Why, after two and a half years of blogging, it’s practically a tradition! Yes, it’s time for my annual post (or two or three…) about the kick-off to the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) prep season. And this year brings a stunner. You can read for yourself: Eastern Families, I am very excited to share that [...]
Archive for January, 2010
11 Instructional Hours for MSA Prep
Posted in Gifted, School, tagged magnet program, maryland, MCPS, middle school, MSA, red zone, standardized testing on January 28, 2010 | 21 Comments »
Wednesday Night Budget Theater…Redux
Posted in Gifted, School, tagged advocacy, budget, education, Gifted, Jerry Weast, magnet program, maryland, MCPS, middle school, montgomery county, parent advocacy on January 26, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment. I showed up at last night’s Wednesday’s second Board of Education hearing on the FY 2011 operating budget and the proposed cuts too. The clusters on deck to testify on Wednesday were Whitman, Bethesda Chevy-Chase, Northwood, Kennedy, Einstein, Blair, Wooton, Rockville, Richard Montgomery and Churchill. You can see the [...]
I Hate It When…
Posted in Uncategorized on January 25, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I hate it when people write lame excuses for why they haven’t posted in ages. Nonetheless, I posting a lame mea culpa, mea culpa. Last week Haiti consumed me at work. And right now I am in New England, for C.’s boarding school interviews and trying not to be too rude to our hosts by [...]
The Myth of “Optional”
Posted in Gifted, School, tagged Center for the Highly Gifted, education, elementary school, Gifted, high school, highly gifted, Jerry Weast, magnet program, MCPS, middle school, montgomery county, parent advocacy, School on January 19, 2010 | 11 Comments »
Thanks to the Parents’ Coalition, a January 8, 2010 memorandum from Superintendent Weast to the Board of Education has come to light. In the memo, Weast answers some questions from unidentified Board members about his proposed FY 2011 Budget cuts. I’ll leave aside the point well made by the Parents Coalition, that the cuts to [...]
Oh Never Mind: Update on Proposed Transport Cuts
Posted in Gifted, School, tagged advocacy, Gifted, high school, Jerry Weast, magnet program, maryland, MCPS, School on January 18, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Remember how Superintendent Weast’s proposed FY 2011 budget cuts included cuts to transportation? The original proposal listed: Item H: Transportation for optional regular education programs – Eliminate transportation to optional regular education programs outside normal attendance zones, including magnet, immersion, IB, high school consortia, and other special programs. Fees are not permitted for these services. [...]
Wednesday Night Budget Theater
Posted in Gifted, School on January 17, 2010 | 4 Comments »
People spilled out the doors at Wednesday night’s MCPS Board of Education budget hearing. (Click here for a MCPS landing page on the 2011 budget process. You can see the agenda here.) I got there just as things were getting underway and managed to sidle into a spot along the back wall. The room was [...]
Crunch
Posted in Gifted, Home Life, School on January 17, 2010 | 6 Comments »
It’s been a brutal week in SwitchedOn Land. The situation in Haiti–aside from being horrific to witness at a distance–has had me working like a fiend. Hence the blog neglect. M.’s hard drive died. Again. And Husband Dear has been racing to complete our taxes for financial aid forms, always a sobering exercise. Meanwhile, C.’s [...]
Tracking Nonsense
Posted in Gifted, School, tagged acceleration, education, Gifted, maryland, math, MCPS, montgomery county on January 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »
MCPS is like a Hydra–it’s hard to keep track of all those writhing heads. Case in point, that fave of mine, the K-12 Mathematics Joint Work Group. And what have they been up to? Listening to “experts.” Here’s the summary from the October 29, 2009 meeting. “The workgroup members saw a videotaped presentation by William [...]
-
Recent Posts
-
Recent Comments
koel on Why You Should Fill Out that A… Rachelle on The Early Signs K on Why Elementary Teachers Overlo… Crimson Wife on Decision Time TardieRimlinger on Decision Time tennisschläger test … on Why You Should Fill Out that A… Barry Garelick on Buh-Bye Jerry Weast, Hello Jos… Brandy aka Lil' Momm… on Decision Time Linnea Pyne on Why Elementary Teachers Overlo… Geri on Decision Time Kirsten on Decision Time Irene on SAT Prep…for 7th Gr… SwitchedOnMom on Under a Bushel SwitchedOnMom on Under a Bushel J. on Yet Another List Categories
-
Top Posts
- Just Saying No--to Accelerated Math
- 75th Percentile
- "There's Gifted, and Then There's Profoundly Gifted"
- MCPS Parent Manifesto
- Why Elementary Teachers Overlook the Verbally Gifted Child
- A Magnet Program Diminished
- Why You Should Fill Out that Application for the Highly Gifted Center Program
- Huh? Acronyms & Jargon
- RIP National Vocabulary Contest
- Buh-Bye Jerry Weast, Hello Joshua Starr
Twitter.com
Tags
-
del.icio.us
-
-
Blog Stats
- 274,935 hits
Pages
Archives
Meta
