Reinstating accelerated math in 4th grade
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Anonymous
Accelerated, yes. But the same math curriculum (old Math 5, old Math 6, etc.). Same thing under 2.0 -- the HGC will offer the same math curriculum, with acceleration (2.0 Math 4/5 and 2.0 Math 5/6). |
Anonymous
It's not really that the HGC has an accelerated math curriculum, but as PPs posted, HGCs offer the same math curriculum as all other schools. The difference lies in the peer group that naturally arises in the HGC. Many of these children are quite bright in both language and math. Thus, at a school with an HGC, there is naturally a larger peer group of kids who are further ahead in math. This means that the HGC will often have a larger class of kids taking the "accelerated" math that is offered to the other MCPS schools. Pre C2.0, our HGC had 2 classes. In 5th grade, the HGC offered one class of "on-grade level" math and one class of "one year ahead of grade level math" and several kids were two or more years ahead (those more than two years ahead, which were typically only a few kids, were sent to the local middle school for their math). By the second year of the HGC, one HGC class was at least one year ahead in math and the second HGC class was two years ahead. Now, under C2.0, with the 4/5/6 compacted two year track, the kids taking this will reach Algebra in 7th grade. This was previously considered "two years ahead" in math under the old system. Under C2.0, the new expectation for EVERYONE is to reach Algebra in 8th grade. If you read the fine print on the math acceleration information, there will be a "remedial track" allowing some kids to take Algebra in 9th grade (which was previously considered "on level", but which would not really be considered a "competitive" track for a top tier college admission). Confused? Many parents are. What really turns out to be "regular track" and what turns out to be "remedial" will depend on how many and what types of kids end up in each. (And I use the word "track" here deliberately. Because math is highly sequential, it is not as easy to move in and out of acceleration. And, C2.0 offers far FEWER points for a kid to accelerate or decelerate -- just one decision spot at the end of third grade. What is gone in all of this is the services for those kids who are or could be 3 or more years ahead in math (i.e. taking Algebra in 6th grade). This will no longer be allowed (supposedly) under C2.0. This was usually not offered except at HGC schools, because there often simply weren't enough peers together to make it work. So this acceleration track (supposedly) is out at all HGCs. Whether practices matches theory will be interesting to watch in the next year or two. So, it's not exactly correct to say that C2.0 offers what the HGCs used to offer. |