Outside math enrichment

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DD with 800 in SAT math have never done these enrichments, she did a 2 week prep for SAT, but never enrolled in there year long programs, seems excessive. Her only friend doing these classes is on the low math track

The difference is your child is extremely bright and probably on the highest math track.

As an MCPS HS math teacher, I can safely say most kids in that track were heavily prepped. Not sure why some parents love to pretend otherwise. There's really no shame in putting in a little effort.

Not really, it is kids on low math track taking these classes, never heard on kids on the same track as DD ( calc BC 11th grade) doing these enrichments

Kids on the high tracks often take outside classes in elementary to get ahead and onto that track in the first place. That enrichment is also a form of prep. It's not like the high track kids had talent in a vacuum.

That's usually the case with anything whether it's basketball, soccer or math.

+1 Personally I would love if there was not this ‘arms race’ of prepping, but because I know so many do it forces us to do this too so my kids are not at a disadvantage.

Regarding academic enrichment, I also have to supplement because the MCPS ES curriculum is so watered down unfortunately. Again I would love to rely on the school to teach my kids but I have seen that I cannot, and - like many going to public schools - can’t afford the tuition for schools that would. It is a shame our school system is not more rigorous.

How old is your child? Is this lack of rigor just an issue at the elementary school level?

For us, it was a lack of rigor (and DEPTH!) in ES and MS. There is no differentiation in MS until Compacted Math. And Compacted Math is just covering the same material faster than non-compacted. No more depth, no interesting applications, etc.

MS has certain Math tracks, but it’s not great either. And again, they offer very little depth.

Math can actually be pretty amazing and interesting. Especially for kids who enjoy Math. But MCPS works so hard to dumb it down and is so anti-differentiation in the early grades, that many kids who would otherwise be good at math, or who enjoy Math, get totally turned off.

Not sure that's true. My MS child is in the magnet and takes 2nd year world language, advanced English and Global Humanities. That's 6 advanced classes that they opted into.

Your kid is at a MS Magnet. The number of seats in the MS Magnets are incredibly limited. My kid went from a regional CES to a home MS to a HS Magnet. The home MS was somewhat disappointing. Every single child is placed in Advanced English at our MS. And the AIM class was not much different from the IM class that my DD’s friends took. And my kid breezed through Spanish 2 with all As, but she really doesn’t actually know much Spanish at all. I will acknowledge that the HIGH class was a good class, all 3 years.

For us AIM seemed fine. The biggest gripe I have with the MS curriculum is English. It's just really boring especially after CES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD with 800 in SAT math have never done these enrichments, she did a 2 week prep for SAT, but never enrolled in there year long programs, seems excessive. Her only friend doing these classes is on the low math track

The difference is your child is extremely bright and probably on the highest math track.

As an MCPS HS math teacher, I can safely say most kids in that track were heavily prepped. Not sure why some parents love to pretend otherwise. There's really no shame in putting in a little effort.

Not really, it is kids on low math track taking these classes, never heard on kids on the same track as DD ( calc BC 11th grade) doing these enrichments

Kids on the high tracks often take outside classes in elementary to get ahead and onto that track in the first place. That enrichment is also a form of prep. It's not like the high track kids had talent in a vacuum.

That's usually the case with anything whether it's basketball, soccer or math.

+1 Personally I would love if there was not this ‘arms race’ of prepping, but because I know so many do it forces us to do this too so my kids are not at a disadvantage.

Regarding academic enrichment, I also have to supplement because the MCPS ES curriculum is so watered down unfortunately. Again I would love to rely on the school to teach my kids but I have seen that I cannot, and - like many going to public schools - can’t afford the tuition for schools that would. It is a shame our school system is not more rigorous.

How old is your child? Is this lack of rigor just an issue at the elementary school level?

For us, it was a lack of rigor (and DEPTH!) in ES and MS. There is no differentiation in MS until Compacted Math. And Compacted Math is just covering the same material faster than non-compacted. No more depth, no interesting applications, etc.

MS has certain Math tracks, but it’s not great either. And again, they offer very little depth.

Math can actually be pretty amazing and interesting. Especially for kids who enjoy Math. But MCPS works so hard to dumb it down and is so anti-differentiation in the early grades, that many kids who would otherwise be good at math, or who enjoy Math, get totally turned off.

Not sure that's true. My MS child is in the magnet and takes 2nd year world language, advanced English and Global Humanities. That's 6 advanced classes that they opted into.

Your kid is at a MS Magnet. The number of seats in the MS Magnets are incredibly limited. My kid went from a regional CES to a home MS to a HS Magnet. The home MS was somewhat disappointing. Every single child is placed in Advanced English at our MS. And the AIM class was not much different from the IM class that my DD’s friends took. And my kid breezed through Spanish 2 with all As, but she really doesn’t actually know much Spanish at all. I will acknowledge that the HIGH class was a good class, all 3 years.

For us AIM seemed fine. The biggest gripe I have with the MS curriculum is English. It's just really boring especially after CES.

Agree. When eveyrone is in "advanced" English, it's not advanced.