Is new MCPS superintendent going to eliminate Math Acceleration in elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

I am sure nothing is concrete at this point, but everything I read and hear about the new superintendent is that he wants to put the top 3-5% of kids in a magnet program and then just put the rest in a common curriculum without separating kids by capability and without allowing for acceleration to higher math for kids that can handle it.

I think this will put him at odds with many, many parents (including me) and maybe some teachers. If MCPS still wants kids in Algebra by 8th grades, this 'one size fits all' approach will also push some kids along pretty fast.

Is this what everyone else senses?

Do you agree with this approach?

IMHO, I think too much acceleration is bad, but it is crazy to impose policies from above when each child is a unique case. Some kids can handle more and some need to go slower.

[Anonymous]

Even before this superintendant was chosen, the county moved toward adopting the Elementary Integrated Curriculum, which has less math acceleration. It is being phased in from kindergarten on up. So today's kindergarten and first graders will not be jumping ahead tow years in math. There is supposedly room in the EIC for deeper and enriched instruction for kids who can handle it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even before this superintendant was chosen, the county moved toward adopting the Elementary Integrated Curriculum, which has less math acceleration. It is being phased in from kindergarten on up. So today's kindergarten and first graders will not be jumping ahead tow years in math. There is supposedly room in the EIC for deeper and enriched instruction for kids who can handle it.

OP Here: I think this will utlimately clash with parents. We will see, but parents who are not engaged now will start to get frustrated when their kids are bored, acting up, and not really working hard in school. It's interesting to me how little parental input goes into big policy decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sure nothing is concrete at this point, but everything I read and hear about the new superintendent is that he wants to put the top 3-5% of kids in a magnet program and then just put the rest in a common curriculum without separating kids by capability and without allowing for acceleration to higher math for kids that can handle it.

I'm curious as to where you heard about a magnet program? Is it just for math? Is this different from what MCPS has now? I have a 3rd grader with very high test scores in Language Arts (MAP-R, Terra Nova, etc.) which would put him in that 3-5% in that area; however, while he is currently in an accelerated, above grade level math class, that is not his strongest subject. We are trying to figure out what our game plan is for next year and going forward.

[Anonymous]

I'm not aware of a magnet program in MCPS. Is there one in each school, or do you mean the 3-5% of children who will now be accelerated under the EIC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even before this superintendant was chosen, the county moved toward adopting the Elementary Integrated Curriculum, which has less math acceleration. It is being phased in from kindergarten on up. So today's kindergarten and first graders will not be jumping ahead tow years in math. There is supposedly room in the EIC for deeper and enriched instruction for kids who can handle it.

OP Here: I think this will utlimately clash with parents. We will see, but parents who are not engaged now will start to get frustrated when their kids are bored, acting up, and not really working hard in school. It's interesting to me how little parental input goes into big policy decisions.

You might be right, OP, that parents won't like it. But we are stuck with it. Curriculum 2.0 (aka, the integrated curriculum) was rolled out in kindergarten and first grades this year and will be expanded to include more grades next year. This all predates Joshua Starr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure nothing is concrete at this point, but everything I read and hear about the new superintendent is that he wants to put the top 3-5% of kids in a magnet program and then just put the rest in a common curriculum without separating kids by capability and without allowing for acceleration to higher math for kids that can handle it.

I'm curious as to where you heard about a magnet program? Is it just for math? Is this different from what MCPS has now? I have a 3rd grader with very high test scores in Language Arts (MAP-R, Terra Nova, etc.) which would put him in that 3-5% in that area; however, while he is currently in an accelerated, above grade level math class, that is not his strongest subject. We are trying to figure out what our game plan is for next year and going forward.

I am equating Elementary Magnets with the 4th and 5th grade Highly Gifted Centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You might be right, OP, that parents won't like it. But we are stuck with it. Curriculum 2.0 (aka, the integrated curriculum) was rolled out in kindergarten and first grades this year and will be expanded to include more grades next year. This all predates Joshua Starr.

If Elementary School math is linear, couldn't you still accelerate at whatever rate you select. For example, the third grade advanced math class could push into 4th grade math by the end of 3rd grade.

Looking into the future, I am wondering if there will be pushback from the parents to drop or alter the curriculum. It may not happen overnight, but if there is pressure against this curriculum, it may force policy makers to alter or drop the curriculum. This is one reason I think parents concerns, at least at a high level, should be considered before you impose big policy changes. This all remains to be seen, of course.

[Anonymous]

What I have seen of the new curriculum is leaps and bounds better than what was there before. At our school, many students (I'm talking 50% of the grade level) were pushed into the next level math so that the school would look good. I suggest you do some research into the Common Core, which are the standards that the math reflects. This curriculum also incorporates 21st century skills so that students are more prepared for the real world once they leave school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I have seen of the new curriculum is leaps and bounds better than what was there before. At our school, many students (I'm talking 50% of the grade level) were pushed into the next level math so that the school would look good. I suggest you do some research into the Common Core, which are the standards that the math reflects. This curriculum also incorporates 21st century skills so that students are more prepared for the real world once they leave school.

OP Here: You raise an important issue here. I don't think Common Core was really rolled out to parents very well. Teachers may have received training and advanced materials, but I have only just seen this curriculum added to the MCPS web site since the beginning of the school year. It wasn't on the MCPS web site last year as far as I can tell (for the record, I do check out the curriculum documentation on MCPS, so that is how I know). Officially, I have only been informed of this new curriculum since the beginning of this school year (2 weeks now). The letter did not point me to any resources about where I can check out the new curriculum, but I do see it out on MCPS website. The MCPS web site does not show this new curriculum for grades 3 and up, so I probably won't see it until it is already implemented and I can't really project how it will play out. I will look at the curriculum and I hope you are right.

No one has ever addressed to me, however, how will MCPS handle when some kids can do long division and other kids are still working on 3x7? How will MCPS handle kindergaren kids that can read as well as a typcial 2nd grader and others are learning the alphabet. In both these cases, I don't see how putting them in the same class helps.

[Anonymous]

The new curriculum is in place through 2nd grade in our elementary school. The 2nd grade teacher told us that kids will receive advanced material but it will all be taught by the teacher. No one will move to another room for more advanced instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new curriculum is in place through 2nd grade in our elementary school. The 2nd grade teacher told us that kids will receive advanced material but it will all be taught by the teacher. No one will move to another room for more advanced instruction.

This varies by school. My kids are in a school which has used the new EIC last year (K and 1) and this year. (K, 1 and 2). Math acceleration or above grade teaching is continuing in our school. Students are assessed for math skills and regrouped by classroom across the whole grade. Most kids are on grade level, but about 25-30% of the students were still in classes working either 1 or 2 years ahead of grade. So, as I said, it varies by school -- some schools are retaining acceleration options and others have written letters to parents ending acceleration or denying access to acceleration for individual children. Who makes these decisions and why is a mystery to me.

Personally, I am glad for the acceleration opportunity for my child. He would be bored in first grade math, even under the new curriculum. I have an older child who was skipped/accelerated 2 years between 3rd and 5th grade. The problems she has had relate entirely to the underlying math curriculum and not to the acceleration or skipping itself. (A lot of the math curriculum is taught in stupid ways .....) I say fix the teaching (both teaching methods and teachers preparation) of the curriculum objectives and you will fix a lot of problems in MCPS math .....

[Anonymous]

Getting rid of math acceleration (particularly in a country failing at teaching the subject to kids) smacks of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Inappropriate use of acceleration, in the past, by some schools, teachers and parents should not deprive appropriate math acceleration for the few deserving other children.

In my 4 years in the MCPS system (starting at K) I have not encountered a teacher in K, Grade 1, or 2 capable of teaching a few capable students who have already mastered fractions and decimals in the same class with 24 to 26 other students many of whom have difficulty with basic multiplication tables and long division. There are no suitable magnet programs in MC for these few students in K,1 and 2. In the Highly Gifted centers there are no MC Algebra 1 certified teachers capable of teaching Algebra to the few students capable and ready for this. A few elementary students will have to move to the middle or high schools for this type of instruction. I doubt the system (as I understand it) will be able to provide the appropriate challenge in math for some of these kids that are performing 2 to 3 standard deviations above the mean. Thus, elimination of potential pathways for grade acceleration in math -- carte blanche -- seems foolhardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP Here: You raise an important issue here. I don't think Common Core was really rolled out to parents very well. Teachers may have received training and advanced materials, but I have only just seen this curriculum added to the MCPS web site since the beginning of the school year. It wasn't on the MCPS web site last year as far as I can tell (for the record, I do check out the curriculum documentation on MCPS, so that is how I know). Officially, I have only been informed of this new curriculum since the beginning of this school year (2 weeks now). The letter did not point me to any resources about where I can check out the new curriculum, but I do see it out on MCPS website. The MCPS web site does not show this new curriculum for grades 3 and up, so I probably won't see it until it is already implemented and I can't really project how it will play out. I will look at the curriculum and I hope you are right.

No one has ever addressed to me, however, how will MCPS handle when some kids can do long division and other kids are still working on 3x7? How will MCPS handle kindergaren kids that can read as well as a typcial 2nd grader and others are learning the alphabet. In both these cases, I don't see how putting them in the same class helps.

I agree about the rollout to parents. I actually went to a parent session last year on the new EIC and left more confused than anything. It was like they have this new curriculum where supposedly it was the answer to everything parents have been asking BUT nothing was really going to be different the teachers were going to be doing the same things as before except where it made sense to integrate they would. Oh and there was a teacher portal with all these online resources including the potential to upload lesson plans/ collaborate BUT no teacher had to use it. And the curriculum was created in advance of the adoption of common core and the math working group outcome BUT assuredly would be covered in the EIC. I was given a thick packet of all the curriculum outcomes e.g. 1.1 can identify a graphical representation .... Yes and can you give me example of what that means, how would you teach it, how would you assess it? Also as some people mentioned, some schools have EIC for 2nd, some don't. Which means some have acceleration/grouping for math 2nd grade and up so there is variation by school. I've given up and figured I needed to either be involved with a homeschooling group to learn how math should be taught and/or look into math enrichment so I know what to expect and can feel confident my kids will get a strong foundation and move at the appropriate pace for the individual child.

[Anonymous]

Is this the curriculum that MoCo sold for commercial use? Or is the county moving on from the curriculum that was sold?