Why is the compacted math test verbal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is horrible. Basically kids from states/ counties other than MCPS that are new to MCPS will score higher because they didn't have deceleration/"let's teach everyone the exact same at the same time in math" for grades 1-3 and/or parents that prepped their kids outside of school will be the ones having a huge advantage getting into compact math. And the decision in 3rd grade impacts math tracking all the way until high school. In addition, this should be a test that ALL third graders take - not the "selected ones only." This increased the achievement gap, not decreases it.

There was no deceleration. All that MCPS did is remove the option to skip a grade (or more) in math in grades K-3. Which I, personally, fully support.

What's more, from what my child told me, the math questions were not questions you can "prep" for, or questions you will do better on if you skip a grade in math. They were questions that required good number sense and a thorough understanding of grade-level math processes -- exactly the things that Curriculum 2.0 math is supposed to promote.

And finally, empirically it seems that there are informal opportunities for advancement even after the decision in third grade. It's not a case of getting into compacted math in third grade or being doomed to the on-grade-level track through 12th grade no matter what. What's more, even if it were, the on-grade-level track you'd be supposedly doomed to would get you to AP calculus in 12th grade, which was (and still is) the HONORS track in the well-regarded,
university-town public school system I grew up in.

+1. Amen! (And I am not teaching my kid math at home)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop drinking the cool aid. Math has been decelerated within MCPS. MCPS does not develop a deeper number sense. It just caps out how much math is taught to allow the bottom to catch up. Yes, kids from other school districts can score far higher than MCPS students that aren't learning math at home.

Please provide more information about specifically how MCPS has decelerated math in the elementary grades. And I don't mean "My second-grader before 2.0 got to take fourth-grade math, but my second-grader under Curriculum 2.0 doesn't get to."

Pre-2.0, Algebra I in 8th grade was above grade level. It is now grade level. Pre-2.0, AP calculus in 12th grade was above grade level. It is now grade level. That doesn't look like "deceleration" to me.

[Anonymous]

My 1st grade DC is doing some 2nd grade math. DC's friend in the class is doing some 3rd grade math. Yes, this is in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

re-2.0, Algebra I in 8th grade was above grade level. It is now grade level.

Are you sure? My oldest who is way before 2.0 and nowhere near accelerated, took Algebra I in 8th grade. He was in supported classes and certainly not working on grade level. My second son, also pre 2.0, is set for Algebra I in 7th grade and that is considered above grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

re-2.0, Algebra I in 8th grade was above grade level. It is now grade level.

Are you sure? My oldest who is way before 2.0 and nowhere near accelerated, took Algebra I in 8th grade. He was in supported classes and certainly not working on grade level. My second son, also pre 2.0, is set for Algebra I in 7th grade and that is considered above grade level.

Yes. For the math sequences pre-2.0, see http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/redlandms/academics/math/Pathways.pdf?hc_location=ufi

For the math sequences in 2.0, see http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/math/math-curriculum-plan.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

re-2.0, Algebra I in 8th grade was above grade level. It is now grade level.

Are you sure? My oldest who is way before 2.0 and nowhere near accelerated, took Algebra I in 8th grade. He was in supported classes and certainly not working on grade level. My second son, also pre 2.0, is set for Algebra I in 7th grade and that is considered above grade level.

Yes. For the math sequences pre-2.0, see http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/redlandms/academics/math/Pathways.pdf?hc_location=ufi

For the math sequences in 2.0, see http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/math/math-curriculum-plan.aspx

Thanks. It's nice to know that my son who struggles so much actually performed well in math.