Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that a perfect spelling test or a perfect math quiz is considered a P. I kept pushing our school's "specialist" to get an answer on how an ES is determined. I got the runaround for 1/2 hour then was told this:

Just think of your child's teacher as a doctor. If you take your child in to see a doctor they have been trained so that they can just look at your child and *know* what the problem is. Our teachers are the same way. They just *know* whether a child deserves an ES.

After that, I gave up because I realized what I was up against. I was done wasting my time.

My kid gets perfect spelling test
I could give two f*** that she only gets a P
I just happy as hell that she is a great speller
In our world, the education is the goal, the learning

Agreed. Especially since grades are not used in the selection process to determine whether a child gets into the HGC or MSM..... Wait.... http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedfiles/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/elementaryhighlygiftedcentersbrochure.pdf

Look MCPS does not give one shit about the type of student who is capable of making As and has parents who care enough to intervene if they see a B or C. Its better for the shrinking achievement gap if you child is a B or C student and doesn't ever reach or try for an A.

MCPS is ONLY is worried about the kids who are failing and have no parental support. If these kids see Cs in upper elementary school, their parents will do nothing. The kid just accepts he is a C student. In middle school they may start getting Ds. Again, they don't care. It turns to an F and they drop out. The thinking goes that if you keep telling them they are performing as well as everyone else, even when its completely false, as long as possible they won't give up as soon.

Parents who expect MCPS to be a good educational system and reward kids who reach their potential are just kidding themselves. This is not what MCPS is about at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that a perfect spelling test or a perfect math quiz is considered a P. I kept pushing our school's "specialist" to get an answer on how an ES is determined. I got the runaround for 1/2 hour then was told this:

Just think of your child's teacher as a doctor. If you take your child in to see a doctor they have been trained so that they can just look at your child and *know* what the problem is. Our teachers are the same way. They just *know* whether a child deserves an ES.

After that, I gave up because I realized what I was up against. I was done wasting my time.

My child's teacher gave the following analogy to baking a cake:

N - most ingredients assembled, cake not baked
I - cake baked, but not completely, and some ingredients missing
P - cake completely baked, all ingredients included
ES - triple-layer genoise with pastry cream and strawberry jam filling and marzipan roses and violets on top

I love this analogy
it's great

Anonymous wrote:I was told that a perfect spelling test or a perfect math quiz is considered a P. I kept pushing our school's "specialist" to get an answer on how an ES is determined. I got the runaround for 1/2 hour then was told this:

Just think of your child's teacher as a doctor. If you take your child in to see a doctor they have been trained so that they can just look at your child and *know* what the problem is. Our teachers are the same way. They just *know* whether a child deserves an ES.

After that, I gave up because I realized what I was up against. I was done wasting my time.

My kid gets perfect spelling test
I could give two f*** that she only gets a P
I just happy as hell that she is a great speller
In our world, the education is the goal, the learning

Anonymous wrote:

I was told that a perfect spelling test or a perfect math quiz is considered a P. I kept pushing our school's "specialist" to get an answer on how an ES is determined. I got the runaround for 1/2 hour then was told this:

Just think of your child's teacher as a doctor. If you take your child in to see a doctor they have been trained so that they can just look at your child and *know* what the problem is. Our teachers are the same way. They just *know* whether a child deserves an ES.

After that, I gave up because I realized what I was up against. I was done wasting my time.

This is frightening but sounds familiar . Do you go to Travilah ES?

No, not Travilah but it might be the same "specialist". I don't think she was specifically with our school. Or, the analogy may have been shared. It's a good conversation killer because it's so out there. I actually started laughing but caught myself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes into play with math too. For normal math, yes you can see whether the answer is right or wrong. In MCPS math you need to write an essay explaining how you thought about it using words and sentences.
I have seen my child get an ES because she wrote a long, overly wordy paragraph that was actually wrong in terms of the math!! She also learned that for some teachers you have to spit back out exactly how they described it. I have seen her get an I on an assignment even though the explanation was correct but it didn't match how the teacher wanted her to describe it. In the end she gets all Ps on the grade card.

This redefinition of math as a language skill is incredibly stupid so I'm not overly concerned with DD excelling at MCPS math. We now have to pay for outside math courses so we can be confident that she'll have a good math foundation in the future.

I haven't seen this. What grade is your child in?

Totally seeing this for my kids from 3rd-6th grade, pre and post 2.0. W cluster schools.

That might explain it.

Anonymous wrote:I was told that a perfect spelling test or a perfect math quiz is considered a P. I kept pushing our school's "specialist" to get an answer on how an ES is determined. I got the runaround for 1/2 hour then was told this:

Just think of your child's teacher as a doctor. If you take your child in to see a doctor they have been trained so that they can just look at your child and *know* what the problem is. Our teachers are the same way. They just *know* whether a child deserves an ES.

After that, I gave up because I realized what I was up against. I was done wasting my time.

My child's teacher gave the following analogy to baking a cake:

N - most ingredients assembled, cake not baked
I - cake baked, but not completely, and some ingredients missing
P - cake completely baked, all ingredients included
ES - triple-layer genoise with pastry cream and strawberry jam filling and marzipan roses and violets on top

I was told that a perfect spelling test or a perfect math quiz is considered a P. I kept pushing our school's "specialist" to get an answer on how an ES is determined. I got the runaround for 1/2 hour then was told this:

Just think of your child's teacher as a doctor. If you take your child in to see a doctor they have been trained so that they can just look at your child and *know* what the problem is. Our teachers are the same way. They just *know* whether a child deserves an ES.

After that, I gave up because I realized what I was up against. I was done wasting my time.

This is frightening but sounds familiar . Do you go to Travilah ES?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes into play with math too. For normal math, yes you can see whether the answer is right or wrong. In MCPS math you need to write an essay explaining how you thought about it using words and sentences.
I have seen my child get an ES because she wrote a long, overly wordy paragraph that was actually wrong in terms of the math!! She also learned that for some teachers you have to spit back out exactly how they described it. I have seen her get an I on an assignment even though the explanation was correct but it didn't match how the teacher wanted her to describe it. In the end she gets all Ps on the grade card.

This redefinition of math as a language skill is incredibly stupid so I'm not overly concerned with DD excelling at MCPS math. We now have to pay for outside math courses so we can be confident that she'll have a good math foundation in the future.

I haven't seen this. What grade is your child in?

Totally seeing this for my kids from 3rd-6th grade, pre and post 2.0. W cluster schools.

I was told that a perfect spelling test or a perfect math quiz is considered a P. I kept pushing our school's "specialist" to get an answer on how an ES is determined. I got the runaround for 1/2 hour then was told this:

Just think of your child's teacher as a doctor. If you take your child in to see a doctor they have been trained so that they can just look at your child and *know* what the problem is. Our teachers are the same way. They just *know* whether a child deserves an ES.

After that, I gave up because I realized what I was up against. I was done wasting my time.

Anonymous wrote:The current gradin system is fine for K/1st and 2nd. But, really, by 3rd, they should be implementing a system that is closer to what they'll get in MS.

Third-graders need ABC grades to get them ready for ABC grades in middle school? Then why don't K-2 students need ABC grades to get them ready for ABC grades in 3-5? Not to mention preschoolers, of course.

Anonymous wrote:It comes into play with math too. For normal math, yes you can see whether the answer is right or wrong. In MCPS math you need to write an essay explaining how you thought about it using words and sentences.
I have seen my child get an ES because she wrote a long, overly wordy paragraph that was actually wrong in terms of the math!! She also learned that for some teachers you have to spit back out exactly how they described it. I have seen her get an I on an assignment even though the explanation was correct but it didn't match how the teacher wanted her to describe it. In the end she gets all Ps on the grade card.

This redefinition of math as a language skill is incredibly stupid so I'm not overly concerned with DD excelling at MCPS math. We now have to pay for outside math courses so we can be confident that she'll have a good math foundation in the future.

I haven't seen this. What grade is your child in?

Anonymous wrote:Common core doesn't require schools to stop providing grades. This is an MCPS decision. Howard and other MD counties give children normal grades in 3.4 and 5. This is unfair hat kids in Montgomery County are put at a disadvantage compared to kids in other MD counties.

Fairfax County Public Schools uses standards-based grading, and Virginia didn't adopt the Common Core standards. So if MCPS students are at a disadvantage, so are FCPS students.

The current gradin system is fine for K/1st and 2nd. But, really, by 3rd, they should be implementing a system that is closer to what they'll get in MS.

Totally agree with you OP. Very frustrated with the report cards and grading. So hard to know what things mean. Even my third grader gets that the info is meaningless.