The "W" clusters rest on their laurels. So there's no incentive to really understand Curriculum 2.0 or to even stretch as teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is highly regarded in the country and "W" cluster schools are highest performing schools within MCPS. This is a fact.

But "highest performing" is not the same as "best".

That is precisely what I said if you read my full post.

The point I am making is that school education through out US sucks. If you find MCPS and "W" schools lacking - imagine how far below everyone else is in this country. Lets accommodate for the achievement gap where needed and let's accommodate also for the kids who are high achievers.

I don't find my kids' MCPS schools lacking. It's possible that the schools in Bethesda or Potomac are lacking, though. My kids don't go there, so I don't know.

Anonymous wrote:I was told that they don't teach spelling because it would discourage the kids from sounding it out. Drives me nuts. But my mom said she was taught in a similar fashion in Eastern Europe so I am trying to ignore the issue.

When I was in elementary school in the 1970s in the US, my parents complained about nobody learning to spell anymore, since the schools stopped requiring Latin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is highly regarded in the country and "W" cluster schools are highest performing schools within MCPS. This is a fact.

Many people in DMV area are highly educated. Many more are are from other countries where curriculum, rigor, expectations in top-notch schools are far above and beyond the "W" cluster schools in MCPS. People from other countries (including me) expected that school education will be far more superior in the US than in our own home countries. When we have found that it is not so - we have deemed MCPS to be a big fail.

The truth is that school education in the US is a big fail with a few spots of excellence here and there. This excellence has also come about with private tutoring and coaching and not with what the schools have taught.

MCPS is doing ok as compared to the rest of the nation. Private schools in US are also no better. Any student who is excelling - it is because of enrichment and tutoring outside of school.

Yes, that's what my mother told me in the 70s and what her mother told her in the 40s. What you teach at home matters much more than you think. You cannot depend on a school to do all the instruction.

Absolutely. And enrichment doesn't always take the form of summers in Costa Rica or involvement in the Math club. What really makes a difference is taking ordinary stuff that comes home and enriching it. Every teacher in the county will tell you that's what they would LOVE for every parent to do. There's no way they can do that by themselves. It has to be a partnership. Along the way, you develop your child's quest for knowledge, and when they are old enough, they'll seek enrichment on their own. That is when real learning occurs.

Of course. But there is a huge difference between this and having to fill in large gaps in the curriculum wholesale at home in the children's limited free time. That takes away from the enrichment you are talking about, and from what precious little time children have for physical fitness, practicing an instrument, chilling out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is highly regarded in the country and "W" cluster schools are highest performing schools within MCPS. This is a fact.

Many people in DMV area are highly educated. Many more are are from other countries where curriculum, rigor, expectations in top-notch schools are far above and beyond the "W" cluster schools in MCPS. People from other countries (including me) expected that school education will be far more superior in the US than in our own home countries. When we have found that it is not so - we have deemed MCPS to be a big fail.

The truth is that school education in the US is a big fail with a few spots of excellence here and there. This excellence has also come about with private tutoring and coaching and not with what the schools have taught.

MCPS is doing ok as compared to the rest of the nation. Private schools in US are also no better. Any student who is excelling - it is because of enrichment and tutoring outside of school.

Yes, that's what my mother told me in the 70s and what her mother told her in the 40s. What you teach at home matters much more than you think. You cannot depend on a school to do all the instruction.

Absolutely. And enrichment doesn't always take the form of summers in Costa Rica or involvement in the Math club. What really makes a difference is taking ordinary stuff that comes home and enriching it. Every teacher in the county will tell you that's what they would LOVE for every parent to do. There's no way they can do that by themselves. It has to be a partnership. Along the way, you develop your child's quest for knowledge, and when they are old enough, they'll seek enrichment on their own. That is when real learning occurs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is highly regarded in the country and "W" cluster schools are highest performing schools within MCPS. This is a fact.

Many people in DMV area are highly educated. Many more are are from other countries where curriculum, rigor, expectations in top-notch schools are far above and beyond the "W" cluster schools in MCPS. People from other countries (including me) expected that school education will be far more superior in the US than in our own home countries. When we have found that it is not so - we have deemed MCPS to be a big fail.

The truth is that school education in the US is a big fail with a few spots of excellence here and there. This excellence has also come about with private tutoring and coaching and not with what the schools have taught.

MCPS is doing ok as compared to the rest of the nation. Private schools in US are also no better. Any student who is excelling - it is because of enrichment and tutoring outside of school.

Yes, that's what my mother told me in the 70s and what her mother told her in the 40s. What you teach at home matters much more than you think. You cannot depend on a school to do all the instruction.

^ THIS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of different opinions here. What is considered to be good instruction is subjective. A parent with Ivy League goals and comfort around making kids miserable and stressed will always say instruction is not on par. When you have a moment, compare MoCo's test scores with a few counties in Mississippi or Alabama. Boy, do we forget how good we have it here.

Yeah, this is a great idea. Why look UP when you can look DOWN, right?

I'm sorry. What was I thinking. Elitist and social climbers should never, ever look down. My apologies for making the suggestion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of different opinions here. What is considered to be good instruction is subjective. A parent with Ivy League goals and comfort around making kids miserable and stressed will always say instruction is not on par. When you have a moment, compare MoCo's test scores with a few counties in Mississippi or Alabama. Boy, do we forget how good we have it here.

THAT.IS.JUST.SILLY.

Silly? Perhaps you should be reminded that children eventually graduate and compete with other kids across the nation for college spots. That includes every state, every county and every district. Yep, seems pretty silly that this is actually a fact.

Kids graduate and go to college, true. No doubt. But if you think your DC's application is compared with some uncle Joe's kid from Mississippi where school district has only 1% of the resources MCPS has, you are NOT understanding the college process.

Compared with as in, "not compared at all" or "compared differently or within the context of the high school resources"? I hope you meant the latter because there is always a comparison. So we have Uncle Joe's kid from an economically disadvantaged school district who has a 4.0 and a 1950 on the SAT. We also have a MoCo student with the same grades and scores, and both are applying to MIT. The only difference: The MoCo student profile includes more college-ready attributes. Why? MoCo had more resources to offer AP classes. My MoCo student will have the advantage of taking 8 AP classes during high school. If this isn't a college-ready profile, show me one that is. The reputation of every college rest upon the quality of their graduates, and the profile of the freshman class is used to nationally rank the quality of the school and make it attractive to prospective students.

Secondly, and sadly, colleges need money. At the University of MD at CP, for every 1,000 in-state students enrolled instead of out-of-state students, the university loses $15 million. Kids in counties with fewer resources, unfortunately, are disadvantaged. Federal assistance does even the playing field a bit, but grades and scores still matter. There are many kids coming from MoCo that have comparable economic situations to kids in lower performing districts. With both kids eligible for financial aid, who do you think is getting accepted?

And for those moaning about what's not happening in the *4th grade* for goodness sakes...lol. The county isn't "failing". MoCo produces college-ready kids. Trust me, you'll be the same parents complaining about the amount of homework they'll get in a few years. My child (not at W school btw) is a junior and has 3-4 hours of homework every night. You want rigor? Have no fear, it's coming.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is highly regarded in the country and "W" cluster schools are highest performing schools within MCPS. This is a fact.

Many people in DMV area are highly educated. Many more are are from other countries where curriculum, rigor, expectations in top-notch schools are far above and beyond the "W" cluster schools in MCPS. People from other countries (including me) expected that school education will be far more superior in the US than in our own home countries. When we have found that it is not so - we have deemed MCPS to be a big fail.

The truth is that school education in the US is a big fail with a few spots of excellence here and there. This excellence has also come about with private tutoring and coaching and not with what the schools have taught.

MCPS is doing ok as compared to the rest of the nation. Private schools in US are also no better. Any student who is excelling - it is because of enrichment and tutoring outside of school.

Yes, that's what my mother told me in the 70s and what her mother told her in the 40s. What you teach at home matters much more than you think. You cannot depend on a school to do all the instruction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is highly regarded in the country and "W" cluster schools are highest performing schools within MCPS. This is a fact.

But "highest performing" is not the same as "best".

That is precisely what I said if you read my full post.

The point I am making is that school education through out US sucks. If you find MCPS and "W" schools lacking - imagine how far below everyone else is in this country. Lets accommodate for the achievement gap where needed and let's accommodate also for the kids who are high achievers.

I attended a completely brown (and I mean dark brown) school in an impoverished inner city area. I feel the education was still superior to the current top MCPS school today. Adopting this 2.0 curriculum was the worst thing MCPS could do.

You can always supplement with extra lessons after school, homeschooling style. Some call it after-schooling. Problem is, MCPS gives so much pointless make-work as homework that it takes time and adding work adds pressure. Still, You can do more with your child after school or on weekends and then not have to worry. Go to Homeschool Buyers' Coop and have your pick of great resources. I also like Dadsworksheets.com for free drill and kill worksheets for math. MCPS doesn't give enough drill homework in math. If your children can handle extra work, there are plenty of creative options to supplement. My problem is that my kid needs downtime after doing school homework so I can't supplement much. But I homeschooled for a year and saw how easy it is to find great teaching tools. It sucks that parents have to fill in the gaps but it could be worse. This way you have some control. Many people with a different native language do this anyway to teach or keep up first language skills.

Anonymous wrote:Lots of different opinions here. What is considered to be good instruction is subjective. A parent with Ivy League goals and comfort around making kids miserable and stressed will always say instruction is not on par. When you have a moment, compare MoCo's test scores with a few counties in Mississippi or Alabama. Boy, do we forget how good we have it here.

Yeah, this is a great idea. Why look UP when you can look DOWN, right?

Anonymous wrote:I was told that they don't teach spelling because it would discourage the kids from sounding it out. Drives me nuts. But my mom said she was taught in a similar fashion in Eastern Europe so I am trying to ignore the issue.

You must have a young kid. Don't ignore it.

Anonymous wrote:I was told that they don't teach spelling because it would discourage the kids from sounding it out. Drives me nuts. But my mom said she was taught in a similar fashion in Eastern Europe so I am trying to ignore the issue.

I was taught to read using basic phonics-I think that was the best way. My younger sibling learned using the sight word method-he is a very poor writer, and awful at spelling. I don't even know the method they are using now-but the results do not seem very good. I say go back to the old fashioned way of doing things, and hold back whomever does not pass. When immigrants came 50 years ago they were forced to assimilate and they did. Why adjust a whole system to accomodate them? and drag everyone else down in the process? When in Rome......