Compacted Math letters?
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Anonymous
The bolded: +10000. That's exactly what it is. I wish we had more parents in the county that kept it real just like you did above. 
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Anonymous
| The interesting thing about the above PP is that her child will definitely make it based on the lowered standards this year. The question as to whether the child SHOULD take it and whether the child will e ready for Calculus in 11th is a whole other story. I have heard that some schools are placing up to 75% of kids in the program- they must not have a good memory of the old curriculum. |
Anonymous
| I have to think that MCPS has conceived of a world in which not all current compacted math students are interested in taking calculus and has other options available short of dropping out of school. So, when we got the letter for DD to take compacted math, we signed her up even though she is only "very good" at math and not fantastic at it. I trust that the school will work it out if a different route is better for her in the future. |
Anonymous
I am in the school system and you are not correct. As things stand now and as is clearly explained in the information sheet that was given with the decision letter, the children entering compacted math are expected to take 2 AP classes to complete their math requirement in high school. That will be fine for some of the kids, but it is really hard to know that 3rd graders will be ready for that when they reach 11th grade. In addition, teachers are not allowed to hold a child back from taking the class or continuing the class progression unless the parent chooses. Similar to the way that children would move from a 9th grade English class to a 10th grade even if they fail, that is the same with math. I encourage all parents to accept the placement if their child gets recommended but to really watch their child through elementary to make sure that the path is correct. The easiest "Exit" place is repeating 6th grade math in middle school- but again, it is a parent decision and not a school decision. Do not expect to hear from a teacher that your child should really consider that option. |
Anonymous
That PP here. If DC makes it to CM, I am not going to discourage DC because I think DC would want to be in the higher math track. I think DC feels a bit of pressure from older sibling and friends being in CM. Funny thing is that this is the kind of pressure cooker environment I didn't want for my kids and why we chose to not live in a W cluster. I had a chat with my kids about taking advanced math, and that taking Calc in 11th grade would mean they'd have to take a "harder" math class in 12th grade. What if they don't want to major in some STEM field in college? That extra math class in 12th grade would be pointless, and maybe even still pointless for STEM major since I have heard that some colleges prefer the students take calculus in college rather than HS. I do recall the issues pre-CM with too many kids being pushed too quickly. I am indeed concerned that we are going to end up with the same issues. Sure, kids should be challenged, but is taking Algebra in 8th grade/Calc in 12th grade not challenging enough for the majority of students? However, I have read that 2.0 Algebra is a lot easier than Algebra pre 2.0. The "harder" part of Algebra is covered in later math classes. So, perhaps taking Algebra in 7th is actually not as challenging as we think. The concern here is that, if Algebra now doesn't cover all of Algebra like it used to, then will the next four to five years of math have to be accelerated for the students to cover everything they need to? Will there be gaps in knowledge? If this is the case, then I would prefer my DC not be in CM. A student can always drop out of CM and go back "on track", but then that student will probably feel a bit humiliated. Again, goes back to that "pride" thing. |
Anonymous
Our decision letter didn't discuss high school requirements. It said that after 4/5 math comes 5/6 math, and then Algebra 1 would start in grade 7. The letter is totally silent on the high school requirement. It doesn't even make sense that there would be no bail out short of dropping out of school. That would be a totally absurd policy and I don't believe they are just refusing to let bright but struggling math students fail out of high school. |
Anonymous
That last sentence is confusing. I mean, letting bright kids fail out. This would be an absurd way to handle kids who can't quite hack calculus. |
Anonymous
| HS students can choose calc with applications after pre-calc that is not AP. Also stats and mathematical modeling for a non-AP math class. There is no requirement to take calc at all even if you are in compacted math. |
Anonymous
Parent w/ an 11th grader in Calc here, which is the path you are on with a 7th grader in Algebra. The "bailout" in HS is to re-take a class. If your DC in advanced math in MS isn't doing well in MS advanced math classes like Algebra or Geometry, then they should re-take them in MS or HS. A re-taken class with a better grade earned replaces the earlier, poorer class and will slow your DC down on the math track, but still be "on level". Also, remember that math classes are slightly different in HS. For example, Calculus is quite different than pre-Calc. My DC struggled with pre-Calc due to the complicated calculations that required a lot of attention to detail (copying accurately, not messing up signs, etc.). Calculus has been a breeze. It is more elegant and conceptual and logical with much rules-based problem solving. It's a better fit for DC's brain. And, the quality of teaching varies GREATLY in HS. Our DC has had some terrible math and science teachers. Luckily they only last 1 semester. When DC is struggling it has mostly been a teaching issue, and we have supplemented with private tutors. For example, one math teacher was very nice, but clearly had a word-finding issue that was obvious to me on Back to School night, when he substituted words several times which were obviously wrong (up for down, that kind of thing). This was really confusing to DC. A tutor sorted it out. The downside is that bright kids who are good at math, but really love some other subject -- like history or languages -- would be stuck taking math instead of, say, a second foreign language or more lit or history. |
Anonymous
| Do you know how many third graders get into compacted math at your schools? In another post, someone said the figure is something like 50 percent, which seems too high. What if more students make the cut-off at one school versus another school? |
Anonymous
In our Focus school, about 25% got into compacted 4/5 this year. This was an increase from last year according to my son's current teacher. I believe she said they added about 10-12 kids to her class. My son now has 26 kids in the class. My son says a few kids seem to be struggling, but the majority are on track, do well on MAP-M, etc. Not good, but the kids gossip a lot and share their grades/scores. |
Anonymous
| 50% at our W school. Before this year it was closer to 30%. I think the majority of kids are doing fine but DD says there are a number that are getting a lot of papers back with "I"s. |
Anonymous
| The percentage of children at our ES went up, DS who is currently in 5th had only 25% selected and current 3rd grader has over 50% of the class selected. Are the standards going up or is CC2 working? |
Anonymous
| PP what I meant was are the standards being lowered to include more students or is CC2 working? |
Anonymous
That is an interesting question. Instead of assuming that the standards are lowered and connecting this to an achievement gap issue, a DCUM reader actually wonders if it is possible that the new math curriculum is effective and that as a result more kids are capable of CM. I don't know the answer but how refreshing |