Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader is in a math class with 7th and 8th graders. Sorry your kid didn't make the cut.

No extra support here, and we are quite happy with how MCPS has moved her up.

Has she been with older kids since elementary school? How did you get MCPS to move her up-- or did they do so on their own initiative without prompting? Curious to know and am not criticizing.

Anonymous wrote:If parents have to supplement, it means that MCPS is indeed failing.

If MCPS teachers are using Khan Academy in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child is bored in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child can't do their homework without help, MCPS is failing.

If your child is doing busy work on his fancy new Chromebook, MCPS is failing.

amen. what a waste of the potential learnings of a young child and young adult.

^ teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pyle. Did HGC for 4th and 5th grade in chevy chase. No differentiation, now prides itself on "the miracles of stratifying 1/3 subpar, 1/3 avg, and 1/3 top students into each class in order to maximize average outcome."

It strikes me, anecdotally from reading DCUM, that the people who paid the highest "good schools" surcharge (by living in the Bethesda/Potomac area) complain the most about the awfulness of those schools. Maybe the "good schools" surcharge is a bad buy.

I'm starting to believe it as well. I have a friend who has a kid at a Bethesda ES.. miserable. Then we have a bunch of W parents who complain here. I'm pretty happy with our Focus school in Gaithersburg with a FARMS rate of 40%. Very little complaints and I'm happy with the education that my kids are getting. I'm really confused. Parents here are complaining that their kids are not getting the appropriate leveled instruction- it's like a different system entirely because that has not been our experience at all. And I'm one of those very involved parents who care a lot about my kids' education. I'm wondering if it's the class sizes?

Parents in Bethesda have very high expectations. Not saying that parents in Gaithersburg don't, but it is evident in Bethesda by the complaints you say you have noticed.

Anonymous wrote:If parents have to supplement, it means that MCPS is indeed failing.

If MCPS teachers are using Khan Academy in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child is bored in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child can't do their homework without help, MCPS is failing.

If your child is doing busy work on his fancy new Chromebook, MCPS is failing.

I think it’s okay for kids to feel bored. They have to find something to do. School should not be entertainment despite what people think. Each your kids to speak up and find ways to challenge themselves. Teach them to to find a problem and think about ways to solve it. Teach them not to wait for things to be handed to them.

Busy work and technology use are relative too. I think people get overexcited about fancy gadgets in the classroom and it can be distracting, but I also think how effective it is is not just about the curriculum or the teacher.

I also think kids should do homework wth minimal or no help. That’s up the parent to follow through upon. Don’t helicopter and correct things and expect perfection in homework. The teacher needs to know where the child is struggling and how much s/he can accomplish.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If parents have to supplement, it means that MCPS is indeed failing.

If MCPS teachers are using Khan Academy in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child is bored in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child can't do their homework without help, MCPS is failing.

If your child is doing busy work on his fancy new Chromebook, MCPS is failing.

Really? If my kid is bored in class, the whole school system is failing? I will have to tell my kid to never be bored in class. The stakes are too high!

(I'm not perceiving a meaningful difference between using Khan Academy in the classroom and using a textbook in the classroom, by the way.)

Kids are bored in class because MCPS doesn't challenge them. I hear this from so many parents these days, particularly in "W" elementary schools. It's absolutely a failure of the system.

Anonymous wrote:If parents have to supplement, it means that MCPS is indeed failing.

If MCPS teachers are using Khan Academy in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child is bored in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child can't do their homework without help, MCPS is failing.

If your child is doing busy work on his fancy new Chromebook, MCPS is failing.

Really? If my kid is bored in class, the whole school system is failing? I will have to tell my kid to never be bored in class. The stakes are too high!

(I'm not perceiving a meaningful difference between using Khan Academy in the classroom and using a textbook in the classroom, by the way.)

If parents have to supplement, it means that MCPS is indeed failing.

If MCPS teachers are using Khan Academy in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child is bored in the classroom, MCPS is indeed failing.

If your child can't do their homework without help, MCPS is failing.

If your child is doing busy work on his fancy new Chromebook, MCPS is failing.

My 6th grader is in a math class with 7th and 8th graders. Sorry your kid didn't make the cut.

No extra support here, and we are quite happy with how MCPS has moved her up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when shall we rise up and launch a mutiny? None of us were subjected to a subpar education, so why are we politely going along with the mcps crazy train to mediocrity instead of demanding change?

We shouldn't have to supplement. The schools should be able to equip students for success.

When you have this many poor illegal immigrants, you teach to the lowest common denominator.

Really naive, ignorant, uneducated, and hateful comment.

But..... the truth

Nope, not at all. There is absolutely no proof that MCPS is teaching to the "lowest common denominator" as you call it.
If your child is in a class with a bunch of non English speaking students and is not being given the education according to his or her abilities, then you need to march over to the Principal's office and demand something, not DCUM. THis has not been our experience at MCPS nor has it been the experience of many other parents that I personally know in the system.
Stop spreading false information.

I have two kids 8yrs apart and I can assure you the only goal of ES is to bring up the rear. My oldest was in tracked math classes accelerated 2 years with same like peers. They were doing group projects, progressive analytical thinking, and being taught as a whole class. My youngest is in the 2.0 mixed setting and her high math group meets on average 2-3x less than the lowest math group each week. They are given busy worksheets and then sit and read books once they are done. Oh wait, they are constantly asked to help others kids not in the teacher's group who are so lost in math. Like mini teacher's aids. But wait, the kids don't even understand English. Now my daughter tries to interpret. She and her peers can't even read their darn book. No learning for you! This is not just me. It is across the board. Mixed classes with selective small groups always take the lowest groups the most and the higher groups are left with 75min of zero direct teaching and boring worksheets. This year in 3rd my daughter may meet once a week in a small group. That is it. The teacher asks her to do Khan academy on chromebook sometimes. It's pathetic.

My kid is in compacted math and is in an entirely separate classroom. Math is absolutely differentiated in our school. So is reading..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when shall we rise up and launch a mutiny? None of us were subjected to a subpar education, so why are we politely going along with the mcps crazy train to mediocrity instead of demanding change?

We shouldn't have to supplement. The schools should be able to equip students for success.

When you have this many poor illegal immigrants, you teach to the lowest common denominator.

Really naive, ignorant, uneducated, and hateful comment.

But..... the truth

Nope, not at all. There is absolutely no proof that MCPS is teaching to the "lowest common denominator" as you call it.
If your child is in a class with a bunch of non English speaking students and is not being given the education according to his or her abilities, then you need to march over to the Principal's office and demand something, not DCUM. THis has not been our experience at MCPS nor has it been the experience of many other parents that I personally know in the system.
Stop spreading false information.

I have two kids 8yrs apart and I can assure you the only goal of ES is to bring up the rear. My oldest was in tracked math classes accelerated 2 years with same like peers. They were doing group projects, progressive analytical thinking, and being taught as a whole class. My youngest is in the 2.0 mixed setting and her high math group meets on average 2-3x less than the lowest math group each week. They are given busy worksheets and then sit and read books once they are done. Oh wait, they are constantly asked to help others kids not in the teacher's group who are so lost in math. Like mini teacher's aids. But wait, the kids don't even understand English. Now my daughter tries to interpret. She and her peers can't even read their darn book. No learning for you! This is not just me. It is across the board. Mixed classes with selective small groups always take the lowest groups the most and the higher groups are left with 75min of zero direct teaching and boring worksheets. This year in 3rd my daughter may meet once a week in a small group. That is it. The teacher asks her to do Khan academy on chromebook sometimes. It's pathetic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pyle. Did HGC for 4th and 5th grade in chevy chase. No differentiation, now prides itself on "the miracles of stratifying 1/3 subpar, 1/3 avg, and 1/3 top students into each class in order to maximize average outcome."

It strikes me, anecdotally from reading DCUM, that the people who paid the highest "good schools" surcharge (by living in the Bethesda/Potomac area) complain the most about the awfulness of those schools. Maybe the "good schools" surcharge is a bad buy.

I'm starting to believe it as well. I have a friend who has a kid at a Bethesda ES.. miserable. Then we have a bunch of W parents who complain here. I'm pretty happy with our Focus school in Gaithersburg with a FARMS rate of 40%. Very little complaints and I'm happy with the education that my kids are getting. I'm really confused. Parents here are complaining that their kids are not getting the appropriate leveled instruction- it's like a different system entirely because that has not been our experience at all. And I'm one of those very involved parents who care a lot about my kids' education. I'm wondering if it's the class sizes?

Anonymous wrote:Pyle. Did HGC for 4th and 5th grade in chevy chase. No differentiation, now prides itself on "the miracles of stratifying 1/3 subpar, 1/3 avg, and 1/3 top students into each class in order to maximize average outcome."

It strikes me, anecdotally from reading DCUM, that the people who paid the highest "good schools" surcharge (by living in the Bethesda/Potomac area) complain the most about the awfulness of those schools. Maybe the "good schools" surcharge is a bad buy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't view education as being confined to school. You just can't. Or your kids will suffer. I get that there are things you want to improve in the County schools. But I think you need to let go of not supplementing.

Op here.

Here's the thing: I went to private school (Catholic), and I received an excellent education. My parents didn't supplement...because they didn't need to.

We all know that 2.0 is crummy. The thread on former mcps students being so far behind when they move to other districts is appalling. The 2.0 defenders say that moving slowly and forcing kids to jump through multiple steps is better for them, but that simply isn't true. When will they admit their investment in 2.0 was a mistake?

The fact that parents must supplement is proof positive that mcps is subpar.

My 8th grader is among the first class of kids to be subjected to 2.0 from 1st grade. It remains to be seen if she is well prepared. I feel like she has been held back by this curriculum and is capable of doing so much more. I have been deeply disappointed by 2.0. It stinks! My other kids who went through MCPS before 2.0 was implemented received very good educations and are top performers at their colleges. I am not sure that MCPS helped make them top performers or if they would be anyway. I do feel, though, that they are well-prepared for college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when shall we rise up and launch a mutiny? None of us were subjected to a subpar education, so why are we politely going along with the mcps crazy train to mediocrity instead of demanding change?

We shouldn't have to supplement. The schools should be able to equip students for success.

When you have this many poor illegal immigrants, you teach to the lowest common denominator.

Really naive, ignorant, uneducated, and hateful comment.

But..... the truth

Nope, not at all. There is absolutely no proof that MCPS is teaching to the "lowest common denominator" as you call it.
If your child is in a class with a bunch of non English speaking students and is not being given the education according to his or her abilities, then you need to march over to the Principal's office and demand something, not DCUM. THis has not been our experience at MCPS nor has it been the experience of many other parents that I personally know in the system.
Stop spreading false information.

yeah!

Get in line in the Principals office!

So s/he can tell you that her/his hands are tied because our gigantic county has a C2.0 that teaches to proficiency across the subpar, par and above par students. Proficiency is where it's at. If you want more, go test and signup and luck out for a magnet program that can maybe only serve 0.5% of the student population regardless of how many outperformers there are. Oh, and it's 60-90 minute sub ride away, One-way. Enjoy!

Now it’s clear that you’re just lazy. Sorry mcps can’t read your mind or do your parenting for you. The system is not perfect, sure, but you’re being ridiculous.