Anonymous
Post 02/01/2014 21:46     Subject: Re:Report Cards - ugh
We've given up on MoCo publics. We have a super bright kid who's in a shitty school (in a magnet program which I am now convinced is solely designed to get motivated bright students into shitty schools). He is in 6th grade but is in all advanced (7th - 8th grade courses) but gets NO comments on his report cards, NO music, NO sports, NO arts, NO field trips, NO opportunity to explore how exciting and inspiring education can be. His school is 75% farms, and while socially he is happy, he is not receiving an adequate education. I don't care how "advanced" he is, or that he gets straight A's. No kid should should be doing merely drill and kill.

He attends Col. E. Brook Lee MS. It is a hot mess.

We are going private next year before he is totally turned off of school.

Nice work MoCo.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2014 19:28     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
If your kids are in ES, in terms of math teaching, let me tell, it does NOT get better.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2014 18:14     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
Oh my goodness no public school system is going to be able to perfectly meet the needs of all students.
My child is reading way above grade level... I don't expect the school to be able to cater to that necessarily. We work on that at home. But she also has a teacher who will give extra assignments if you ask her.
What do u people want, homeschooling in a public school setting???
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2014 18:10     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The reports cards are so dumbed-down. It is elementary school. They only care how your kids do in standardized testing. If they are reading above grade level, who cares what it says. Everything is useless but the teacher comments - which to me are ridiculously short. 3 sentences? Way to put some effort in there teachers. 1 seven minute conference 1st quarter, 3 sentences the 2nd quarter. Whew, they must work hard.


We received NO teacher comments for 2 quarter. Any teach that didn't write a comment for each student should be fired. It is ridiculously lazy knowing the report card are difficult to read.


I was going to say...you got comments? I haven't gotten a single comment since the new report cards started. It would help so much--a simple "X is reading above grade level, but I don't see her mastering Y concept" or "X could use some extra practice with fractions." Instead I have to email the teacher and schlep in for a conference when really, all I want is a basic overview of what I can do to help my kid do better in school.

You have a teacher problem. We get comments on papers, in the Thursday folder, and got a personalized handout with comments at teacher/parent meetings. Yes he new system is challenging to understand, but not impossible.
Yes my kid has gotten an ES on a writing assignment with spelling mistakes. Teacher explained that particular assignment was being graded for narrative, not spelling. The integrative curriculum is a big departure from what we grew up with, but that does not make it bad.
Learn the difference between a system problem and just a bad teacher .
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2014 16:41     Subject: Re:Report Cards - ugh
I'm terribly frustrated too. This school system is really terrible.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 19:33     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
I could not agree more, and at my child's school, there is a cap for the reading levels at one year above grade level. There are never any outliers who are reading at higher levels. They just put the top readers at one year above grade level and that's it. It's just not right.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 19:29     Subject: Re:Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
No. I am not saying this. This is not about wealthy kids. This is not about private schools. This is about expecting a public school to cater to you. It doesn't, and it shouldn't.


First off, I don't expect the public schools to cater to me. I expect them to meet the needs of my kids.

MCPS does a fairly good job of offering up services for those students who need extra help (which I support completely). But, once a kid meets the expectations of a particular grade, that's it. Nothing extra. (At least in the ES, which is all I have experience with so far.)

Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 18:51     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
I was going to say...you got comments? I haven't gotten a single comment since the new report cards started. It would help so much--a simple "X is reading above grade level, but I don't see her mastering Y concept" or "X could use some extra practice with fractions." Instead I have to email the teacher and schlep in for a conference when really, all I want is a basic overview of what I can do to help my kid do better in school.


I remember the halcyon days before Curriculum 2.0, when there were still comments on the report card. The comments did, in fact, not give you a basic overview of what you could do to help your kid do better in school. For that, you had to e-mail the teacher and "schlep in" for a conference.

Good grief.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 18:14     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The reports cards are so dumbed-down. It is elementary school. They only care how your kids do in standardized testing. If they are reading above grade level, who cares what it says. Everything is useless but the teacher comments - which to me are ridiculously short. 3 sentences? Way to put some effort in there teachers. 1 seven minute conference 1st quarter, 3 sentences the 2nd quarter. Whew, they must work hard.


We received NO teacher comments for 2 quarter. Any teach that didn't write a comment for each student should be fired. It is ridiculously lazy knowing the report card are difficult to read.


I was going to say...you got comments? I haven't gotten a single comment since the new report cards started. It would help so much--a simple "X is reading above grade level, but I don't see her mastering Y concept" or "X could use some extra practice with fractions." Instead I have to email the teacher and schlep in for a conference when really, all I want is a basic overview of what I can do to help my kid do better in school.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 17:46     Subject: Re:Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
It doesn't require more money. It requires driving out the old guard. Entrenchment not resources is the problem.

1. Leverage what the parents who are supplementing are doing rather than fight it.
2. Use cheaper, self paced technologies to let students move at their own pace.
3. Stop the teachers union from disallowing more lower paid assistance in the classrooms. Interns and other lower paid positions can be used to increase small group learning. This is what tutoring centers do. It doesn't take a masters in bull shit to help a small group of kids improve.
4. Hold the system accountable. Teachers and schools should be evaluated and retained/let go based on individual student progress. If a student tested at the exact same level in the beginning of the year as the end of the year then that student was robbed of a year of learning.
5. Admit mistakes and get rid of them. You can't drive change or improvement without honest self assessment. The majority of the central office needs to go starting with the superintendent.



You guys think that everybody with kids in MCPS thinks like you. Everybody doesn't.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 17:43     Subject: Re:Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
No, based on my reasoning, you shouldn't complain if the instrumental music teacher at school has your kid playing the same piece as the rest of the class, even though your kid is more advanced, and the reason your kid is more advanced is that you pay for private lessons.

The school system would be challenging the PP's kid in math, if the PP weren't teaching the kid math at home.


We definitely disagree about a fundamental point.

I DO believe the kid should get a more difficult piece of music. Why not? Only private schools should challenge kids? That does such a disservice to all the bright kids who can't afford private.


Why not? Because it is Montgomery County Public Schools, not Montgomery County Special Individual Instruction.

In a perfect world, maybe it would be Montgomery County Special Individual Instruction. How much more in taxes are you willing to pay for that?

Meanwhile, the PP should advocate for the PP's child; the PP should continue to teach the PP's child at home (if that's what they want to do); and the PP should understand that there are 151,288 other students whose needs MCPS also has to serve.


PP uses the public school system and should understand that funds are limited? That's the argument?

So only wealthy kids, who can afford private should be challenged. Ugh, that is so wrong on so many levels.


No. I am not saying this. This is not about wealthy kids. This is not about private schools. This is about expecting a public school to cater to you. It doesn't, and it shouldn't.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 16:56     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
I also agree! Ok, I know how frustrated I am and I know there are other frustrated parents throughout the county. WHAT can we do? Does anyone know about the options?

Do we try to get the Washington Post to write a series of articles looking in-depth at these issues. (Note there was a front page article in this morning's paper about common core and parental upset throughout the country.)

Do we try to get an advocacy group to sue the county in order to highlight the many issues addressed here (i.e., lack of information in the report card, lower standards, a half-written curriculum, etc.)?

Something has to give here. A great disservice is happening to these kids. I happen to have 4th grade twins and I truly believe the kids in 4th grade in MCPS are the guinea pigs who suffer the most because the as each grade of the curriculum is written, it is rolled out to them as the 1st test subjects. Terrible. Just terrible.
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 16:50     Subject: Re:Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
Why not? Because it is Montgomery County Public Schools, not Montgomery County Special Individual Instruction.

In a perfect world, maybe it would be Montgomery County Special Individual Instruction. How much more in taxes are you willing to pay for that?


It doesn't require more money. It requires driving out the old guard. Entrenchment not resources is the problem.

1. Leverage what the parents who are supplementing are doing rather than fight it.
2. Use cheaper, self paced technologies to let students move at their own pace.
3. Stop the teachers union from disallowing more lower paid assistance in the classrooms. Interns and other lower paid positions can be used to increase small group learning. This is what tutoring centers do. It doesn't take a masters in bull shit to help a small group of kids improve.
4. Hold the system accountable. Teachers and schools should be evaluated and retained/let go based on individual student progress. If a student tested at the exact same level in the beginning of the year as the end of the year then that student was robbed of a year of learning.
5. Admit mistakes and get rid of them. You can't drive change or improvement without honest self assessment. The majority of the central office needs to go starting with the superintendent.



Great ideas, PP. I agree!
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 16:33     Subject: Re:Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:
Why not? Because it is Montgomery County Public Schools, not Montgomery County Special Individual Instruction.

In a perfect world, maybe it would be Montgomery County Special Individual Instruction. How much more in taxes are you willing to pay for that?


It doesn't require more money. It requires driving out the old guard. Entrenchment not resources is the problem.

1. Leverage what the parents who are supplementing are doing rather than fight it.
2. Use cheaper, self paced technologies to let students move at their own pace.
3. Stop the teachers union from disallowing more lower paid assistance in the classrooms. Interns and other lower paid positions can be used to increase small group learning. This is what tutoring centers do. It doesn't take a masters in bull shit to help a small group of kids improve.
4. Hold the system accountable. Teachers and schools should be evaluated and retained/let go based on individual student progress. If a student tested at the exact same level in the beginning of the year as the end of the year then that student was robbed of a year of learning.
5. Admit mistakes and get rid of them. You can't drive change or improvement without honest self assessment. The majority of the central office needs to go starting with the superintendent.

you are so correct. Please Administration, read this!
Anonymous
Post 01/31/2014 16:27     Subject: Report Cards - ugh
Anonymous wrote:The reports cards are so dumbed-down. It is elementary school. They only care how your kids do in standardized testing. If they are reading above grade level, who cares what it says. Everything is useless but the teacher comments - which to me are ridiculously short. 3 sentences? Way to put some effort in there teachers. 1 seven minute conference 1st quarter, 3 sentences the 2nd quarter. Whew, they must work hard.


We received NO teacher comments for 2 quarter. Any teach that didn't write a comment for each student should be fired. It is ridiculously lazy knowing the report card are difficult to read.