Anonymous
Post 09/22/2013 15:36     Subject: Re:What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Well my kids are in W schools and I would say the education has gone from so so to bad. The class sizes are ridiculous (32 kids). The new report cards tell you nothing other than your kid meets low state standards. I have caught the staff giving out grades my kids didn't earn just to cover up problems. MSA test scores overall are falling. The teachers have not been trained or have the resources to implement 2.0 in the full capacity Starr proposes in all his propaganda pieces. Parents don't like 2.0 and when I have met with teachers one on one, they don't like it also. They just can't go on record to say what they really think because they fear retaliation. Not everyone dislikes change but of course, people hate change when it means going from a so so curriculum to an untested, unproven, bad curriculum.

If choosing between MD and VA, I would recommend VA hands down. Too many problems with MCPS right now.


I was referring to an elementary, a middle school, and a W high school. Report card problems relates to the elementary school. Giving out grades undeserved was at the elementary and high school. 2.0 problems are at the elementary, middle, and high school. 2.0 was introduced to all high school level math courses beginning this year even though the teachers don't have enough training nor the materials.


There's no 2.0 math at our W high school that I'm aware of and I have a student taking math.


You'd better check then. I have a child at a W school, and they are 2.0 across the board.
Anonymous
Post 09/22/2013 14:59     Subject: Re:What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Well my kids are in W schools and I would say the education has gone from so so to bad. The class sizes are ridiculous (32 kids). The new report cards tell you nothing other than your kid meets low state standards. I have caught the staff giving out grades my kids didn't earn just to cover up problems. MSA test scores overall are falling. The teachers have not been trained or have the resources to implement 2.0 in the full capacity Starr proposes in all his propaganda pieces. Parents don't like 2.0 and when I have met with teachers one on one, they don't like it also. They just can't go on record to say what they really think because they fear retaliation. Not everyone dislikes change but of course, people hate change when it means going from a so so curriculum to an untested, unproven, bad curriculum.

If choosing between MD and VA, I would recommend VA hands down. Too many problems with MCPS right now.


I was referring to an elementary, a middle school, and a W high school. Report card problems relates to the elementary school. Giving out grades undeserved was at the elementary and high school. 2.0 problems are at the elementary, middle, and high school. 2.0 was introduced to all high school level math courses beginning this year even though the teachers don't have enough training nor the materials.


So what are you doing about it? Did you go in to your kid's ES or HS teacher to complain that your DC didn't deserve those high grades? How is the system supposed to get this message if you did nothing?
Anonymous
Post 09/22/2013 00:31     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
MCPS is ok, but it is not as great as it's PR machine would tell you. My biggest problems with MCPS is the lack of transparency and trust between parents and administrators.

Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 21:21     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
Sounds like someone is playing a little fast with the truth to prove a point that benefits her point of view.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 20:58     Subject: Re:What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Well my kids are in W schools and I would say the education has gone from so so to bad. The class sizes are ridiculous (32 kids). The new report cards tell you nothing other than your kid meets low state standards. I have caught the staff giving out grades my kids didn't earn just to cover up problems. MSA test scores overall are falling. The teachers have not been trained or have the resources to implement 2.0 in the full capacity Starr proposes in all his propaganda pieces. Parents don't like 2.0 and when I have met with teachers one on one, they don't like it also. They just can't go on record to say what they really think because they fear retaliation. Not everyone dislikes change but of course, people hate change when it means going from a so so curriculum to an untested, unproven, bad curriculum.

If choosing between MD and VA, I would recommend VA hands down. Too many problems with MCPS right now.


I was referring to an elementary, a middle school, and a W high school. Report card problems relates to the elementary school. Giving out grades undeserved was at the elementary and high school. 2.0 problems are at the elementary, middle, and high school. 2.0 was introduced to all high school level math courses beginning this year even though the teachers don't have enough training nor the materials.


There's no 2.0 math at our W high school that I'm aware of and I have a student taking math.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 20:36     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
2.0 is only up To 5th grade and Algebra 1 this year,
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 20:28     Subject: Re:What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:Well my kids are in W schools and I would say the education has gone from so so to bad. The class sizes are ridiculous (32 kids). The new report cards tell you nothing other than your kid meets low state standards. I have caught the staff giving out grades my kids didn't earn just to cover up problems. MSA test scores overall are falling. The teachers have not been trained or have the resources to implement 2.0 in the full capacity Starr proposes in all his propaganda pieces. Parents don't like 2.0 and when I have met with teachers one on one, they don't like it also. They just can't go on record to say what they really think because they fear retaliation. Not everyone dislikes change but of course, people hate change when it means going from a so so curriculum to an untested, unproven, bad curriculum.

If choosing between MD and VA, I would recommend VA hands down. Too many problems with MCPS right now.


I was referring to an elementary, a middle school, and a W high school. Report card problems relates to the elementary school. Giving out grades undeserved was at the elementary and high school. 2.0 problems are at the elementary, middle, and high school. 2.0 was introduced to all high school level math courses beginning this year even though the teachers don't have enough training nor the materials.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 18:47     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:
Furthermore, the poorly performing schools are driven by poorly performing students.


This seems kind of tautological. Schools with bad test scores have bad test scores because their students have bad test scores. It's hard to argue with this, but it doesn't really say much.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 18:18     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Know that Bethesda/Potomac pays for MoCo, and MoCo pays for Maryland.


Speaking of Bethesda/Potomac -- OP, just in case you wondered: when people say the "W" schools are the best schools, what they really mean is that the "W" schools have the smallest percentages of poor brown people.


There are people of all colors in these W schools but they are not poor. You do know that poor and brown are not synonymous.
Signed, A well-off, professional brown person with kids in W schools getting a great education.


Furthermore, the poorly performing schools are driven by poorly performing students.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 18:15     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:As a product og MCPS and my kids are there now, I don't see a problem with it. People come here expecting things to be all clean, pressed, and perfect.

Just because they thoguht they had a smart kid and they don't they blame the school system.




Couldn't agree more. Parents have to stop dumping their students' poor performance on the county. MCPS has extensive resources available for those who want to do well. Don't expect for it to be handed on a platter to you.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 13:16     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Know that Bethesda/Potomac pays for MoCo, and MoCo pays for Maryland.


Speaking of Bethesda/Potomac -- OP, just in case you wondered: when people say the "W" schools are the best schools, what they really mean is that the "W" schools have the smallest percentages of poor brown people.


There are people of all colors in these W schools but they are not poor. You do know that poor and brown are not synonymous.
Signed, A well-off, professional brown person with kids in W schools getting a great education.


+100000000
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 12:16     Subject: Re:What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:The new report cards tell you nothing other than your kid meets low state standards.


This is incorrect. The standards are quasi-national standards (Common Core). Also, I don't know why the PP assumes that they are low. If you interested in what the standards are, you can look them up here:

http://www.corestandards.org/Math
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy

Anonymous wrote:MSA test scores overall are falling.


MSA scores are down because the MSAs are the tests Maryland designed to assess learning under the previous state curriculum. The MSAs are not a good way to assess learning under the Common Core curriculum, because the Common Core curriculum is different. Maryland is only still using the MSAs because the standardized tests designed to assess learning under the Common Core curriculum are not ready yet. When they are ready, Maryland will switch from the MSAs to the new tests (PARCC).

Anonymous wrote:Parents don't like 2.0


Actually I know quite a few parents who do like 2.0 -- including me.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 10:56     Subject: Re:What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:Well my kids are in W schools and I would say the education has gone from so so to bad. The class sizes are ridiculous (32 kids). The new report cards tell you nothing other than your kid meets low state standards. I have caught the staff giving out grades my kids didn't earn just to cover up problems. MSA test scores overall are falling. The teachers have not been trained or have the resources to implement 2.0 in the full capacity Starr proposes in all his propaganda pieces. Parents don't like 2.0 and when I have met with teachers one on one, they don't like it also. They just can't go on record to say what they really think because they fear retaliation. Not everyone dislikes change but of course, people hate change when it means going from a so so curriculum to an untested, unproven, bad curriculum.

If choosing between MD and VA, I would recommend VA hands down. Too many problems with MCPS right now.

32 kids?
Haha
A friend just moved 2nd grader from private to public MOCO because there were 32 kids in the private school class.
Plus, a host if other issues.
This parent is now ecstatic about the experience her kid is having.
Is 2.0 perfect?
No!
Is the implementation perfect?
No!
But my kid is learning and not at some gutter bucket level.
Sorry if you are having a bad experience.
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 10:44     Subject: What happened to MCPS?????
Still happy with MCPS....flaws and all. I would take it any day over VA schools that are ultimately run by a very conservative State Board of Ed. (In all fairness, I can only speak to Fairfax County from personal experience)

Honestly, I would be perfectly happy if all of these folks who are so terribly "miserable" with MCPS moved over the VA line or back to DC!
Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 10:29     Subject: Re:What happened to MCPS?????
Anonymous wrote:PP, which W schools are you referring to? I'm doing my diligence on W schools, so just curious.


Sounds like she might be referring to a cluster school. The actual W schools are high schools and there is no 2.0 yet, edline/report cards are unchanged, and test scores are high. We've been very happy with our high school, Whitman. If you are doing diligence on high schools you can call the office to have your child do a shadow visit (assuming he/she is in 8th grade).