Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes

QO has about 40% FARMS
And 1/3 at RM which isn’t representative of the area since it’s IB.

I grew up in Moco and now live in Va and would not want to live in Gaithersburg or Rockville, and I would not send my kids to either of those high schools.

why not?

Too many poor people.

Our kids grew up and went to school (ES, MS and HS) in a W cluster. They all had some excellent teachers, some adequate teachers, and some horrible teachers. I imagine it's the same at every school.

They all had good cohorts. One of ours is out of college and is employed at a good job that will pay for grad school and his friends also seem to have what sounds like good jobs.

The other 2 are in college, both top 20 schools. One received merit aid and one did not. All 3 were well prepared for college, found it challenging but not too difficult, made good friend groups in HS that they've so far kept, and made friends in college that we have also met.

I cannot speak to any other clusters, but we moved to Montgomery County (and not DC and not VA) for the schools, and ha e not regretted that choice

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

+1 MCPS bends over backwards for URMs. They are so focused on the achievement gap that they have lowered the bar for everyone.

Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism.

Doesn't matter if the kids aren't considered EML or were born here. If the student doesn't care about their education, no amount of hand holding by the teacher is going to help that student get high test scores.

I went to a majority minority HS out west, and most of the kids did not care about school. The AP classes were mostly white/Asian, even as they were the minorities at the school. Most of the disruptive kids were black/brown at our school; most of the fights were between black/brown students.

There were some Asian students who didn't so well in school (I knew several). These kids didn't really care that much about their academics. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how much the kid (and family) valued education.

If you keep blaming the teachers, and pretend like most of the failing academics is because of the teachers rather than the home life, then you will never help those kids.

That's not to say that teachers are 100% blameless. Lord knows I and my kids have had some lackluster teachers who definitely should not be teaching.

I'm not saying we should give up on these kids, but not recognizing the root cause of the issue and looking elsewhere for the blame is not helpful. How can you help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root cause?

I've literally said multiple times the causes are complex. I am not the one not acknowledging the issues. You insist the issues are all outside the school, when the research says there are definitely issues inside schools. So why don't you tell me, how can your help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root CAUSES?

I stated clearly: "Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism. ".

What is your experience with these issues? Reading material only?

Your earlier post only mentioned the racism amongst teachers. You made no mention about family life, and how that impacts a child way more than whether the teacher is racist or not.

Yes, these are complex issues, but for the most part, if the kid and their family values education, a teacher's racism isn't going to make them have low test scores.

You are deliberately misrepresenting what I wrote. Discussing is a waste of time as you seem very determined to remain ignorant and insist there's nothing schools can do to improve performance.

You have serious reading comprehension issues.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

+1 MCPS bends over backwards for URMs. They are so focused on the achievement gap that they have lowered the bar for everyone.

Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism.

Doesn't matter if the kids aren't considered EML or were born here. If the student doesn't care about their education, no amount of hand holding by the teacher is going to help that student get high test scores.

I went to a majority minority HS out west, and most of the kids did not care about school. The AP classes were mostly white/Asian, even as they were the minorities at the school. Most of the disruptive kids were black/brown at our school; most of the fights were between black/brown students.

There were some Asian students who didn't so well in school (I knew several). These kids didn't really care that much about their academics. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how much the kid (and family) valued education.

If you keep blaming the teachers, and pretend like most of the failing academics is because of the teachers rather than the home life, then you will never help those kids.

That's not to say that teachers are 100% blameless. Lord knows I and my kids have had some lackluster teachers who definitely should not be teaching.

I'm not saying we should give up on these kids, but not recognizing the root cause of the issue and looking elsewhere for the blame is not helpful. How can you help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root cause?

I've literally said multiple times the causes are complex. I am not the one not acknowledging the issues. You insist the issues are all outside the school, when the research says there are definitely issues inside schools. So why don't you tell me, how can your help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root CAUSES?

I stated clearly: "Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism. ".

What is your experience with these issues? Reading material only?

Your earlier post only mentioned the racism amongst teachers. You made no mention about family life, and how that impacts a child way more than whether the teacher is racist or not.

Yes, these are complex issues, but for the most part, if the kid and their family values education, a teacher's racism isn't going to make them have low test scores.

You are deliberately misrepresenting what I wrote. Discussing is a waste of time as you seem very determined to remain ignorant and insist there's nothing schools can do to improve performance.

You have serious reading comprehension issues.

Says the person who doesn't think racism has any significant impact on student performance despite mountains of research showing otherwise

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

+1 MCPS bends over backwards for URMs. They are so focused on the achievement gap that they have lowered the bar for everyone.

Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism.

Doesn't matter if the kids aren't considered EML or were born here. If the student doesn't care about their education, no amount of hand holding by the teacher is going to help that student get high test scores.

I went to a majority minority HS out west, and most of the kids did not care about school. The AP classes were mostly white/Asian, even as they were the minorities at the school. Most of the disruptive kids were black/brown at our school; most of the fights were between black/brown students.

There were some Asian students who didn't so well in school (I knew several). These kids didn't really care that much about their academics. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how much the kid (and family) valued education.

If you keep blaming the teachers, and pretend like most of the failing academics is because of the teachers rather than the home life, then you will never help those kids.

That's not to say that teachers are 100% blameless. Lord knows I and my kids have had some lackluster teachers who definitely should not be teaching.

I'm not saying we should give up on these kids, but not recognizing the root cause of the issue and looking elsewhere for the blame is not helpful. How can you help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root cause?

I've literally said multiple times the causes are complex. I am not the one not acknowledging the issues. You insist the issues are all outside the school, when the research says there are definitely issues inside schools. So why don't you tell me, how can your help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root CAUSES?

I stated clearly: "Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism. ".

What is your experience with these issues? Reading material only?

Your earlier post only mentioned the racism amongst teachers. You made no mention about family life, and how that impacts a child way more than whether the teacher is racist or not.

Yes, these are complex issues, but for the most part, if the kid and their family values education, a teacher's racism isn't going to make them have low test scores.

You are deliberately misrepresenting what I wrote. Discussing is a waste of time as you seem very determined to remain ignorant and insist there's nothing schools can do to improve performance.

You have serious reading comprehension issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Huh??
My non-W school has that and I'm pretty sure most, if not all MCPS school, provides that.

DP - exactly, because NO high school in MCPS would be considered "poorly performing" in any reasonable definition of the term. It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that people don't understand that. That speaks volumes about their lack of perspective.

Test scores look pretty bad to me

Lol - you don't understand how mean scores work, do you? Or that "test scores" on their own, especially when averaged, are a poor metric of school quality.

But please, keep telling me how my kids and I are the dumb ones.

You are not very persuasive. When less than 50% of kids are considered proficient in many schools that doesn't strike me as high performing.

You have no interest in changing your mind, which is fine. People are allowed to remain ignorant. Not everyone wants their kids in a 100% "high performing" environment, often with very good reasons.

I am the PP and we are zoned for the DCC and plan to stay and send our child to publics. I hear you, but someone above (you?) said rather rudely (so I'm guessing it was you) "NO high school in MCPS would be considered "poorly performing" in any reasonable definition of the term. It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that people don't understand that. That speaks volumes about their lack of perspective." I don't know in what universe a school like Kennedy, where less than 10% of students were proficient in math and 40% are proficient in ELA, would not be considered "poorly performing". I think those kids deserve better.

Yeah, that was me. Of course it's better if more kids are proficient than what the Kennedy stats indicate. But MCPS, as a whole, outperforms most comparable school districts in the country. We're not in Newton. The whole premise of this thread is whether non "W" schools are really that bad and the answer is clear: they're not. Lousy as Kennedy is in many ways, it still offers opportunities that most public high schools in large, diverse school districts in this country do not offer. So when you say "those kids deserve better," the places from which they deserve better are really outside of school.

It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that you've refused to apologize for your rude comments after (barely) admitting you were wrong.

You have posted many (many) times on this thread, arguing with at least one other person besides me, about something that's irrelevant to this thread. This post is the first time I've responded to your attempt at... I don't even know what.

If all you can say is "test scores look pretty bad to me" to support your assertion that Kennedy is "poorly-performing," that's neither compelling nor relevant. As others have said, the determinants of test scores are myriad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

+1 MCPS bends over backwards for URMs. They are so focused on the achievement gap that they have lowered the bar for everyone.

Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism.

Doesn't matter if the kids aren't considered EML or were born here. If the student doesn't care about their education, no amount of hand holding by the teacher is going to help that student get high test scores.

I went to a majority minority HS out west, and most of the kids did not care about school. The AP classes were mostly white/Asian, even as they were the minorities at the school. Most of the disruptive kids were black/brown at our school; most of the fights were between black/brown students.

There were some Asian students who didn't so well in school (I knew several). These kids didn't really care that much about their academics. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how much the kid (and family) valued education.

If you keep blaming the teachers, and pretend like most of the failing academics is because of the teachers rather than the home life, then you will never help those kids.

That's not to say that teachers are 100% blameless. Lord knows I and my kids have had some lackluster teachers who definitely should not be teaching.

I'm not saying we should give up on these kids, but not recognizing the root cause of the issue and looking elsewhere for the blame is not helpful. How can you help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root cause?

I've literally said multiple times the causes are complex. I am not the one not acknowledging the issues. You insist the issues are all outside the school, when the research says there are definitely issues inside schools. So why don't you tell me, how can your help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root CAUSES?

I stated clearly: "Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism. ".

What is your experience with these issues? Reading material only?

Your earlier post only mentioned the racism amongst teachers. You made no mention about family life, and how that impacts a child way more than whether the teacher is racist or not.

Yes, these are complex issues, but for the most part, if the kid and their family values education, a teacher's racism isn't going to make them have low test scores.

You are deliberately misrepresenting what I wrote. Discussing is a waste of time as you seem very determined to remain ignorant and insist there's nothing schools can do to improve performance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only BCC. And they'd be fine if only they'd embrace their W-ness with open arms!

I never thought of B-CC as a W. And many area natives never did either.

In fact the school was put down by the Ws for many, many years. While B-CC is an academically strong, high performing, diverse, urban school, most will never see it as a W. And that’s a good thing.

Now there's a ringing endorsement for W schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both my dcc kids went from CES -> TPMS magnet -> Blair SMCS and I feel this was much stronger education that what any W could provide and is an option for anyone who is serious about their education.

But it is a lottery. What if your name isn’t picked? Or are you saying it is better to avoid the pressure of Ws by living in DCC and pushing your child to guaranteed magnet admission all the way through.

HS is not a lottery and neither were CES or MS when my kids went through this.

If that's true then the program had changed a lot since then, and your experience isn't that relevant anymore.

HS is not and never was lottery.
DP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

+1 MCPS bends over backwards for URMs. They are so focused on the achievement gap that they have lowered the bar for everyone.

Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism.

Doesn't matter if the kids aren't considered EML or were born here. If the student doesn't care about their education, no amount of hand holding by the teacher is going to help that student get high test scores.

I went to a majority minority HS out west, and most of the kids did not care about school. The AP classes were mostly white/Asian, even as they were the minorities at the school. Most of the disruptive kids were black/brown at our school; most of the fights were between black/brown students.

There were some Asian students who didn't so well in school (I knew several). These kids didn't really care that much about their academics. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how much the kid (and family) valued education.

If you keep blaming the teachers, and pretend like most of the failing academics is because of the teachers rather than the home life, then you will never help those kids.

That's not to say that teachers are 100% blameless. Lord knows I and my kids have had some lackluster teachers who definitely should not be teaching.

I'm not saying we should give up on these kids, but not recognizing the root cause of the issue and looking elsewhere for the blame is not helpful. How can you help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root cause?

I've literally said multiple times the causes are complex. I am not the one not acknowledging the issues. You insist the issues are all outside the school, when the research says there are definitely issues inside schools. So why don't you tell me, how can your help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root CAUSES?

I stated clearly: "Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism. ".

What is your experience with these issues? Reading material only?

Your earlier post only mentioned the racism amongst teachers. You made no mention about family life, and how that impacts a child way more than whether the teacher is racist or not.

Yes, these are complex issues, but for the most part, if the kid and their family values education, a teacher's racism isn't going to make them have low test scores.

OP, I get why you are concerned with the school district and what high school you will be zoned for. But your child is 3. A lot can change in your life between now and when they are going off to middle school or high school. Also, schools get redistricted. You know what they say about the best laid plans. I would not make any financial sacrifices to be in a W district right now. I'd personally want to make sure the elementary school is strong and go from there. And keep in mind, there are all kinds of magnet middle schools and high schools. If your kid is into engineering, they could end up somewhere like Wheaton which has a highly competitive program in that discipline.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

+1 MCPS bends over backwards for URMs. They are so focused on the achievement gap that they have lowered the bar for everyone.

Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism.

Doesn't matter if the kids aren't considered EML or were born here. If the student doesn't care about their education, no amount of hand holding by the teacher is going to help that student get high test scores.

I went to a majority minority HS out west, and most of the kids did not care about school. The AP classes were mostly white/Asian, even as they were the minorities at the school. Most of the disruptive kids were black/brown at our school; most of the fights were between black/brown students.

There were some Asian students who didn't so well in school (I knew several). These kids didn't really care that much about their academics. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how much the kid (and family) valued education.

If you keep blaming the teachers, and pretend like most of the failing academics is because of the teachers rather than the home life, then you will never help those kids.

That's not to say that teachers are 100% blameless. Lord knows I and my kids have had some lackluster teachers who definitely should not be teaching.

I'm not saying we should give up on these kids, but not recognizing the root cause of the issue and looking elsewhere for the blame is not helpful. How can you help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root cause?

I've literally said multiple times the causes are complex. I am not the one not acknowledging the issues. You insist the issues are all outside the school, when the research says there are definitely issues inside schools. So why don't you tell me, how can your help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root CAUSES?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

+1 MCPS bends over backwards for URMs. They are so focused on the achievement gap that they have lowered the bar for everyone.

Is there some racism involved? Yes. But, you can't convince me that most of the low test scores are due to racism.

Doesn't matter if the kids aren't considered EML or were born here. If the student doesn't care about their education, no amount of hand holding by the teacher is going to help that student get high test scores.

I went to a majority minority HS out west, and most of the kids did not care about school. The AP classes were mostly white/Asian, even as they were the minorities at the school. Most of the disruptive kids were black/brown at our school; most of the fights were between black/brown students.

There were some Asian students who didn't so well in school (I knew several). These kids didn't really care that much about their academics. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with how much the kid (and family) valued education.

If you keep blaming the teachers, and pretend like most of the failing academics is because of the teachers rather than the home life, then you will never help those kids.

That's not to say that teachers are 100% blameless. Lord knows I and my kids have had some lackluster teachers who definitely should not be teaching.

I'm not saying we should give up on these kids, but not recognizing the root cause of the issue and looking elsewhere for the blame is not helpful. How can you help these kids if you won't acknowledge the root cause?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.

So again, you're suggesting that bias plays no role at all, which is contrary to a lot of research.

For example, research indicates that teachers treat kids of color differently and have more adversarial relationships with kids of color than they do with White kids. You don't think that could impact attendance?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw there are plenty of examples of kids of color being failed by the school system itself (for example, being steered into ESL programs when they don't need them) and mountains of research on how teachers treat kids of color differently. So no, it's not just things "outside of school" that are to blame. Everyone should be concerned about MCPS low performing schools and gaslighting people by saying they don't exist is terrible.

? you seem to be blaming teachers for the low test scores of URM, when in fact, it's mostly the home life that is to blame. You can't seriously think that the low test scores for that group is mostly due to teacher bias.

You're suggesting teacher bias plays no role at all. We don't know how much is due to each but there absolutely are educational disparities (and health, and housing, and everything else) by race independent of income. Racism is real, and we know MCPS isn't meeting these kids' needs. It's true that some of these needs may be difficult to meet, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss the low test scores as signs of "bad home life". Most of the Latino students at Kennedy aren't even EML. These are English speaking kids many of which were born here or grew up here most of their lives. We're failing them.

How? How is MCPS responsible for their home life? That 100% impacts them more than anything in MCPS would. Administrators and counselors practically bend over backward to find ways to get kids to come to school consistently. How is this the fault of the school system? There are staff members out in the community trying to help as many families as they can.