Does anyone like Curriculum 2.0?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I can see how this would be frustrating to you in particular. Though as someone new to this, I have to say it sounds bizarre to me that kids are taking Algebra I in 5th grade. I come from that time and place where the advanced kids took Algebra I in 8th grade, then got all the way to AP Calc in 12th grade, and this was considered well prepared for highly selective colleges.

What does this statement have to do with pathways for children with mastery to advance in math? The digression about Algebra in 5th grade, AP Calculus and selective colleges makes absolutely no sense. Does this illogic have anything to do with providing a challenging math curriculum to our children commensurate with aptitude, ability and achievement?

It sounds bizarre to me that many parents and their children are happy as warm clams with curriculum 2.0 and the elimination of pathways for advancement and acceleration for willing and able kids (obviously not their own). That's about the only thing bizarre here. I know you are new to this. In time you will recognize as your children move through K-12 and university ... there is nothing bizarre about academic achievement. Like in sports and music you really haven't seen anything yet!

It wasn't intended as a digression; it was meant to indicate that my own opinion is that putting 5th graders in Algebra I sounds to me like excessive acceleration in comparison with my own and my husband's math education, which did get us to highly selective colleges and advanced degrees. Are people saying that this 3- to 4-year acceleration from what was done in the past is really necessary to succeed now? What math classes do students take in 11th and 12th grades if they have already mastered high school math by the end of middle school? And have they really mastered it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
1st grade:
http://uchit.rastu.ru/education/4/937/

2nd grade:
http://uchit.rastu.ru/education/5/1044/
Cliick on links to see sample questions.

Thank you for providing some specifics, but these are entirely in Russian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can see how this would be frustrating to you in particular. Though as someone new to this, I have to say it sounds bizarre to me that kids are taking Algebra I in 5th grade. I come from that time and place where the advanced kids took Algebra I in 8th grade, then got all the way to AP Calc in 12th grade, and this was considered well prepared for highly selective colleges.

What does this statement have to do with pathways for children with mastery to advance in math? The digression about Algebra in 5th grade, AP Calculus and selective colleges makes absolutely no sense. Does this illogic have anything to do with providing a challenging math curriculum to our children commensurate with aptitude, ability and achievement?

It sounds bizarre to me that many parents and their children are happy as warm clams with curriculum 2.0 and the elimination of pathways for advancement and acceleration for willing and able kids (obviously not their own). That's about the only thing bizarre here. I know you are new to this. In time you will recognize as your children move through K-12 and university ... there is nothing bizarre about academic achievement. Like in sports and music you really haven't seen anything yet!

It wasn't intended as a digression; it was meant to indicate that my own opinion is that putting 5th graders in Algebra I sounds to me like excessive acceleration in comparison with my own and my husband's math education, which did get us to highly selective colleges and advanced degrees. Are people saying that this 3- to 4-year acceleration from what was done in the past is really necessary to succeed now? What math classes do students take in 11th and 12th grades if they have already mastered high school math by the end of middle school? And have they really mastered it?

The comments about algebra in fifth grade seem relevant to me. I think the poster brings up some good points and questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
1st grade:
http://uchit.rastu.ru/education/4/937/

2nd grade:
http://uchit.rastu.ru/education/5/1044/
Cliick on links to see sample questions.

Thank you for providing some specifics, but these are entirely in Russian.

PP, most browsers will offer to translate a website automatically. Here is the translation (imperfect of course) done by google.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fuchit.rastu.ru%2Feducation%2F4%2F937%2F

Clicking on the links will give you examples of problems in each category. Those are in the language of math .

[Anonymous]

It wasn't intended as a digression; it was meant to indicate that my own opinion is that putting 5th graders in Algebra I sounds to me like excessive acceleration in comparison with my own and my husband's math education, which did get us to highly selective colleges and advanced degrees. Are people saying that this 3- to 4-year acceleration from what was done in the past is really necessary to succeed now? What math classes do students take in 11th and 12th grades if they have already mastered high school math by the end of middle school? And have they really mastered it?

The comments about algebra in fifth grade seem relevant to me. I think the poster brings up some good points and questions.

Not in the least. In your worldview and community this may be so. This observation is relative to what occurred in your community. This may also explain why children in your community lag behind others in math performance.

As for selective colleges, so what? What has math to do with this rather are you wealthy, do you come from the "appropriate" pedigree, play squash, lacrosse or crew; did someone in your lineage attend one of these schools? Is your family a major donor? These other factors may be more important than what you did in math in elementary school.

Blanket statements without relevant knowledge of another child's actual knowledge base and performance is spewing in the wind.

No one is saying subject acceleration is necessary to succeed (if you mean by success attending Harvard -- check out Romney's 5 boys)?

What we are saying is subject acceleration in MCPS may be necessary for some children to allow them to have appropriate challenge if they have already mastered the menu of their "on-grade" peers. This in not rocket science there are a myriad of examples in arts, music, computer programming and sports. Is expertise in math any different or special?

[Anonymous]

So is the problem with 2.0 just math acceleration (or the lack thereof)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is the problem with 2.0 just math acceleration (or the lack thereof)?

For me - yes, main problem is lack of advancement/acceleration.
Overal math curricculum 2.0 looks better than it was before, at least for k-2. I would only wish there is a way to move faster trough it (different groups withhin grade level worked just fine for my older son)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is the problem with 2.0 just math acceleration (or the lack thereof)?

For me - yes, main problem is lack of advancement/acceleration.
Overal math curricculum 2.0 looks better than it was before, at least for k-2. I would only wish there is a way to move faster trough it (different groups withhin grade level worked just fine for my older son)

Thanks - it is something I have been wondering. I haven't heard many complaints about the other subjects. I wasn't sure whether to bail on MCPS altogether or not. I think I can handle giving my child extra math if necessary (she is in K next year). Hopefully MCPS will make some changes in the meantime. Is there some way parents are letting MCPS know their concerns as a group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is the problem with 2.0 just math acceleration (or the lack thereof)?

For me - yes, main problem is lack of advancement/acceleration.
Overal math curricculum 2.0 looks better than it was before, at least for k-2. I would only wish there is a way to move faster trough it (different groups withhin grade level worked just fine for my older son)

Thanks - it is something I have been wondering. I haven't heard many complaints about the other subjects. I wasn't sure whether to bail on MCPS altogether or not. I think I can handle giving my child extra math if necessary (she is in K next year). Hopefully MCPS will make some changes in the meantime. Is there some way parents are letting MCPS know their concerns as a group?

Not that I've heard of
Would love to find that group and join it. Many of my friends/neighboors would support too.

[Anonymous]

Recap: Problems with curriculum 2.0 and implementation

1 lack of pathway for advancement and acceleration in math
2 lack of differentiated teaching in the classroom to kids of varying ability, aptitude, achievement and performance
3 wide variability in the quality of teaching
4 poor and conflicting communication between teacher and parent, principal and parent and mcps and parent about the metrics for evaluating and assessing students in curriculum 2.0
5 opaque or no evaluation process at the start of the school year regarding performance measres and planning student academic needs; tremendous lag time (if at all!) between child assessment and communication with parents
6 significant delays in expeditious student assessment and evaluation by teachers
7 refusal by MCPS schools to formally test and evaluate children requesting assessment at the beginning of the school year to anticipate teaching needs
8 no process at the end of the school year for willing kids to take full assessment evaluations (e.g. HSA or final exams in a subject) to demonstrate their mastery (or lack thereof) in anticipation of placement in the upcoming academic year (particularly for math)
9 parents have no mechanisms to challenge teacher, principal or mcps (short of taking outside examinations SAT, SSAT and the like for confirmation of academic achievement and performance) to challenge school placement
10 ??? science (a black box in curriculum 2.0). What is the program in the elementay school years? seems variable in the schools
11 teachers and principals seem experts in delay tactics preventing expeditious evaluation and assessments of kids -- particularly in instances of trying to decide subject placement. The teachers and principals spend their productive hours hatching and promoting these delays. This is where their true expertise in education seem to lay.
12 no input from parents and the community (local businesses, engineers, scientists, computer experts, educators) in the decision to purchase, implement and then execute curriculum 2.0 in response to adopting the common core standards for MCPS

[Anonymous]

13 no plan for elementary school kids already advanced or accelerated in math with the implementation of curriculum 2.0. These kids a in free fall through a large donut hole with no end in sight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Recap: Problems with curriculum 2.0 and implementation

1 lack of pathway for advancement and acceleration in math
2 lack of differentiated teaching in the classroom to kids of varying ability, aptitude, achievement and performance
3 wide variability in the quality of teaching
4 poor and conflicting communication between teacher and parent, principal and parent and mcps and parent about the metrics for evaluating and assessing students in curriculum 2.0
5 opaque or no evaluation process at the start of the school year regarding performance measres and planning student academic needs; tremendous lag time (if at all!) between child assessment and communication with parents
6 significant delays in expeditious student assessment and evaluation by teachers
7 refusal by MCPS schools to formally test and evaluate children requesting assessment at the beginning of the school year to anticipate teaching needs
8 no process at the end of the school year for willing kids to take full assessment evaluations (e.g. HSA or final exams in a subject) to demonstrate their mastery (or lack thereof) in anticipation of placement in the upcoming academic year (particularly for math)
9 parents have no mechanisms to challenge teacher, principal or mcps (short of taking outside examinations SAT, SSAT and the like for confirmation of academic achievement and performance) to challenge school placement
10 ??? science (a black box in curriculum 2.0). What is the program in the elementay school years? seems variable in the schools
11 teachers and principals seem experts in delay tactics preventing expeditious evaluation and assessments of kids -- particularly in instances of trying to decide subject placement. The teachers and principals spend their productive hours hatching and promoting these delays. This is where their true expertise in education seem to lay.
12 no input from parents and the community (local businesses, engineers, scientists, computer experts, educators) in the decision to purchase, implement and then execute curriculum 2.0 in response to adopting the common core standards for MCPS

Where did this list come from? What is it based on? I'm not challenging the list - I'm just curious if this is representative county-wide.

[Anonymous]

This list is not from an organization -- just a concerned citizen.

[Anonymous]

Sound to me like the group work is a little silly for that age too.

[Anonymous]

15:50 and 15:54 - You hit the nail on the head. Your list is spot on.