Confused about math(s) now

[Anonymous]

Yes, common core is the bare minimum broken down into crazy multistep strategies that are useful to kids who struggle comprehending even basic facts and completely unnecessary for the average student. In short, it's not helping the majority of students, and teachers and most parents realize that. Most parents are supplementing math at home or with tutors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, common core is the bare minimum broken down into crazy multistep strategies that are useful to kids who struggle comprehending even basic facts and completely unnecessary for the average student. In short, it's not helping the majority of students, and teachers and most parents realize that. Most parents are supplementing math at home or with tutors.

I disagree. The curriculum my daughter's school has adopted to help the students meet the demands of Common Core (she's in 3rd grade) seems much better than what my son had in that grade.

For one thing, her teacher is stressing mastery of the times tables -- they are even doing fluency drills (timed tests) every single week.

For another thing, they are spending a lot more time on fractions. They aren't just shading in parts of a circle. They are locating fractions on a number line, and are doing a lot more work with equivalent fractions than my son ever did. They are basically using fractions in far more ways, and in more word problems.

There are other benefits I see as well. I'm certainly not seeing "crazy multi-step strategies". She is being asked to solve two step word problems, but that is just how you have to solve some problems. For example, "How many more kids play baseball or soccer, than play volleyball?" (after reading a chart -- you have to add baseball and soccer players -- then subtract from that sum, the number of kids who play volleyball."

So, so far, I like it. At least, in my child's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the current standards in the state of MD, many kids who go to college need to take remedial math, so the standards they were exposed to didn't even prepare them for community college.

The Common Core standards for high school seem to be pretty basic -- algebra, statistics, geometry.

http://www.corestandards.org/Math

There's no trig, precal, calculus. I assume advanced students with a serious interest in STEM would be accelerated at some point to study precalculus and perhaps calculus before graduation, by taking AP classes. But there's no need for the majority of students to take those classes in high school -- not even for a career in business of finance. If they need the coursework they can take it in college.

You are mixing up standards, classes, and curricula.

If it's true that many high school graduates in Maryland have to take remedial math in college, that's not a standards issue -- that's an issue of what they learned in the classes they took.

Also, the Common Core is standards -- what students should know and be able to do -- not a series of classes. The standards include things students usually learn in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and pre-calculus, as well as statistics and probability.

You can look up the content knowledge for the Common Core standards in high school is here:

http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/note-on-courses-transitions/courses-transitions/

Finally, the Common Core is the Common CORE, not the Common Limit. There is nothing in the Common Core that says: here is what you should know and be able to do, AND NOT ONE THING MORE.

I'm the PP You are responding to. I LOVE Common Core standards. I think they are great.

I was just pointing out that the Common Core math standards are a basic standard-- they don't go farther than algebra. So yes, if they are ALL a child is exposed to in high school, it would not take the student through trig, precalc and calculus. But there's no reason those classes can't be offered! Students would likely take accelerated math classes in middle and high school to cover the Common Core requirements by 9th or 10th grade, which is easily doable as they aren't that hard for smart kids.

I looked at the standards for Geometry and probability, but they don't seem to me to include much calculus. WHich is a good thing. I don't think Calculus, trig and precalculus SHOULD be part of what all high schoolers are expected to master. I think algebra and statistics are plenty.

A new PP chiming in. MCPS and the State of Maryland used to have a focus on churning out kids who were ready for highly technical jobs including in STEM fields. I have been in education for twenty years and I am now witnessing on the frontlines a movement by MCPS to spout in particular situations, "All MCPS is required to do is make sure kids meet State standards. Nothing more." When State standards align themselves with minimal preparedness for life after high school, I worry the net result is that opportunities for well paying jobs for a large segment of the Maryland population will be limited.

I dislike the alignment of the State of Maryland with the Common Core Standards on the principal the Common Core Standards are too low. I would support a movement to raise the Common Core Standards or at least raise the standards in education in Maryland.

Half the people think the standards are too low, half think they're too high. That leads me to believe that they're probably set at the right level.

Can an important education policy be decided in this way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curriculum 2.0 aims to get most kids to Algebra in 8th grade which takes them to 1 AP math class in HS. 2 for kids in compacted math. That seems pretty good to me. If a child is truly math focused they can double up on math in HS or take a summer class to go farther. How much college level math are you looking for OP?

OP here.

Thanks for the comments. I think that you are saying that Curriculum 2.0 is much better than Common Core math in terms of the end goal. If so, this is great. Still, is there an official message confirming that?

Meanwhile, for the college level math, is it the same as college ready math? Is AP math course college ready or college level?

I remember that there was a message talking about something like "Some university professors said students needed to take remedial math since either the AP math was not deep enough or the kids did not learn it right."

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the comments. I think that you are saying that Curriculum 2.0 is much better than Common Core math in terms of the end goal. If so, this is great. Still, is there an official message confirming that?

God no. 2.0 math is terrible and there is a sharp divide growing between highly educated parents and MCPS about this. The MCPS official policy is that its just dandy but they are aware of the problems. They just can never reverse course so several to many years , who knows how long, of students will get a sub par math education.

Parents at my school are VERY upset about math. There have been petitions on change.org. The end goal for 2.0 is the bare minimum of common core. Enriched math is a joke. Kids are not allowed to accelerate so they repeat the same thing year after year.

If you care about math, you have to seriously supplement at home. MCPS just doesn't teach it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curriculum 2.0 aims to get most kids to Algebra in 8th grade which takes them to 1 AP math class in HS. 2 for kids in compacted math. That seems pretty good to me. If a child is truly math focused they can double up on math in HS or take a summer class to go farther. How much college level math are you looking for OP?

OP here.

Thanks for the comments. I think that you are saying that Curriculum 2.0 is much better than Common Core math in terms of the end goal. If so, this is great. Still, is there an official message confirming that?

Meanwhile, for the college level math, is it the same as college ready math? Is AP math course college ready or college level?

I remember that there was a message talking about something like "Some university professors said students needed to take remedial math since either the AP math was not deep enough or the kids did not learn it right."

College ready means kids have the skills to be successful in basic, 101 level college courses. (Intro to American History, Psychology 101, etc.) I'm sure Calculus is considered an introductory college level course; however many ambitious students try to take a lot of their introductory college level courses in high school as AP classes.

From my understanding, the concerns hasn't been kids taking AP Calculus, but not learning it , in high school. The greater concerns has been kids graduating with a high school diploma, and needing to take remedial algebra (or lower-- basic arithmetic, fractions, decimals, percents and such) in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Half the people think the standards are too low, half think they're too high. That leads me to believe that they're probably set at the right level.

I believe this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the comments. I think that you are saying that Curriculum 2.0 is much better than Common Core math in terms of the end goal. If so, this is great. Still, is there an official message confirming that?

God no. 2.0 math is terrible and there is a sharp divide growing between highly educated parents and MCPS about this. The MCPS official policy is that its just dandy but they are aware of the problems. They just can never reverse course so several to many years , who knows how long, of students will get a sub par math education.

Parents at my school are VERY upset about math. There have been petitions on change.org. The end goal for 2.0 is the bare minimum of common core. Enriched math is a joke. Kids are not allowed to accelerate so they repeat the same thing year after year.

If you care about math, you have to seriously supplement at home. MCPS just doesn't teach it.

This highly-educated parent likes Curriculum 2.0, including Curriculum 2.0 math.

I have not talked to any parent at my kid's school who was VERY upset about math -- or upset about math at all, in fact. There may be some, but I haven't heard it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A new PP chiming in. MCPS and the State of Maryland used to have a focus on churning out kids who were ready for highly technical jobs including in STEM fields. I have been in education for twenty years and I am now witnessing on the frontlines a movement by MCPS to spout in particular situations, "All MCPS is required to do is make sure kids meet State standards. Nothing more." When State standards align themselves with minimal preparedness for life after high school, I worry the net result is that opportunities for well paying jobs for a large segment of the Maryland population will be limited.

I dislike the alignment of the State of Maryland with the Common Core Standards on the principal the Common Core Standards are too low. I would support a movement to raise the Common Core Standards or at least raise the standards in education in Maryland.

You're saying that you have heard MCPS people, officially representing MCPS, say, "All MCPS is required to do is make sure kids meet State standards. Nothing more."?

I find this very hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

A new PP chiming in. MCPS and the State of Maryland used to have a focus on churning out kids who were ready for highly technical jobs including in STEM fields. I have been in education for twenty years and I am now witnessing on the frontlines a movement by MCPS to spout in particular situations, "All MCPS is required to do is make sure kids meet State standards. Nothing more." When State standards align themselves with minimal preparedness for life after high school, I worry the net result is that opportunities for well paying jobs for a large segment of the Maryland population will be limited.

I dislike the alignment of the State of Maryland with the Common Core Standards on the principal the Common Core Standards are too low. I would support a movement to raise the Common Core Standards or at least raise the standards in education in Maryland.

+1000 This post sums up how we feel. Honestly, the only way to stop the dumbing down of math is through the State, political channels, and media. Parents should continue to speak up and push the standards back up. Its such a shame that MCPS lowered the bar so drastically. This used to be the county to move to for schools and math, now its the county to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Algebra I in eighth grade for grade-level math is dumbing down math?

[Anonymous]

The kids in algebra 1 in 8th grade were never under 2.0. The current 4th graders are the 2.0 guinea pigs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the comments. I think that you are saying that Curriculum 2.0 is much better than Common Core math in terms of the end goal. If so, this is great. Still, is there an official message confirming that?

God no. 2.0 math is terrible and there is a sharp divide growing between highly educated parents and MCPS about this. The MCPS official policy is that its just dandy but they are aware of the problems. They just can never reverse course so several to many years , who knows how long, of students will get a sub par math education.

Parents at my school are VERY upset about math. There have been petitions on change.org. The end goal for 2.0 is the bare minimum of common core. Enriched math is a joke. Kids are not allowed to accelerate so they repeat the same thing year after year.

If you care about math, you have to seriously supplement at home. MCPS just doesn't teach it.

This highly-educated parent likes Curriculum 2.0, including Curriculum 2.0 math.

I have not talked to any parent at my kid's school who was VERY upset about math -- or upset about math at all, in fact. There may be some, but I haven't heard it.

Just curious if your education and career are math/science based, because in my experience, those are the highly educated parents who have issues with 2.0 math. (me included)

[Anonymous]

The highly educated parents DO NOT like 2.0. Its a sharp divide between parents with more education and who went to school in countries that rank high in math (China, Korea, Russia, India, Sweden, France etc). I have met moms that don't mind 2.0 but sadly these were the not so bright, PTA cheerleader types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids in algebra 1 in 8th grade were never under 2.0. The current 4th graders are the 2.0 guinea pigs.

Who will be taking Algebra in 8th grade because that is the C2.0 on-grade math course. See: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/math/