Poverty Does Matter

Increased Child Poverty Rate Disproportionately Impacts The Nation's Youngest Learners
     "The Annie E. Casey Foundation is out with its 25th KIDS COUNT Data Book, which has been providing the public with an annual glimpse into the well being of American children for the past quarter-century.
    As big anniversaries do, this one provides a natural opening to look at how we have fared. Trends were both positive and troubling during a time of major demographic shifts: The nation’s population of children climbed from 64 million to 74 million. The percentage of white children declined, Latinos doubled and mothers of young kids entered the labor market in record numbers.
     On the bright side, more children are attending preschool than in 1990. The teen pregnancy rate is at a record low. Juvenile crime is down, and so is juvenile incarceration, though the United States still has a juvenile incarceration rate disproportionately much higher than other developed countries.

     But despite the advances, there has been a recent uptick in the single most important factor for predicting a child’s school readiness and life outcomes generally: whether or not he or she lives in poverty. After recessions end, the child poverty rate tends to continue climbing, and current circumstances appear no different. Even with different ways to measure it and different conclusions, KIDS COUNT shows a reversal of some of the gains made earlier in the past quarter-century, with approximately 16.4 million kids officially living in poverty in 2012. The number of children in single-parent homes was up, too: 35 percent, versus 25 percent in 1990...."

 

To read the full story, click here.

Why I Stopped Writing Recommendations for Teach For America

Congatulations to Slate Magazine for running an insightful piece by Catherine Michna entitled "Why I Stopped Writing Recommendation Letters for Teach for America". Michna is a Teach for America alumnus herself, but she has come to have serious reservations about TFA's model of sending thousands of poorly trained and ill-prepared recent college graduates to teach in high poverty schools, where they only stay for short periods of time before leaving: contributing to the high turnover rates in high poverty schools.

Maryland tops in progress to close the achievement gap

The Washington Examiner reported this week that Maryland is leading the nation in closing the academic achievement gap for low income students. This a is a significant step in ensuring that all students in the state are receiving the best possible education in our schools.
Undoubtedly, there is still more work to be done around the state and here in Montgomery County. That is why MCEA has been working with various partners on our Social Justice Series of seminars and professional development, as well as our Equity Certificate program with McDaniel College. For more information on these programs, visit http://www.mceanea.org/teaching/equity.php and http://www.mceanea.org/teaching/hcr.php.

Pres. Prouty testifies before the County Council in support of the BOE Budget

Below is a transcript of MCEA President Doug Prouty's testimony before the Montgomery County Council, during this evenings public hearing on the Proposed FY14 Operating Budget.

Good evening Council President Navarro , Vice-President Rice, and members of the County Council. I
testify tonight on behalf of the 12,000 professional educators whose dedication to our students have helped
make the Montgomery County Public Schools one of the best school districts in America. We support the
MCPS budget as submitted to you by the County Executive.

In my role as president, I have the opportunity to speak with districts and unions from around the state and
country. What I find is that MCPS leads the nation in so many areas of education, and while we aren’t
perfect, the focus on student learning and achievement is exemplary. People who choose to work in MCPS
expect great things of our kids and of ourselves, and we believe we can bend the arc of history in the lives of
children and families. As MLK said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to
think critically”- we seek to do just that.

This budget is a modest request in the context that we face currently. Full funding of this budget, in the
manner that the Executive has designed, constitutes only a 2.8% increase in the tax supported budget for
MCPS. I recognize that there are some who believe MCPS had been receiving significantly larger increases
than other county agencies before the recent recession. However, the County Council’s own report proves
otherwise. The October 16, 2012 Report from the Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight documented
the “Annual Change in County Aggregate Operating Budgets by Agency, from FY03 to FY13” (Table 4-4).
According to the OLO Report, the average annual increase in the MCPS budget over the past decade was
4.9%, equal to the average increase in the Montgomery County Government budget. I would ask you to
help refute the mistaken impression that the MCPS budget is taking up a larger and larger share of the
County’s overall budget; it is simply not true.

Included in the proposed FY14 MCPS budget is the restoration or addition of positions that target the
achievement gap and will provide additional resources to schools. These include thirty focus teacher
positions in middle schools to support students who need it in Math and Reading, thirteen counselors and
other support positions in small elementary schools, five new psychologist positions, five additional
instrumental music teachers, and ten elementary Math positions to ensure more differentiation for students.
This budget also provides for expansion of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years program to King
and Clemente middle schools, two diverse schools in terms of both race and socio-economic status. We are
focused on providing the best education to every student in MCPS and on closing the gap.

One program of which you may not be aware is a graduate certificate program which started in 2010. This
program was initiated by MCEA in partnership with MCPS and McDaniel College, and grants a graduate
certificate in Equity and Excellence in Education. The first cohort of this program completed their
certificates in December, 2012 and the next cohort is already working. The twenty three teachers in the
first cohort dubbed themselves ‘Equity Warriors’ and are focused on spreading their knowledge of
equitable teaching practices and cultural awareness to their colleagues. Our goal is, in the next five years, to
have trained hundreds of educators throughout the system on how better to meet the needs of our
increasingly diverse and economically disadvantaged students. MCEA is proud to have led this initiative to
help close the achievement gap by building the skills of the teaching workforce.

This commitment to all students is shared by MCEA members as well as those of SEIU Local 500 and
MCAAP. You have shown your commitment to these students by providing budget increases to MCPS. We
know that the recent recession forced cuts to every agency of Montgomery County Government and this
included MCPS. Local per pupil spending is now approximately $1400 less than it was in 2009, prior to the
recession. We expect to grow by another 10,000 students in the next five years and our new students will
increase our diversity of every sort- racial, socio-economic, ESOL, and Special Education.

We share your commitment to improve staffing in critical areas and lower class sizes. However, it is simply
unrealistic to expect MCPS to continue to provide a high quality education to all students and to continue
our work to meet the needs of our struggling students with a stagnant per pupil allocation. Our costs do not
remain stagnant and neither do our students’ needs.

Freezing local per pupil spending below 2009 levels - by limiting the MCPS budget to the Maintenance of
Effort level in perpetuity - is a recipe for disaster. Just as you recognize the need of our citizens for
improved services by police, fire fighters, and in our parks and libraries, you must also recognize the need
for improved services for our students.

The $1,400 cut in local per-pupil spending means that the MCPS budget has been “scrubbed”: tens of
millions of dollars in administrative and operational costs have been saved. There are simply no substantial
additional savings to be found. We have already had to increase class sizes and cut staffing in critical areas to
absorb the cut in local per-pupil spending. We did what had to be done to help the County get through the
recent recession and thankfully, this budget begins to restore certain high priority staffing and program
needs. But it is wishful thinking to suggest that we can close the achievement gap without an increased
investment. Let’s move past the dislike for the MOE legislation passed last year - and the dislike for the
rebasing of the MCPS budget the year before - and work together again for the quality of life of our students
and all Montgomery County residents.

Can you take the SNAP Challenge?

If you could only spend $5 a day on food, how do you think you would manage?  That is what it is like for people who qualify for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The average benefit a person who qualifies for this important program receives is $4.28 a day for food.

We don't often think of Montgomery County as a place where many would qualify for such a program, but there are thousands of households in the county who apply for access to the program every month.

Montgomery County Council member Valerie Ervin invites you to join her in taking the SNAP Challenge and highlight how it feels to live in poverty. Members of the County Council, our state legislative delegation, and Board of Education have committed to taking the challenge. You can find more information on the SNAP Challenge and who is involved by clicking this link.  And you can follow people and tell your story on Council Member Ervin's special Facebook page.

Can you spend the week of February 4-8 living on $5 a day for food? Take the SNAP Challenge and find out.

Why value added measures and merit pay aren't fair

Daniel Willingham, a cognitive scientist from UVA, put together this video about follies of value added measures and merit pay. 

Six reasons why ‘value-added’ and merit pay aren’t fair — in three minutes

MCEA member Lisa Farhi had this article posted in Valerie Strauss' Answer Sheet blog on the Washington Post website yesterday.

Great job Lisa!

Teacher: What school reformers don’t know

By Valerie Strauss

Policy makers and pundits don’t stop giving their opinions but we don’t hear enough from teachers in the debate about school reform. Many teachers ear their jobs may be jeopardized if they express their opinions; others say they have no time sit down and write a thoughtful piece.
One who accepted my invitation to write about the most pressing issues is Lisa Farhi of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, who has worked as consulting teacher within the school district’s professional growth system, a kindergarten classroom teacher and now a staff development teacher.

By Lisa Farhi

“We’re citizens and teachers—and neither is easy. Good luck.”

— Deborah Meier, 2002, inscription in my copy of “In Schools We Trust”


Back in 2002, I approached the microphone at the Washington D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose and told the author of “In Schools We Trust” that as a teacher degreed in human development, I was feeling
muzzled by the burgeoning high-stakes standardized testing movement. I said that in 10 years we would be slapping ourselves, saying, “OMG, we forgot about poverty” in our driven pursuit for so-called “accountability” of teachers and schools. We were choosing to ignore the conditions in which children live and how they affect their achievement in school.

Deborah Meier, still one of my lifelong heroes in education, told me to fight poverty as a citizen, not as a teacher.

That turned out to be good advice, considering that my schools superintendent at the time was a hard-liner who insisted that great teaching could overcome poverty, and because in the ensuing 10 years, proponents of No Child Left Behind hurled accusations of low expectations bordering on racial bias toward any teacher who raised concerns about economic struggles in the lives of children. I was heartened to read Helen Ladd’s and Edward B. Fiske’s comprehensive New York Times op-ed piece “Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It?”, which chastises us as a society for ignoring the effects of poverty on student achievement.
Daniel Pink, author of “Drive,” recently expressed disbelief that those purporting to reform education through pay-for-performance think that a student’s test score represents solely the influence of the teacher, not any other variables in the student’s life. He is astounded by the lack of logic in this argument.
Since Montgomery County’s new superintendent, Joshua Starr, invited Pink to a public book club discussion of “Drive,” I feel that the muzzle has been loosened by a couple of notches.

I am now almost brave enough to fight poverty as a citizen AND as a teacher. Through these years of standardized testing domination and de-facto gag orders on my concerns about the effects of poverty on student achievement, I have served as a consulting teacher within the Montgomery County Public Schools professional growth system, a kindergarten classroom teacher and now a staff development teacher.
Linda Darling-Hammond’s March 20th Huffington Post piece about a recent Met Life survey, which found the lowest level of teacher satisfaction in 20 years, was entitled, “Maybe it’s Time to Ask the Teachers?” Well, since someone asked. . .
As a mentor, trainer of teachers and classroom teacher, my most profound conflict has been to convince detractors, pockets of the teacher-bashing media and random cocktail party guests that it’s possible for me to hold the highest of expectations for every student who crosses the schoolhouse door, while also caring mightily about whether or not they’re fed, clothed, housed and healthy.

In my own training and in the training I deliver, equity is paramount; I actively coach teachers in how to engage every student, every moment for optimum teaching and learning. In those same sessions, poverty has been taboo for fear that if teachers discuss it, we will AUTOMATICALLY lower our expectations for student achievement. I find this mutual exclusivity insulting to our intelligence and an assault on our freedom of speech. Why are we not trusted as professionals to be capable of holding high expectations for student achievement while also caring about whether or not families need support?

It’s hard to be an informed citizen and sustain teacher morale these days. Value-added, a method of using student standardized test scores to ealuate teachers, is the new, unwieldy way reformers are rooting out perceived poor teachers.

Some of my colleagues in New York didn’t make the value-added cut by a percentage point, despite their glowing observation reports by administrators. Good luck replacing all of the dedicated New York teachers willing to work in settings where the neediest students toil. Transiency, varied content areas, out-of -control class size and unaccountable upper management affect value-added scores more than my dinner party mates will ever acknowledge.

But who is paying attention to whether or not local, state and federal agencies are dealing withour 22% child poverty rate? We all know that countries such as Finland out-test us on international exams. Finland has a child poverty rate of about 5 percent.

If I were not in favor of evaluating teachers, I never would have participated as a consulting teacher in the peer assistance and review program in Montgomery County Public Schools. Like employees everywhere, we teachers need to be evaluated. I support MCPS’ professional growth system because it has built-in checks and balances that, when challenged, can be brought to hearing through due process. The program provides one year of intense support for improvement prior to any dismissal decisions.

To use Pink’s terminology, teaching is a heuristic, complex task. Teaching cannot be codified enough to be rewarded like widget making. I’m glad to work for a school system that understands the difference.
Yet since I read and advocate a lot, it hasn’t been easy being the recipient of widespread condescension. It seems that the most respected thinkers in education reform are those with the least experience in my field, yet with the most money. Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Business Roundtable and the Governors’ Association are heard way above the din of harried teachers, trying to lesson-plan their way to continued employment, while spending their daytime hours reaching students with a set of variables so differentiated that these teachers are making up to 1,500 decisions per day.

What we do know is that the schools demonstrating the most success in closing the achievement gap are addressing families’ struggles outside the schoolhouse. I will gladly open my mind to programs that wrap services like health care, psychological support, nutrition programs, employment counseling, adult literacy support and parent advocacy around the school. I will fight as a teacher and as a citizen to get these services paid for within our public school system via local, state and federal funding.

But why privatize and then tout what is known to work, while simultaneously abdicating a societal responsibility for putting such services in place in all public schools? From the perspective of a public school employee, it feels like a bait and switch: here’s what works but you can’t have it; look over here, doesn’t it look nice? Too bad, it’s not for everyone.

Finally, if Education Secretary Arne Duncan and President Obama wish to keep the good (closely examining subgroup achievement) and throw out the bad (narrowing of the curriculum, lack of creativity) of No Child Left Behind, then why have they created Race to the Top, which relies heavily on test scores to evaluate teachers? The curriculum will be no broader, no more creative and no more focused on subgroup achievement, if teachers’ personal livelihoods hinge on individual student scores. It’s contradictory, demeaning and it’s also a deterrent to equity. Will the finest among us want to teach struggling students under that type of algorithmic pressure? Instead, we should be using student data to make better daily instructional decisions, not as cut scores for continued employment.

I encourage any education reformer to spend a month in our shoes. They’ll soon see that teaching is not only rocket science, but also an art. It is complex and human. It should be measured humanely and supported by programs that elevate students out of poverty. 

Association Calls for Expanding School Breakfast Programs

MCEA’s statewide affiliate, the Maryland State Education Association, has joined Maryland’s Partnership to End Childhood Hunger and will be engaging members and legislators to fight for resources to expand the school breakfast program and the Maryland Meals for Achievement initiative.  MSEA leaders joined with Share Our Strength representatives at an event in Prince George’s County last month to highlight a recent survey which found that three in five public school teachers said they have children in their classrooms who regularly come to school hungry.  We know we must reach more students and families with these programs if we are going to have a chance at succeeding in and out of the classroom.

WPost Columnist Robinson Hits the Nail on the Head

Kudos to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson for his clear and pointed analysis of the Chicago strike, the current neo-reform movement, and the undeniable role that poverty plays in our education system. Robinson rightly calls out the "brie-and-chablis 'reform' movement"... "whose knowledge of the inner-city schools crisis comes from a Hollywood movie".
     We cannot help but applaud Robinson's straightforward analysis that: "it is fair to insist that teachers approach their jobs with the assumption that every single child, rich or poor, can succeed. It is not fair to expect teachers to correct all the imbalances and remedy all the pathologies that result from growing inequality in our society."

Teachers are heroes, not villains, and it’s time to stop demonizing them.
By Eugene Robinson, Published: September 17. The Washington Post

It has become fashionable to blame all of society’s manifold sins and wickedness on “teachers unions,” as if it were possible to separate these supposedly evil organizations from the dedicated public servants who belong to them. News flash: Collective bargaining is not the problem, and taking that right away from teachers will not fix the schools.

Chicago teachers strike enters its second week: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is turning to the courts to try to put an end to a teachers strike that is entering its second week and has left parents scrambling to make alternative child-care arrangements for at least two more days.

It is true that teachers in Chicago have dug in their heels against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s demands for “reform,” some of which are not unreasonable. I’d dig in, too, if I were constantly being lectured by self-righteous crusaders whose knowledge of the inner-city schools crisis comes from a Hollywood movie.

The problems that afflict public education go far beyond what George W. Bush memorably called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” They go beyond whatever measure of institutional sclerosis may be attributed to tenure, beyond the inevitable cases of burnout, beyond the fact that teachers in some jurisdictions actually earn halfway decent salaries.

The fact is that teachers are being saddled with absurdly high expectations. Some studies have shown a correlation between student performance and teacher “effectiveness,” depending how this elusive quality is measured. But there is a whole body of academic literature proving the stronger correlation between student performance and a much more important variable: family income.

Yes, I’m talking about poverty. Sorry to be so gauche, but when teachers point out the relationship between income and achievement, they’re not shirking responsibility. They’re just stating an inconvenient truth.

According to figures compiled by the College Board, students from families making more than $200,000 score more than 300 points higher on the SAT, on average, than students from families making less than $20,000 a year. There is, in fact, a clear relationship all the way along the scale: Each increment in higher family income translates into points on the test.

Sean Reardon of Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis concluded in a recent study that the achievement gap between high-income and low-income students is actually widening. It is unclear why this might be happening; maybe it is due to increased income inequality, maybe the relationship between income and achievement has somehow become stronger, maybe there is some other reason.

Whatever the cause, our society’s answer seems to be: Beat up the teachers.

The brie-and-chablis “reform” movement would have us believe that most of the teachers in low-income, low-performing schools are incompetent — and, by extension, that most of the teachers in upper-crust schools, where students perform well, are paragons of pedagogical virtue.

But some of the most dedicated and talented teachers I’ve ever met were working in “failing” inner-city schools. And yes, in award-winning schools where, as in Lake Wobegon, “all the children are above average,” I’ve met some unimaginative hacks who should never be allowed near a classroom.

It is reasonable to hold teachers accountable for their performance. But it is not reasonable — or, in the end, productive — to hold them accountable for factors that lie far beyond their control. It is fair to insist that teachers approach their jobs with the assumption that every single child, rich or poor, can succeed. It is not fair to expect teachers to correct all the imbalances and remedy all the pathologies that result from growing inequality in our society.

You didn’t see any of this reality in “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” the 2010 documentary that argued we should “solve” the education crisis by establishing more charter schools and, of course, stomping the teachers unions. You won’t see it later this month in “Won’t Back Down,” starring Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal, which argues for “parent trigger” laws designed to produce yet more charter schools and yet more teacher-bashing.

I’ve always considered myself an apostate from liberal orthodoxy on the subject of education. I have no fundamental objection to charter schools, as long as they produce results. I believe in the centrality and primacy of public education, but I believe it’s immoral to tell parents, in effect, “Too bad for your kids, but we’ll fix the schools someday.”

But portraying teachers as villains doesn’t help a single child. Ignoring the reasons for the education gap in this country is no way to close it. And there’s a better way to learn about the crisis than going to the movies. Visit a school instead.

eugenerobinson@washpost.com

Collaborating to increase student achievement

This week's  Living in Dialogue blog on Edweek.org,  features a guest post by past MCEA President Mark Simon on how MCEA/MCPS collaboration has led to decreased teacher turnover and increased student achievement in low performing schools.

Specifically, the story details the collaborative intervention that occurred at Broad Acres ES starting back in 2000.  While not always smooth, the story of Broad Acres has become a go to case study in how union/district collaboration can work.  The study shows how decreasing teacher turnover has such a large impact on increasing student achievement and how long-term strategies, and not knee jerk "reforms," can lead to increased student achievement for our neediest students. 

How about talking to the teachers?

Following up yesterday's post about the Metlife Survey of the American Teacher, we came across this post from Linda Darling-Hammond.  In it she points out that the internal and external disincentives that educators face are causing more to struggle with staying in the job and will undoubtedly impact recruiting new educators. 

"We have never heard more policy rhetoric about the importance of developing, recruiting, and retaining strong teachers, especially in our most troubled schools. Ironically, our policies have also never done more to ensure that good teachers will have little incentive to serve and stay in those schools."

Further reliance on standardized tests as the end all, be all measure of what a student has learned and how well a teacher has taught it, will not solve this problem.  Ignoring the impacts of poverty and other social issues on students and their ability to learn will not help recruit and retain the best possible educators.

So maybe it's time to gather more input from the teachers.  Give them the opportunity to have authentic participation in looking at how to deal with the affects of poverty in their schools and giving them more latitude in providing instruction in deeper and more meaningful ways.  The politicians and pundits need to start talking with educators, rather than talking at them. 

Could a million teachers be preparing to exit the classroom?

Anthony Cody, in his Ed Week blog, takes a look at the recently released Metlife Survey of the American Teacher and some of its surprising results.  Overall, teachers are less satisfied in their work than they ever have been.  Much of this is due to the challenges the economy has placed on students and the teachers themselves.

One would imagine that the current anti-teacher sentiment in this country contributes to this as well.  With the corporate "reformers" trying to push an agenda of expanded class sizes and faulty value added evaluation measures and the continued fight to secure adequate funding for our public schools,  it is no wonder that more teachers find themselves thinking of doing something else.  And that is a shame.  Educators get into this profession for the love of it and it seems more and more that this test driven, shallow curriculum culture will drive away many talented, creative and dedicated educators in a time when they are needed more than ever.

Teach to the test! No wait. Don't!

From President Obama's State of the Union address:

“Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.”

Why does the President ask that people stop teaching to the test when his policies continue this mandate? In his signature Race to the Top program, states are required to create tests to measure student achievement and it is expected that those test scores will be used to evaluate educators whether they teach a tested subject or not.

While all states did not apply for or win RTTT grants, many are applying for waivers from the penalties that will be imposed for failing to meet NCLB requirements. Those waivers carry with them many mandates that are the same as those imposed by RTTT.

The President cited a study that has been making the rounds that says a good teacher can add $250,000 to the lifetime earnings of a student. But as has been pointed out by economist Bruce Baker:

“One of the big quotes in The New York Times article is: ‘Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000, the economists estimate.’ This comes straight from the research paper. BUT ... let’s break that down. It’s a whole classroom of kids. Let’s say ... for rounding purposes, 26.6 kids if this is a large urban district like NYC. Let’s say we’re talking about earning careers from age 25 to 65 or about 40 years. So, $266,000/26.6 = $10,000 lifetime additional earnings per individual. Hmmm ... no longer catchy headline stuff. Now, per year? $10,000/40 = $250. Yep, about $250 per year.”

What continues to be ignored is that while teachers have a great impact inside of the school, what goes on outside of school has a larger influence. If we don't address the issues of poverty and the impact that it has on students coming in, we will see students who continue to struggle and the corporate "reformers" will continue to blame teachers and the unions. 

 

Save our State report

After the great event held in Rockville last week, the coalition Save Our State issued a letter and report to state legislators detailing the need for a balanced approach to solving Maryland's budget woes.

http://www.mceanea.org/pdf/letter.pdf

http://www.mceanea.org/pdf/SOSreport.pdf

Who has been left behind?

Valerie Strauss shares with us Diane Ravitch's speech from the 2011 Opportunity to Learn Summit in today's Washington Post. 
As we approach the 10th anniversary of NCLB, Ms. Ravitch's speech is another fine illustration of how those policies have failed students and educators and is now being used by the "corporate reformers" who want public dollars to pay for their private charters and virtual schools. Very worth reading!

Save Our State looks to save social services

Save Our State a coalition of  progressive and community groups have organized community conversations that are focusing the state budget debate away from more cuts and towards a more balanced approach for our future.

Save Our State is encouraging lawmakers to find ways to enhance revenues while protecting the working and middle class of Maryland. Possibilities include closing corporate tax loopholes and raising the income tax rate on high wage earners (over $1million). Over the last five years, $7 billion has been cut from the state budget. While that affects everyone, it hits the working and middle class the hardest. 

Please share and visit www.saveourstatemd.org for more information about upcoming events and to send a message to legislators about the importance of seeking a balanced approach to address the state’s budget woes while also protecting critical funding priorities. You can use this link to contact your legislators. 

There will be an event in MoCo:
January 5, Thomas Farm Community Center, 700 Fallsgrove Drive, Rockville, MD, 6:00 p.m.−8:00 p.m.