Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in a CES this year, and the program is just awesome. They teach the way I think almost all kids should be taught, and the curriculum and activities they use are absolutely stellar. I appreciate that my child is in a class with academic peers, but really, he would be pretty happy if he could have even half this program, “watered down” at his home school. A key thing I see about the activities they do is that they allow the kids to reach their own limits. An example: they begin writing a poem and the teacher has them write down all the words they can think of that have to do with the topic. Then, they have to write their poem without using a single one of those words. This would work in ANY classroom, and is a wonderful way to let an assignment allow natural differentiation. This doesn’t happen once a week, this kind of teaching seems to happen throughout the day, every day. Too many of the “regular” classroom activities in the current ELA curriculum are rigid and limited, so that many kids feel trapped instead of inspired.

MCPS has been looking for a new curriculum for ELA and I really think they should look to the CES programs for fantastic ideas. I also think that there is comparatively little pressure on the CES teachers to get test scores up, and as a result, the teachers and kids have a real joy of teaching and learning together. Less worksheets, less drilling, more doing and talking and experiencing together. I, for one, would happily give up CES if all those things could come back to all the home classrooms.

But in the home classroom the teacher would be busy trying to get the lower performing students up to speed and would be drilling etc..that is the whole point of having a separate program.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in a CES this year, and the program is just awesome. They teach the way I think almost all kids should be taught, and the curriculum and activities they use are absolutely stellar. I appreciate that my child is in a class with academic peers, but really, he would be pretty happy if he could have even half this program, “watered down” at his home school. A key thing I see about the activities they do is that they allow the kids to reach their own limits. An example: they begin writing a poem and the teacher has them write down all the words they can think of that have to do with the topic. Then, they have to write their poem without using a single one of those words. This would work in ANY classroom, and is a wonderful way to let an assignment allow natural differentiation. This doesn’t happen once a week, this kind of teaching seems to happen throughout the day, every day. Too many of the “regular” classroom activities in the current ELA curriculum are rigid and limited, so that many kids feel trapped instead of inspired.

MCPS has been looking for a new curriculum for ELA and I really think they should look to the CES programs for fantastic ideas. I also think that there is comparatively little pressure on the CES teachers to get test scores up, and as a result, the teachers and kids have a real joy of teaching and learning together. Less worksheets, less drilling, more doing and talking and experiencing together. I, for one, would happily give up CES if all those things could come back to all the home classrooms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So how come Fairfax can do it for 20%.

Because they don’t spend a ton of the school budget on overhead on tests, policies, applications, paying people to read applications, etc... They also don’t bus the kids all over their gigantic county like we do. Another huge waste of money and normalcy.

Only MCPS knkws how to waste money AND not give enough programs to kids that need enrichment.

We all know the top 1%, 5% or 15% are all spoon fed tutors and testing from tiger mommies day 1. Why give them a platform to go crazy competing for these few spots. They will STILL “enrich” them a5 home whether the material is watered down or not.

Let the teachers pick like Fairfax does. My school did the same thing. Used standardized testing scores, grades, and teacher references.

In Fairfax everybody complains bitterly about watered-down programs. teacher favoritism, and parent pushing. AAP in FCPS has its own forum on DCUM because the rest of the FCPS couldn't stand it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The programs are awesome because they do not include every kid whose mom thinks they are gifted. Faifax has a program which includes about 20% of the kids and people complain it is pretty watered down. Can't have it both ways.

So open up the magnet programs for the top 5 percent of kids...it seems like the enriched studies and MS and HS programs rejects plenty of 98 and even 99 percentile kids.

Because they are for 1% kids. Not for 5%. Not enough funding and space for those while there are lost of bottom %20 kids to bring up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this crazy because there are tons of bright, hardworking kids in this county, that MCPS seems to care very little about.

The BOE is almost dismissive at the meetings when parents try to advocate for more 'enriched' programming or curriculum offerings.

The current leadership (BOE/Superintendent) have made it completely clear that they have zero interest in supporting enriched programming. Their one and only focus is closing the Achievement Gap. And, that being said, it is in their best interest to not offer extensive enrichment opportunities.

Also agree with the PP that parents don't hold the BOE accountable. We continue to vote for people who don't care about our kids.

And, lastly, MCPS is TOO DAMN BIG. It is impossible for a school system this size to effectively meet the needs of its students. And, over the past decade, as a parent, I feel that it's doing a pretty crappy job at meeting the needs of most students.

Oh, look, it's the "MCPS is trying to close the achievement gap by making my smart kid dumber" argument.

Do you know how MCPS measures the achievement gap?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this crazy because there are tons of bright, hardworking kids in this county, that MCPS seems to care very little about.

The BOE is almost dismissive at the meetings when parents try to advocate for more 'enriched' programming or curriculum offerings.

The current leadership (BOE/Superintendent) have made it completely clear that they have zero interest in supporting enriched programming. Their one and only focus is closing the Achievement Gap. And, that being said, it is in their best interest to not offer extensive enrichment opportunities.

Also agree with the PP that parents don't hold the BOE accountable. We continue to vote for people who don't care about our kids.

And, lastly, MCPS is TOO DAMN BIG. It is impossible for a school system this size to effectively meet the needs of its students. And, over the past decade, as a parent, I feel that it's doing a pretty crappy job at meeting the needs of most students.

Oh, look, it's the "MCPS is trying to close the achievement gap by making my smart kid dumber" argument.

Do you know how MCPS measures the achievement gap?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The programs are awesome because they do not include every kid whose mom thinks they are gifted. Faifax has a program which includes about 20% of the kids and people complain it is pretty watered down. Can't have it both ways.

So open up the magnet programs for the top 5 percent of kids...it seems like the enriched studies and MS and HS programs rejects plenty of 98 and even 99 percentile kids.

Because they are for 1% kids. Not for 5%. Not enough funding and space for those while there are lost of bottom %20 kids to bring up.

So how come Fairfax can do it for 20%.

Because they don’t spend a ton of the school budget on overhead on tests, policies, applications, paying people to read applications, etc... They also don’t bus the kids all over their gigantic county like we do. Another huge waste of money and normalcy.

Only MCPS knkws how to waste money AND not give enough programs to kids that need enrichment.

We all know the top 1%, 5% or 15% are all spoon fed tutors and testing from tiger mommies day 1. Why give them a platform to go crazy competing for these few spots. They will STILL “enrich” them a5 home whether the material is watered down or not.

Let the teachers pick like Fairfax does. My school did the same thing. Used standardized testing scores, grades, and teacher references.

Anonymous wrote:

I find this crazy because there are tons of bright, hardworking kids in this county, that MCPS seems to care very little about.

The BOE is almost dismissive at the meetings when parents try to advocate for more 'enriched' programming or curriculum offerings.

The current leadership (BOE/Superintendent) have made it completely clear that they have zero interest in supporting enriched programming. Their one and only focus is closing the Achievement Gap. And, that being said, it is in their best interest to not offer extensive enrichment opportunities.

Also agree with the PP that parents don't hold the BOE accountable. We continue to vote for people who don't care about our kids.

And, lastly, MCPS is TOO DAMN BIG. It is impossible for a school system this size to effectively meet the needs of its students. And, over the past decade, as a parent, I feel that it's doing a pretty crappy job at meeting the needs of most students.

Anonymous wrote:

So how come Fairfax can do it for 20%.

Because they don’t spend a ton of the school budget on overhead on tests, policies, applications, paying people to read applications, etc... They also don’t bus the kids all over their gigantic county like we do. Another huge waste of money and normalcy.

Only MCPS knkws how to waste money AND not give enough programs to kids that need enrichment.

We all know the top 1%, 5% or 15% are all spoon fed tutors and testing from tiger mommies day 1. Why give them a platform to go crazy competing for these few spots. They will STILL “enrich” them a5 home whether the material is watered down or not.

Let the teachers pick like Fairfax does. My school did the same thing. Used standardized testing scores, grades, and teacher references.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The programs are awesome because they do not include every kid whose mom thinks they are gifted. Faifax has a program which includes about 20% of the kids and people complain it is pretty watered down. Can't have it both ways.

So open up the magnet programs for the top 5 percent of kids...it seems like the enriched studies and MS and HS programs rejects plenty of 98 and even 99 percentile kids.

Because they are for 1% kids. Not for 5%. Not enough funding and space for those while there are lost of bottom %20 kids to bring up.