not just for illegal immigrant children.

My kids are now in HS. So, we've gone through 2.0 (guinea pig) all the way through. I was willing to give 2.0 a shot. But MCPS blew it. Even with 2.0 being deprecated by the time my youngest was in 7th grade, the bar was set so low that they could sleep through class and get an A. MS did jacksh1t to prepare kids for the more rigorous AP classes.

It seems to be fairly well known that MCPS has massive grade inflation. You can get an extra point for Honors Health. Really? Honors Health? My kids have stated that the "honors" classes are a joke.

MCPS lowers the bar in the name of "equity". The honors classes are labeled as such to boost lower performing kids GPA so they don't feel badly. It's like the "everyone gets a trophy for just participating" crap. It's not helping these kids.. at all.

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Anonymous wrote:For some reason Asian kids did fine during the pandemic. Their scores, including SAT scores, just keep going up. Why is that?

The article says that the downward trend was from 2013. Asian-Americans have already figured out that there are a lot of weaknesses in American education system and so they have been supplementing and teaching their kids at home.

Mostly the Asian-American parents (and specifically the moms) are very well-educated and can teach Math to their children so the children are coming out ahead in STEM. Culturally, there is a huge emphasis on education within families and the community as a whole. Finally, most Asian-Americans first gen were highly educated people from their countries who came to the US. They are not the poorest of the poor, uneducated migrants.

The weaknesses in American education system that most Asians notice and try to overcome are -
1) Shortened school year
2) Lack of textbooks
3) Lack of final exams
4) Lack of discipline in classrooms. Disruptive students are tolerated. Parents are not responsible.
5) Lack of a well defined curriculum, syllabus that is shared with students and parents. Textbooks and units of study that are mapped to the syllabus and curriculum.
6) Not failing any students in any grade and holding them back
7) Grade inflation. Students earn grades for doing homework.
8) Graded assignments and tests are not returned back to students and parents.
9) No comprehensive, standardized curriculum, syallabus, textbooks, testing and school year nationally for all grades and all subjects. Even SAT is going away.

What the US does extremely well -
1) Free education for everybody
2) Free transportation for coming and going to school
3) Free meals
4) Free school supplies.

+1

I agree with most of this, which is why the academic success of Asian-American students should not be used to argue why what we are doing now is just fine for any family that cares about their kids' education. If you can only succeed through extensive supplementation, there is a problem. The lack of textbooks and defined syllabus are a huge part of why it is hard for parents to help their kids - it takes independent work to provide that support, which may don't have.

+1. I was reading through the exhaustive list of what needs to be overcome, it's no wonder parents are daunted. My dad used to read my textbooks to help me with math. My kids have no textbooks! Not to mention that the way kids teach math is different from when I was a kid.

I also just don't understand how parents find all this time for extra supplementation and have kids willing to sit and do it after a full day of school plus homework. Are no one else's kids exhausted at the end of the day?

There is no exhaustive list to overcome. There is no extensive supplementation. It is normal daily teaching at home so that the kids are able to review what they learned at school and if there are any lack of comprehension the parents can clarify for the child.

The parents need to priortize their kid's education above all. The school system is already giving free schooling, meals, supplies and transportation. Sometimes they are also giving free after and before care. They cannot do much more than this. Maybe they can give textbooks.

Parents need to step up and make sure that their kids are studying at home every day. 1 hour of daily review at home in the ES and MS years is all that is needed. However, only 40% of White Americans are college educated. Can you imagine that? Most parents are incapable of teaching their children because they are also basically uneducated. Never mind the URM and low SES households.

You do need textbooks and that is one thing that parents can do for their children. Get them textbooks before school opens. Buy the textbooks second hand from Amazon and use that to guide your children.

Are the kids exhausted from being in school? Sure. My kids are. But, they are expected to do all homework at school during lunch break and during the bus-ride home. The daily teaching happens when my husband or I get back from work and it happens for an hour or so every day. Weekends and holidays also include an hour or so of studying daily. Summer will also include vacation travel, some fun camps and some academic camps. Of course, this also means that the lives of parents revolve around the kids and their education.

Ultimately, parents are responsible if their kids are at or below grade.

I feel like you are illustrating part of the problem though- how do you do a daily review at home when they are provided so little materials to bring home? Oh, you're buying textbooks that used to be provided by the school. So now parents have to figure out WHICH textbook to buy and then pay for them. Textbooks aren't cheap, even used ones, and then what if you make a poor selection that doesn't jive with what is being taught in class?

Also, just because someone is college educated doesn't make them a good teacher. But it's great that you are and I'm sure your kids are high achievers because of it.

Ignore the textbook harpy. They're simply misguided and attached to 19th century teaching methods. MCPS has everything online. If they knew how to use a computer, they'd realize what a waste of time that nonsense is. I'm glad I live in a county that doesn't spend $$$ on making kids lug those vestiges of old times around and helps them learn how things get done today.

Listen, I work in high tech. Have done so for 20 years. Reading a text book is a lot better than reading online. Plus not all the textbooks are online. After I got my DC a textbook from Amazon for a particular class, their grades went up. Textbooks alone aren't the answer, but it can help as a companion.

Clearly, whatever MCPS is doing, it's not working since the achievement gap continues to grow, and not just for illegal immigrant children.

My kids are now in HS. So, we've gone through 2.0 (guinea pig) all the way through. I was willing to give 2.0 a shot. But MCPS blew it. Even with 2.0 being deprecated by the time my youngest was in 7th grade, the bar was set so low that they could sleep through class and get an A. MS did jacksh1t to prepare kids for the more rigorous AP classes.

It seems to be fairly well known that MCPS has massive grade inflation. You can get an extra point for Honors Health. Really? Honors Health? My kids have stated that the "honors" classes are a joke.

MCPS lowers the bar in the name of "equity". The honors classes are labeled as such to boost lower performing kids GPA so they don't feel badly. It's like the "everyone gets a trophy for just participating" crap. It's not helping these kids.. at all.

I have a HS sophomore and also watched the mess that was Curriculum 2.0. Agree with all of this.