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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
What’s next to AMP 7?
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Anonymous
Same thing with Cabin John. |
Anonymous
Why is this happening? These schools have among the biggest AIM classes in the county. |
Anonymous
| Mcps is changing the math curriculum with a different company hence the name change. |
Anonymous
So it won’t be Illustrative Math anymore? What’s the new math curriculum? PPs mention topics will be skipped for AMP 7+ (in 6th grade)- anyone know which topics get skipped? |
Anonymous
When I called to ask, I’m pretty sure they explained that the switch from AIM to AMP 7+ is a curriculum change to better align with the Illustrative Math they use for Algebra. Our school is switching to AMP 7+ this year, instead of AIM. Path toward Algebra is the same. |
Anonymous
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Is there a place to see the curriculum for AMP 7+ vs AIM to see if any topics are missed?
The MCPS site where they list courses has no mention of AMP 7. |
Anonymous
Which school? |
Anonymous
MCPS should just create an AIM class based on Illustrative Mathematics rather than 2.0. It's ridiculous that kids should skip the first half of math 7. Do these schools communicate what topics in math 7 they are skipping so that incoming 6th graders in 7+ are able to prepare the summer before? |
Anonymous
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The secret is that kids in AIM don't need a detailed Curriculum.
Math 6,7,8 is extremely repetitive. After Compacted Math 6, when skipping Math 7, they can easily cover the small gaps to Math 8. |
Anonymous
My son is a rising 6th grader. I noticed that last year there were 3 options for 6th-grade math: Math 6, AMP6+, and IM. Now, IM seems to be gone. My son is in AMP6+. It seems IM is only for children who were waitlisted for the magnet. We didn't even consider the magnet program and therefore didn't even bother applying, and so he is ineligible for IM. That said, I am not too concerned about this. I was in the magnet programs growing up in MCPS myself, and I haven't found too high a need to advance beyond Calculus 1 and 2 in high school. While you can take multivariable calculus and differential equations in a senior year (which is the track if in IM in 6th grade) or even go beyond that, it doesn't provide that significant a value in college unless you are specifically majoring in math. Even beginning college as a freshman with DiffEQ and Multivar Calculus, a student has plenty of runway to take any level required for majors. |
Anonymous
You don’t apply to the magnet; everyone is screened and then those who qualify are placed in a lottery. |
Anonymous
I would much rather have them use Illustrative Mathematics materials than 2.0. MCPS seems to just want to shut this class down. I think ultimately they will get rid of compacted and only begin accelerating with 6+ in middle school. |
Anonymous
Yeah, I don't actually have an issue with them not convering half of 7th grade, just that this seems to be part of the trend to having less enrichment. My 6th grader was in AMP7+ last year and told me that a bunch of the kids should not have been there and the class was super easy for him. Also, there were 30+ kids in his class and there was at least one other section. We declined a late offer at TPMS, which we probably would have either way (he gets other enrichment and it's a PITA getting there), but it's irritating that MCPS/his MS are basically lying about similar options being provided at the home school when they're not. For instance, based on what he said, I have a hard time believing that all the kids in his AMP7+ were in the pool for TPMS. |
Anonymous
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So pretty much all of on-grade-level 6th, 7th and 8th grade Math is preparation for Algebra. There's a fair amount of year-to-year review/repetition with increasing complexity while folding in certain new concepts. This is pretty much standard across all curricula in the country, not just MCPS, which now utilizes the Illustrative Math curriculum (a.k.a. LearnZillion) for middle school (and Algebra, whether in middle or high).
Where things differentiate is with non-standard curricula, and in MCPS and elsewhere, above-grade-level Math is accomplished via acceleration, mostly with "compacted" courses that combine more than one year's worth of standard curriculum, and rarely by grade-skipping. There's Math 4/5 and Math 5/6 in elementary, for example, getting through 3 years of curriculum in 4th and 5th grade. Discontinuities between the MCPS elementary Eureka curriculum and the middle Illustrative Math (a.k.a. LearnZillion) curriculum presented some challenges when they moved away from the proprietary Curriculum 2.0, which had spanned the entire elementary & secondary grades, but they have been working on that for a couple of years, now. IM was created with C2.0, combining 7th and 8th grade Math into one year and leading to Algebra in 8th grade (a year ahead). AIM was an adjusted IM for advanced 6th graders who already had completed the 6th grade curriculum via acceleration in elementary once they offered the Compacted 4/5 & 5/6 -- additional content existed in AIM to be sure that the elementary compaction hadn't left anything out, so it was considered more challenging both from an age perspective and from a content perspective; it led to Algebra in 7th (two years ahead). When MCPS moved on from C2.0 to Eureka & Illustrative Math, the only compacting acceleration that was offered by the vendors was AMP6+ and AMP7+. These combined 6th-, 7th- and 8th- grade Math curricula into two years (AMP6+ is 6th and half of 7th, while AMP7+ is half of 7th and 8th). MCPS had to do their own work to recreate Math 4/5 and Math 5/6, which were hard enough to do, but didn't have confidence that they could do the same for AIM or IM, in good part from the logistics of having teachers trained to deliver multiple versions of middle school content. As there still was demand/need for that acceleration, though, those C2.0 courses stayed on for a bit while they figured things out and trained up on the AMPs. There were inconsistencies introduced, then, with the C2.0 content neither following properly from the new curriculum's 6th-grade content nor fully preparing for the new Algebra course. Given this and the spiral nature of the curriculum (many concepts revisited again in later grades, with increasing complexity), MCPS may be moving on from AIM & IM by utilizing AMP7+ with Algebra following in either 7th or 8th, depending on prior acceleration. (Yes, there appear to be whole classes in certain schools who get there a full year earlier by skipping a grade in elementary, but that's for another thread.) This would simplify things but leave the first half of the Math 7 curriculum uncovered, so they need to be sure that it really is material that gets repeated from/in other grades (or otherwise covered via extracurriculars) to ensure the associated concepts are absorbed before taking Algebra, passage of which is of high importance, given State of Maryland requirements. MCPS could write all this down somewhere, but, honestly, most folks don't care about this much detail. What many do want to know is what the options for acceleration are, how and to whom those are offered, how articulation happens from grade to grade or school to school, and what, if any, curriculum supports (at home or otherwise) might be needed/advised. The downstream consequences (i.e., paths/courses available after Algebra, impact on college admissions, etc.) are also of interest -- those have been discussed in yet other threads |
Anonymous
Then MCPS will be very behind compared to rest of the country. My kids feel compacted math is very slow for them and very bored. But it’s already the most advanced track they can get, which is just similar pace compared to rest of the country. |