virtual instruction for compacted math?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone heard that some schools will provide compacted math for 4th/5th grade using a virtual instructor? Can't there be a different solution?

[Anonymous]

It would not surprise me. That is how it was done at schools that had too small a cohort for a class when virtual academy was offered.

[Anonymous]

Isn't it sad that there are schools that don't have a cohort? 2 makes a cohort, MCPS. Offer it in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it sad that there are schools that don't have a cohort? 2 makes a cohort, MCPS. Offer it in person.

To offer it in person, you need an available teacher and a classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it sad that there are schools that don't have a cohort? 2 makes a cohort, MCPS. Offer it in person.

To offer it in person, you need an available teacher and a classroom.

If that instruction is happening during the school day, by definition there is an available teacher and a classroom monitoring the students.

[Anonymous]

This has been happening for two years. Its strange as they are claiming the MVA is ineffective and shut it down and yet its ok for compacted math. One issue is not all schools have enough qualified students so its either virtual or kids go without.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it sad that there are schools that don't have a cohort? 2 makes a cohort, MCPS. Offer it in person.

To offer it in person, you need an available teacher and a classroom.

If that instruction is happening during the school day, by definition there is an available teacher and a classroom monitoring the students.

Uh, that doesn't mean there's an available teacher *at that school* (not defending this, just pointing it out).

[Anonymous]

Last year, one of the Elementary schools in the Magruder cluster had virtual Compacted Math (4/5).

Maybe MCPS considered this a success!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it sad that there are schools that don't have a cohort? 2 makes a cohort, MCPS. Offer it in person.

To offer it in person, you need an available teacher and a classroom.

If that instruction is happening during the school day, by definition there is an available teacher and a classroom monitoring the students.

Well, no. They are bringing kids from different schools together. Let's look at this as a simple math problem.

There are 4 schools, each of which have two classes of 25 kids per grade, with 50 kids total per grade.

Schools A and B have 25 kids ready for compacted math and 25 on grade level.

Schools C and D have 10 kids ready for compacted math and 40 on grade level.

For Schools A and B, that's easy - one group goes with one teacher and one goes with the other.

But for Schools C and D, it doesn't work. In each grade you would have 40 kids in one class and 10 kids in another.

At those schools, it makes sense to break the 40 kids between the 2 teachers and send the last 10 to an online class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year, one of the Elementary schools in the Magruder cluster had virtual Compacted Math (4/5).

Maybe MCPS considered this a success!

How does this work logistically? Are the few kids in virtual compacted still physically in the room with the other kids, but they're watching a math lesson on their Chromebook instead of the one happening in the room?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been happening for two years. Its strange as they are claiming the MVA is ineffective and shut it down and yet its ok for compacted math. One issue is not all schools have enough qualified students so its either virtual or kids go without.

I don't think that's strange at all. Providing a cohort of advanced math learners an option to take one class virtually when it's not offered at their home school is a lot different than having a 1st grader sit behind a computer and try to learn for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, one of the Elementary schools in the Magruder cluster had virtual Compacted Math (4/5).

Maybe MCPS considered this a success!

How does this work logistically? Are the few kids in virtual compacted still physically in the room with the other kids, but they're watching a math lesson on their Chromebook instead of the one happening in the room?

No, The compacted math students go to a separate classroom with a paraeducator present during their virtual class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year, one of the Elementary schools in the Magruder cluster had virtual Compacted Math (4/5).

Maybe MCPS considered this a success!

I'm genuinely concerned about the prospect of a virtual teacher for compacted math instruction. How did it go in your experience? How many students were there? How did it actually work? Were the students successful? Define success. Thanks for any info because the thought of all of this makes me uneasy even though I know it's difficult to find a good solution.

[Anonymous]

They need to terminate the class given they claim virtual is so bad for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They need to terminate the class given they claim virtual is so bad for kids.

Fortunately this is separate from the horrendous experiment with virtual learning that MCPS tried with the MVA, which is the failed program you’re referring to.