Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The heading of this post reduces already causes me to believe this is a troll. However who is to say that parents are not already involved in the parent's education and why would a monetary incentive increase that involvement?

Consider this, no one really wants to get a bill in the mail that says "Mr. and Mrs. Jones you owe $233 this month" and at the bottom of the bill is their child's report card filled with failing grades for that month. I swear every parent would be up in arms that they're paying for crappy grades or awful customer service (teaching/administration). And not only would they become more active in their child's learning and understanding of concepts, but they'd check grades more frequently, add tutors, require more of principals, etc. There's something about the way we feel when we're paying something for nothing. But when you really think of it, with high homeownership in PG where schools are funded through taxes, isn't that what we're getting anyway? Failing students in return for our increasing tax bills? IJS, less golf, more tutors. Fewer handbags and Benzes, more helicopter parenting. We need it. And yes, I live in the county. Not a troll.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^agreed. PGCPS gets such a bad rap but let's put this into context...it may be one of the lower-performing districts compared to its neighbors, but Maryland has the #1 schools in the NATION. And the DC area in particular has top-tier schools. I think PG does just fine, even if it's not perfect. Few schools can compete with Bethesda or Howard County.

When you correct for demographics, Maryland has the 37th best schools in the nation.

http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-do-states-really-stack-2015-naep

If I'm sending my kids to a school, why would I want to "correct for demographics"? I want to know how good the school is, not how good it would be with poorer kids/different kids in it, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I think if the specialty schools program was expanded, more middle class helicopter parents would put their kids in the county schools. People need some sort of incentive, like winning a "lottery" or knowing that the other parents in their program at least applied and made an effort.

I think this is true, but I wish it weren't because it only exacerbates the inequities. This school district is massive with some dismal schools and some great ones. But no one sees the gems unless they have the cache of a special program and that's a real shame. Some neighborhood schools are sadly getting overlooked. Some parents like the idea of a neighborhood school but are scared away by this very ingrained perception that the only way to make it in this county is in a specialty program. They don't even consider a neighborhood school for an instant. These are middle class helicopter parents who could make a huge difference in a school and use their muscle to make it better and promote the positives.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-specialty program. I just don't think it solves the bigger issue. To tackle the inequities and improve the reputation, the district as a whole needs to show it can educate all its students, not just those who get lucky enough to win the lottery or test TAG or whatever.

+1000

This is so true. The expansion of the specialty programs is really detrimental to our local schools. I understand the reasoning but I think county would really benefit from opening more middle school specialty programs and reducing (or at least stop expanding) elementary school ones. There are lots of great things happening at our local elementary schools. Just think of how much better it could be if we could get the helicopter parents to opt in to their local schools.

I think the specialty program is the only reason some people stick around in PG. I know if my kids hadn't gotten in, we were definitely going to leave. I used to live down south in another majority black county with lots of middle class blacks and poor blacks too, where the schools are absolutely terrible and there is no charter or specialty program. So if you have kids there and can't afford private school, you are just screwed. It's really unfair to those who want better options for their kids. I'm so glad PG has some options for those of us who don't want our kids in poor performing schools.

I totally get this. And it's indeed unfair. And I don't have anything against specialty programs in theory, but in practice they set up a haves and have nots simply by offering the choice. All parents want their kids to thrive. And no parent wants their kid in a poor performing school. So what's the answer? If we only press the county to expand the specialty programs, then they can continue to give lip service to neighborhood schools and be done with it. What is the county doing to support neighborhood schools? What are homeowners in neighborhoods - hello property taxes -- doing to support their investment? Kids in neighborhood schools deserve better and I don't see how that happens if people don't get involved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I think if the specialty schools program was expanded, more middle class helicopter parents would put their kids in the county schools. People need some sort of incentive, like winning a "lottery" or knowing that the other parents in their program at least applied and made an effort.

I think this is true, but I wish it weren't because it only exacerbates the inequities. This school district is massive with some dismal schools and some great ones. But no one sees the gems unless they have the cache of a special program and that's a real shame. Some neighborhood schools are sadly getting overlooked. Some parents like the idea of a neighborhood school but are scared away by this very ingrained perception that the only way to make it in this county is in a specialty program. They don't even consider a neighborhood school for an instant. These are middle class helicopter parents who could make a huge difference in a school and use their muscle to make it better and promote the positives.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-specialty program. I just don't think it solves the bigger issue. To tackle the inequities and improve the reputation, the district as a whole needs to show it can educate all its students, not just those who get lucky enough to win the lottery or test TAG or whatever.

+1000

This is so true. The expansion of the specialty programs is really detrimental to our local schools. I understand the reasoning but I think county would really benefit from opening more middle school specialty programs and reducing (or at least stop expanding) elementary school ones. There are lots of great things happening at our local elementary schools. Just think of how much better it could be if we could get the helicopter parents to opt in to their local schools.

I think the specialty program is the only reason some people stick around in PG. I know if my kids hadn't gotten in, we were definitely going to leave. I used to live down south in another majority black county with lots of middle class blacks and poor blacks too, where the schools are absolutely terrible and there is no charter or specialty program. So if you have kids there and can't afford private school, you are just screwed. It's really unfair to those who want better options for their kids. I'm so glad PG has some options for those of us who don't want our kids in poor performing schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^agreed. PGCPS gets such a bad rap but let's put this into context...it may be one of the lower-performing districts compared to its neighbors, but Maryland has the #1 schools in the NATION. And the DC area in particular has top-tier schools. I think PG does just fine, even if it's not perfect. Few schools can compete with Bethesda or Howard County.

When you correct for demographics, Maryland has the 37th best schools in the nation.

http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-do-states-really-stack-2015-naep

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, but we're not talking about Maryland. We're talking about Prince Georges County. We can't brag about how well Howard or MoCo are doing. Those aren't our kids.

Well, 37th best isn't anything to brag about. The point is that Maryland schools aren't actually very good.

"Best" is a hard metric to measure. You can ready 100 different studies and come up with 100 different lists. PGCPS have a lot of room to improve but the trend is definitely in the right direction. We can't compare PGCPS to Howard or MoCo because our demographics are different. Tax base is different, ELL language numbers are different, FARMS numbers are different.

Residents need to keep holding our Principals, teachers, administrators AND parents and students accountable.

The only way the schools will continue to improve is if we all work together.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, but we're not talking about Maryland. We're talking about Prince Georges County. We can't brag about how well Howard or MoCo are doing. Those aren't our kids.

Well, 37th best isn't anything to brag about. The point is that Maryland schools aren't actually very good.

Anonymous wrote:Right, but we're not talking about Maryland. We're talking about Prince Georges County. We can't brag about how well Howard or MoCo are doing. Those aren't our kids.

Anonymous wrote:^^agreed. PGCPS gets such a bad rap but let's put this into context...it may be one of the lower-performing districts compared to its neighbors, but Maryland has the #1 schools in the NATION. And the DC area in particular has top-tier schools. I think PG does just fine, even if it's not perfect. Few schools can compete with Bethesda or Howard County.

Anonymous wrote:^^agreed. PGCPS gets such a bad rap but let's put this into context...it may be one of the lower-performing districts compared to its neighbors, but Maryland has the #1 schools in the NATION. And the DC area in particular has top-tier schools. I think PG does just fine, even if it's not perfect. Few schools can compete with Bethesda or Howard County.