Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet, MCPS thinks we need more magnets. That will surely get the 36% proficiency up.

It’s possible to do more than one thing at a time. To completely neglect top performers (ie, grades 1–3) in order to focus 100% on the lowest performers is not a good solution.

The solution is teacher and school accountability. They behave like workers who are in jobs where they cannot be fired. MCPS pays teachers far higher than most parts of the country and the results of the teaching is terrible (see the MCAP results).

I disagree. Most of the teachers my kids have had at the elementary school level have been excellent. All have been good. But they cram in 30+ kids to a classroom, including English language learners, kids with major IEPs and wonder why Johnny can’t read.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve said it before I’ll say it again without Bethesda Potomac and parts of Rockville mcps is a mediocre school system in its current form I wouldn’t be surprised if the stats tumbled even more if those areas of the county did not exist or have the demographics they have

That's nothing new. People have always been saying that school performance correlates with SES, which unfortunately correlates with race around here.

One issue I have is that people around here forget that there are many up and coming areas both within MCPS and outside that are just as good or better than established school areas in MCPS.

For example, the overall Math proficiency rate for Snowden Farm in Clarksburg is 62.5%. Spark Matsunaga 73.6 percent.

Compared to like Ashburton at 66.5 percent or Beverly Farms at 76.9 percent.

That's not far off right? So it's not just the areas you listed that "carries" MCPS.

The differential between high and lower performing schools might've not been as big of an issue before, where people stayed in their own islands.

But MCPS is doing a lot of things where they're not only accommodating the lower performing groups but also taking away from the higher performing ones.

Such as slowing down/limiting curriculum, taking away advanced pathways, etc

I don't have issues with them trying to address the lower performing groups. It's what should be done and has been happening. Such as families get free preK, innovative school (full year), title I, Focus school, they had priority in summer school the last several years, etc.

These is all things I would've liked for my family but am okay that we didn't get it. But again the issue for me is when they start limiting or taking away from the higher performing groups.

The problem is that they need to find a way to improve the lower performing schools and groups. Do you have any ideas for that?

Thanks for the reply! I’m the pp for that comment. I think that free tutoring for kids that goes over all subjects almost like a college learning center could be great so that way kids can attend after school or before but it also does not feel like special ed so kids won’t feel like there is a stigma. However I feel this goes beyond test scores part of the reason I moved my oldest out of MCPS in 2023 to a catholic high school was due to all the fights and bad groundskeeping while I understand this is an issue everywhere we shouldn’t sweep it under the rug for my youngest (class of 2032) I might move to another cluster after my oldest graduates however even that one seems to have faulty groundskeeping in the high school. My point is that while test scores are great there are still things that many families especially middle to upper middle class families value if someone has a choice no matter test scores they don’t want to send Their kid to a school with multiple fights a day and bad maintenance.

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn't Asian kids be doing better? They are at 70% - 80%. How is this possible? What about the 20%?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and it's above State and National averages.

So we shouldn't be alarmed?

Do you understand averages or are NOT proficient in math.

How many are learning disabled? How many have only been in the country for a year? Do you actually have any facts about those that lack proficiency? Do you think only 100% is acceptable?

I doubt 37% of DCUM is proficient in math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve said it before I’ll say it again without Bethesda Potomac and parts of Rockville mcps is a mediocre school system in its current form I wouldn’t be surprised if the stats tumbled even more if those areas of the county did not exist or have the demographics they have

That's nothing new. People have always been saying that school performance correlates with SES, which unfortunately correlates with race around here.

One issue I have is that people around here forget that there are many up and coming areas both within MCPS and outside that are just as good or better than established school areas in MCPS.

For example, the overall Math proficiency rate for Snowden Farm in Clarksburg is 62.5%. Spark Matsunaga 73.6 percent.

Compared to like Ashburton at 66.5 percent or Beverly Farms at 76.9 percent.

That's not far off right? So it's not just the areas you listed that "carries" MCPS.

The differential between high and lower performing schools might've not been as big of an issue before, where people stayed in their own islands.

But MCPS is doing a lot of things where they're not only accommodating the lower performing groups but also taking away from the higher performing ones.

Such as slowing down/limiting curriculum, taking away advanced pathways, etc

I don't have issues with them trying to address the lower performing groups. It's what should be done and has been happening. Such as families get free preK, innovative school (full year), title I, Focus school, they had priority in summer school the last several years, etc.

These is all things I would've liked for my family but am okay that we didn't get it. But again the issue for me is when they start limiting or taking away from the higher performing groups.

The problem is that they need to find a way to improve the lower performing schools and groups. Do you have any ideas for that?

Thanks for the reply! I’m the pp for that comment. I think that free tutoring for kids that goes over all subjects almost like a college learning center could be great so that way kids can attend after school or before but it also does not feel like special ed so kids won’t feel like there is a stigma. However I feel this goes beyond test scores part of the reason I moved my oldest out of MCPS in 2023 to a catholic high school was due to all the fights and bad groundskeeping while I understand this is an issue everywhere we shouldn’t sweep it under the rug for my youngest (class of 2032) I might move to another cluster after my oldest graduates however even that one seems to have faulty groundskeeping in the high school. My point is that while test scores are great there are still things that many families especially middle to upper middle class families value if someone has a choice no matter test scores they don’t want to send Their kid to a school with multiple fights a day and bad maintenance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve said it before I’ll say it again without Bethesda Potomac and parts of Rockville mcps is a mediocre school system in its current form I wouldn’t be surprised if the stats tumbled even more if those areas of the county did not exist or have the demographics they have

That's nothing new. People have always been saying that school performance correlates with SES, which unfortunately correlates with race around here.

One issue I have is that people around here forget that there are many up and coming areas both within MCPS and outside that are just as good or better than established school areas in MCPS.

For example, the overall Math proficiency rate for Snowden Farm in Clarksburg is 62.5%. Spark Matsunaga 73.6 percent.

Compared to like Ashburton at 66.5 percent or Beverly Farms at 76.9 percent.

That's not far off right? So it's not just the areas you listed that "carries" MCPS.

The differential between high and lower performing schools might've not been as big of an issue before, where people stayed in their own islands.

But MCPS is doing a lot of things where they're not only accommodating the lower performing groups but also taking away from the higher performing ones.

Such as slowing down/limiting curriculum, taking away advanced pathways, etc

I don't have issues with them trying to address the lower performing groups. It's what should be done and has been happening. Such as families get free preK, innovative school (full year), title I, Focus school, they had priority in summer school the last several years, etc.

These is all things I would've liked for my family but am okay that we didn't get it. But again the issue for me is when they start limiting or taking away from the higher performing groups.

The problem is that they need to find a way to improve the lower performing schools and groups. Do you have any ideas for that?

Anonymous wrote:I’ve said it before I’ll say it again without Bethesda Potomac and parts of Rockville mcps is a mediocre school system in its current form I wouldn’t be surprised if the stats tumbled even more if those areas of the county did not exist or have the demographics they have

Anonymous wrote:What I find interesting is that they've never calibrated MCAP by testing adults, including teachers.

Anonymous wrote:My kid did terrible at the MCAP. Just average scores. She is however 99th on MAP-R. Testing and knowledge are two different things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yet, MCPS thinks we need more magnets. That will surely get the 36% proficiency up.

It’s possible to do more than one thing at a time. To completely neglect top performers (ie, grades 1–3) in order to focus 100% on the lowest performers is not a good solution.

The solution is teacher and school accountability. They behave like workers who are in jobs where they cannot be fired. MCPS pays teachers far higher than most parts of the country and the results of the teaching is terrible (see the MCAP results).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and it's above State and National averages.

So we shouldn't be alarmed?

Do you understand averages or are NOT proficient in math.

How many are learning disabled? How many have only been in the country for a year? Do you actually have any facts about those that lack proficiency? Do you think only 100% is acceptable?

I doubt 37% of DCUM is proficient in math.