Does your DCPS/charter school differentiate math for elementary students?

[Anonymous]

In 3rd grade last year my child was pulled daily from class to go to a math class that worked more advanced material along with 3rd graders from other classes at Eaton. Maybe 12-15 kids across 3 classes were pulled? I had to sign a permission slip for it and the criteria included scores from some start of the year assessment plus continued success on unit tests. The permission slip made it clear that the children could be placed back in with their home class if they did not maintain their progress/scores. In 2nd grade my child was pulled once or twice a week for math, the daily instruction was much more effective and left the curriculum not switching back and forth.

It ended with the pandemic, of course, which left my child frustrated at having to move back to material that had already been covered, so we ended up working with an online tutor for the remainder of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 3rd grade last year my child was pulled daily from class to go to a math class that worked more advanced material along with 3rd graders from other classes at Eaton. Maybe 12-15 kids across 3 classes were pulled? I had to sign a permission slip for it and the criteria included scores from some start of the year assessment plus continued success on unit tests. The permission slip made it clear that the children could be placed back in with their home class if they did not maintain their progress/scores. In 2nd grade my child was pulled once or twice a week for math, the daily instruction was much more effective and left the curriculum not switching back and forth.

It ended with the pandemic, of course, which left my child frustrated at having to move back to material that had already been covered, so we ended up working with an online tutor for the remainder of the year.

Thank you so much! It really helps to know what other schools are doing with this. I love our school and would love to stay, so may suggest they check out what Eaton is doing. Our school does absolutely nothing for advanced math learners. I talked to one parent in 3rd grade and she said when she started dealing with this in 1st grade the school told her they had never had this issue brought up. I was really surprised and disheartened to hear this, as I am positive they are just missing kids with math talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in separate math classes per se (I don't think any DCPS does that) but there are pullouts every day into different groups. Additionally, there are math clubs and teams they can join as they get older.

Essentially the theory is not to advance the stronger kids more quickly through the curriculum, but to have them dive deeper into each subject as they go through it.

This sounds really cool! Would you mind sharing which school this is?

Lafayette.

[Anonymous]

Kids arrive at Deal and Hardy at varying math levels and are sorted into 3-4 paths. That means, every school that feeds into Deal differentiates, even if parents don't realize it (as in, if you are expecting an award certificate saying your kid is in the highest math group, you won't be seeing that; they won't even say it to you).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids arrive at Deal and Hardy at varying math levels and are sorted into 3-4 paths. That means, every school that feeds into Deal differentiates, even if parents don't realize it (as in, if you are expecting an award certificate saying your kid is in the highest math group, you won't be seeing that; they won't even say it to you).

This is not true. Our school does not differentiate. I have talked to them, and have a friend with a kid two grade levels ahead that has tried to get some math enrichment for the last two years with no luck. There are no groups and they all do the same work in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in separate math classes per se (I don't think any DCPS does that) but there are pullouts every day into different groups. Additionally, there are math clubs and teams they can join as they get older.

Essentially the theory is not to advance the stronger kids more quickly through the curriculum, but to have them dive deeper into each subject as they go through it.

This sounds really cool! Would you mind sharing which school this is?

All of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids arrive at Deal and Hardy at varying math levels and are sorted into 3-4 paths. That means, every school that feeds into Deal differentiates, even if parents don't realize it (as in, if you are expecting an award certificate saying your kid is in the highest math group, you won't be seeing that; they won't even say it to you).

Also - we do not feed into Deal or Hardy. Probably every school that does feed into those schools differentiates ... Education can be pretty inequitable across the city.

[Anonymous]

Don't let people criticize you for doing testing to try to understand your kid. That's just silly.

Our DCPS pays lip service to differentiation but seems to provide pull-outs only for the kids who are struggling. My advice is not to waste your time trying to convince DCPS to do something extra for your kid, because they won't. The good news is that there are a lot of ways to supplement with programs after school. I thought it might make my kids bored with the school math, but it is the opposite. Through their outside work they see how fun and challenging math can be. Everything at school comes easy to them, but they see it from a different perspective now. They get their school-assigned math work done quickly and can use the rest of their time for free time. They understand that some of the other kids need more help and that is fine with them. They don't get frustrated at math going too slow because they know they have challenging math outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids arrive at Deal and Hardy at varying math levels and are sorted into 3-4 paths. That means, every school that feeds into Deal differentiates, even if parents don't realize it (as in, if you are expecting an award certificate saying your kid is in the highest math group, you won't be seeing that; they won't even say it to you).

This is not true. Our school does not differentiate. I have talked to them, and have a friend with a kid two grade levels ahead that has tried to get some math enrichment for the last two years with no luck. There are no groups and they all do the same work in class.

How did the kid get two grades ahead with out differentiation, and how do they know it unless the school test showed it? BTW, going more than two grades ahead leads to a dead end unless the kid is a prodigy headed to MIT at age 16.

Which school does not differentiate within the classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in separate math classes per se (I don't think any DCPS does that) but there are pullouts every day into different groups. Additionally, there are math clubs and teams they can join as they get older.

Essentially the theory is not to advance the stronger kids more quickly through the curriculum, but to have them dive deeper into each subject as they go through it.

This sounds really cool! Would you mind sharing which school this is?

All of them.

Again, NOT all schools differentiate for math. Hence my question!

No small groups, no separate problem sets. All kids do that exact same problem sets in class I have been told. This is for in-person learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids arrive at Deal and Hardy at varying math levels and are sorted into 3-4 paths. That means, every school that feeds into Deal differentiates, even if parents don't realize it (as in, if you are expecting an award certificate saying your kid is in the highest math group, you won't be seeing that; they won't even say it to you).

This is not true. Our school does not differentiate. I have talked to them, and have a friend with a kid two grade levels ahead that has tried to get some math enrichment for the last two years with no luck. There are no groups and they all do the same work in class.

How did the kid get two grades ahead with out differentiation, and how do they know it unless the school test showed it? BTW, going more than two grades ahead leads to a dead end unless the kid is a prodigy headed to MIT at age 16.

Which school does not differentiate within the classroom?

Kids don't only learn in school. My kid is interested in math and they ask us questions. We answer the questions and we give them information. I am not sure how else to explain this. I do not have some sort of child prodigy. They are just doing math content that is supposedly for 3rd grade (multiplication).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't let people criticize you for doing testing to try to understand your kid. That's just silly.

Our DCPS pays lip service to differentiation but seems to provide pull-outs only for the kids who are struggling. My advice is not to waste your time trying to convince DCPS to do something extra for your kid, because they won't. The good news is that there are a lot of ways to supplement with programs after school. I thought it might make my kids bored with the school math, but it is the opposite. Through their outside work they see how fun and challenging math can be. Everything at school comes easy to them, but they see it from a different perspective now. They get their school-assigned math work done quickly and can use the rest of their time for free time. They understand that some of the other kids need more help and that is fine with them. They don't get frustrated at math going too slow because they know they have challenging math outside of school.

Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it. Is this a school-provided aftercare program? I think our school would be interested in doing something like this and is beginning to see the need for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not in separate math classes per se (I don't think any DCPS does that) but there are pullouts every day into different groups. Additionally, there are math clubs and teams they can join as they get older.

Essentially the theory is not to advance the stronger kids more quickly through the curriculum, but to have them dive deeper into each subject as they go through it.

At Brent, the 5th graders who can handle 6th or even 7th grade math usually attend their own math classes with the science teacher. Lower down the chain, the math teachers are not all on board with advancement, but if you raise issues with admins, you can wrest more challenge from the program.

[Anonymous]

Maybe look into Montessori schools? Perhaps this method will work better for your child.

[Anonymous]

OP, what you do if you want to stay in DC public is deliberately accelerate your child yourself over the years. Hire a tutor, have them work out of Singapore Math and Saxon math workbooks, put the kid on Khan Academy videos, send them to Johns Hopkins CTY camps etc. Document their progress and bring the evidence to the school's math coordinator a couple times a year.

If teachers get fed up with the kid burning through math assignments fast and causing mischief while s/he waits for others to catch up, believe me, the school starts to deliver the math challenge, at least as long as the school is mostly high SES kids. The kid may be sent to the library to work on math software. Don't give up or give in and the differentiation starts to kick in as long as the kid really can work far ahead of grade level. That's been our experience.