Does anyone like Curriculum 2.0?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate the new curriculum 2.0. I have 3 kids, grades 1,3 and 5. Saying it's bad is understatement. Not only it doesn't accelerate the learning, but it slows down the more advanced kids. My 3rd grader did math for grade 3, when he was in grade 2. This year he is back to doing grade 2 math. Can you believe it, he is asked to draw pictures of the numbers (squares and dots) to subtract, instead of actually doing it.
I haven't met a single parent who likes it. I feel I am failing my kids, because I can't afford to pull them out of that rubbish curriculum and put them in a private school.
I do work extra with my kids to teach them the basics of math, writing and reading, but the teachers said not to do it, because it would confuse the kid. WHAT???????

In addition to the math failure, the reading/writing part is even worse. Can you believe that the kids are not expected to write if they don't want to. It's enough to be able to express their opinion on what they are doing in class.

Some bonus to the whole flop is that the kids will no longer have unit tests. They will be tested immediately after having the lesson taught. This means that they no longer have to work on their long term memory. All they have to do is remember what the teacher just said and repeat it.

This is a total failure. I cannot believe that someone actually worked on that curriculum and thought it was good.

I agree with you 100%. This curriculum is B.S. and it is time for parents to demand more answers. The run-around that I've heard at our school about 2.0 is astounding.

Another one that agrees with you both completely. Demand more!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing deeper about 2.0. Its repetition again and again. At this point MCPS could just combine K/1st/2nd into one grade/one year and 3rd/4th/5th into one grade. My K can do her older sister's 2nd grade math homework. She isn't gifted or even a math whiz. If a kid knows basic addition and subtraction, can read basic chapters books and write a sentence they are set through the end of 2nd grade.

If that is what your school is doing, that is a problem with your school -- not with 2.0.

Knowing basic addition and subtraction, reading basic chapter books, and being able to write a sentence would not get you set through the end of 2nd grade at the school my second grader goes to.

Not the PP quoted above, but I understand the point. The point is that there is so much repetition and not nearly enough new or challenging material. That is, indeed, a 2.0 issue. But I also understand that different parents will have different opinions about how much contend is too little/just right/too much. Fair enough. But what I focus on is the lack of objective measurement, grading, feedback, etc. that comes with 2.0. When my kids started in MCPS a few years ago (pre-2.0), they learned more material, took unit tests and got specific grades. Especially on the math unit tests: they would get a grade that really explained what was going on - for ex., 14 out of 15 correct in computation and 11 out of 14 in algebraic formulas, etc). To have to study for a test covering material learned over time is a very important skill. In addition, as a parent, it is very important to see a graded unit test so that I understand what my child has retained/learned. Now, under 2.0, there really aren't any tests! That is crazy. Not only do I not know if my child has learned the information, but my child doesn't have to hone the skills of studying for a test.

My kid is getting tested i spelling

[Anonymous]

In addition, as a parent, it is very important to see a graded unit test so that I understand what my child has retained/learned. Now, under 2.0, there really aren't any tests! That is crazy. Not only do I not know if my child has learned the information, but my child doesn't have to hone the skills of studying for a test.

This poster is right on target! My child has a learning disability, I have no idea what to reinforce with her now, because NOTHING is coming home and he does not know specifically where his weaknesses are. There is no curriculum. They say they are covering less and going deeper but I guarantee that the test the give is going to look nothing like the instruction.

[Anonymous]

To the Pp who thinks "assessments" with grades like p- which most kids seem to receive regardless of the performance- are helpful. I disagree. Maybe you weren't in the system when unit test with numerical grades were the norm, but I can tell you, they were far more informative. I don't think there's a legit reason to get rid of unit tests and I believe it hurts kids (and keeps parents in the dark).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the Pp who thinks "assessments" with grades like p- which most kids seem to receive regardless of the performance- are helpful. I disagree. Maybe you weren't in the system when unit test with numerical grades were the norm, but I can tell you, they were far more informative. I don't think there's a legit reason to get rid of unit tests and I believe it hurts kids (and keeps parents in the dark).

At our school most kids do not receive a P regardless of performance. Any more than one or two questions wrong on a math assessment, and it is an I, not a P. If DD brings home a math assessment, and I see what she got right and wrong, I can still see how well she is doing, whether the the grade is 90%, A or P. And yes, she did have unit tests in first grade because her teacher still gave them, even though she wasn't supposed to. Yet, I know more about DD's perform, strengths and weaknesses this year in third grade than I did in first with the unit tests. Why? Because her teacher is better, and is more open to back and forth communication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the Pp who thinks "assessments" with grades like p- which most kids seem to receive regardless of the performance- are helpful. I disagree. Maybe you weren't in the system when unit test with numerical grades were the norm, but I can tell you, they were far more informative. I don't think there's a legit reason to get rid of unit tests and I believe it hurts kids (and keeps parents in the dark).

Serious questions here, are you not getting classwork back?
Are you not getting a weekly assessment of various areas of learning that has a letter assessment "D" (demonstrating), "P" progressing,
plus the accompanying note by the teacher?
We get all of the above, plus quick and INFORMATIVE, DETAILED replies to emails to the teacher.
Our child is also being tested in spelling.
Not sure if they are having math tests.
But a combination of the classroom work and assessments we receive give us a very good idea of what our child is learning.
As far as study habits, we are teaching these in regards to homework. Our kid gets homework at the beginning of the week.
We work with her on how to space out the completion of this homework.
With writing we are teaching her to pick the book and prompt on day 1, roughdraft on day 2, final copy editing and final draft on day 3.
Of course this varies sometimes, but is working.
We are teaching her that she needs to start her homework at aftercare and that she cannnot get up just because they say homework time is over...if you have work...continue your work...ask for a quieter place to study if need be.
If the teacher asks for 3 sentences -- we require 1 or 2 more.
Sometimes we have had her "redo" poorly graded classwork(sometimes for legibility, sometimes to reinforce the learning of the work -- especially math)
We supplement from time to time.
Bottom line is that for our family, we feel that study habits are structured, established and dictated by us and the benefits are seen in the school work and in life in general.
We don't feel that school dictates the study habits.
Does that make sense?

[Anonymous]

I emailed the teacher earlier this afternoon(about spelling test) and I have already received a reply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the Pp who thinks "assessments" with grades like p- which most kids seem to receive regardless of the performance- are helpful. I disagree. Maybe you weren't in the system when unit test with numerical grades were the norm, but I can tell you, they were far more informative. I don't think there's a legit reason to get rid of unit tests and I believe it hurts kids (and keeps parents in the dark).

Serious questions here, are you not getting classwork back?
Are you not getting a weekly assessment of various areas of learning that has a letter assessment "D" (demonstrating), "P" progressing,
plus the accompanying note by the teacher?
We get all of the above, plus quick and INFORMATIVE, DETAILED replies to emails to the teacher.
Our child is also being tested in spelling.
Not sure if they are having math tests.
But a combination of the classroom work and assessments we receive give us a very good idea of what our child is learning.
As far as study habits, we are teaching these in regards to homework. Our kid gets homework at the beginning of the week.
We work with her on how to space out the completion of this homework.
With writing we are teaching her to pick the book and prompt on day 1, roughdraft on day 2, final copy editing and final draft on day 3.
Of course this varies sometimes, but is working.
We are teaching her that she needs to start her homework at aftercare and that she cannnot get up just because they say homework time is over...if you have work...continue your work...ask for a quieter place to study if need be.
If the teacher asks for 3 sentences -- we require 1 or 2 more.
Sometimes we have had her "redo" poorly graded classwork(sometimes for legibility, sometimes to reinforce the learning of the work -- especially math)
We supplement from time to time.
Bottom line is that for our family, we feel that study habits are structured, established and dictated by us and the benefits are seen in the school work and in life in general.
We don't feel that school dictates the study habits.
Does that make sense?

That's lovely, but doesn't actually address the issue at hand. I can tell you from first hand information that under the old system, we, as parents got much more meaningful information about how our children were doing. Yes, we too are involved and do many of the things you not, however, I do that in my capacity as parent. I also have expectations of what the school should do in it's (different) capacity. The bottom line is that the "real world" has important things like tests (hello SATs and entrance exams, etc.) and having unit tests in school (and having to learn the skill set required to do well on unit tests) is an important part of the learning process. No one is suggesting that the "school dictate the study habits" as you suggest. Rather this is about the best way to teach so that kids are being assessed in an objective and rigorous way so that they (and we) know how they are doing. You disagree and that's fine. In my experience, this new system is bunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the Pp who thinks "assessments" with grades like p- which most kids seem to receive regardless of the performance- are helpful. I disagree. Maybe you weren't in the system when unit test with numerical grades were the norm, but I can tell you, they were far more informative. I don't think there's a legit reason to get rid of unit tests and I believe it hurts kids (and keeps parents in the dark).

Serious questions here, are you not getting classwork back?
Are you not getting a weekly assessment of various areas of learning that has a letter assessment "D" (demonstrating), "P" progressing,
plus the accompanying note by the teacher?
We get all of the above, plus quick and INFORMATIVE, DETAILED replies to emails to the teacher.
Our child is also being tested in spelling.
Not sure if they are having math tests.
But a combination of the classroom work and assessments we receive give us a very good idea of what our child is learning.
As far as study habits, we are teaching these in regards to homework. Our kid gets homework at the beginning of the week.
We work with her on how to space out the completion of this homework.
With writing we are teaching her to pick the book and prompt on day 1, roughdraft on day 2, final copy editing and final draft on day 3.
Of course this varies sometimes, but is working.
We are teaching her that she needs to start her homework at aftercare and that she cannnot get up just because they say homework time is over...if you have work...continue your work...ask for a quieter place to study if need be.
If the teacher asks for 3 sentences -- we require 1 or 2 more.
Sometimes we have had her "redo" poorly graded classwork(sometimes for legibility, sometimes to reinforce the learning of the work -- especially math)
We supplement from time to time.
Bottom line is that for our family, we feel that study habits are structured, established and dictated by us and the benefits are seen in the school work and in life in general.
We don't feel that school dictates the study habits.
Does that make sense?

That's lovely, but doesn't actually address the issue at hand. I can tell you from first hand information that under the old system, we, as parents got much more meaningful information about how our children were doing. Yes, we too are involved and do many of the things you not, however, I do that in my capacity as parent. I also have expectations of what the school should do in it's (different) capacity. The bottom line is that the "real world" has important things like tests (hello SATs and entrance exams, etc.) and having unit tests in school (and having to learn the skill set required to do well on unit tests) is an important part of the learning process. No one is suggesting that the "school dictate the study habits" as you suggest. Rather this is about the best way to teach so that kids are being assessed in an objective and rigorous way so that they (and we) know how they are doing. You disagree and that's fine. In my experience, this new system is bunk.

I hear you and to tell the truth I thought I was responding to the poster who had mentioned not having tests meant kids did not learn study habits. Sorry for the confusion on that issue.
We were under the old system for a couple of years, and find that we are getting the same amount of information and we find it just as useful. Really, there is nothing to disagree about. You don't like the system and I do. What is to disagree -- I certainly would not try to convince you that you really do like it, but you just think you don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's lovely, but doesn't actually address the issue at hand. I can tell you from first hand information that under the old system, we, as parents got much more meaningful information about how our children were doing.

That is not my experience. I find the information I'm getting about my child under 2.0 at least as meaningful as the information I got under the old system. And I'm comparing the same teachers at the same school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That's lovely, but doesn't actually address the issue at hand. I can tell you from first hand information that under the old system, we, as parents got much more meaningful information about how our children were doing.

That is not my experience. I find the information I'm getting about my child under 2.0 at least as meaningful as the information I got under the old system. And I'm comparing the same teachers at the same school.

I just got my first 2.0 interim report card. I really have no idea how my child is really doing. Mostly P with a couple of I. The school basically said they're not giving ES, nobody is getting N. Not enough granularity. I have no idea if my child really understands, understands just enough to be proficient, is getting an I, but that's to be expected half way through etc. I don't have any real beef with 2.0, but the report card is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That's lovely, but doesn't actually address the issue at hand. I can tell you from first hand information that under the old system, we, as parents got much more meaningful information about how our children were doing.

That is not my experience. I find the information I'm getting about my child under 2.0 at least as meaningful as the information I got under the old system. And I'm comparing the same teachers at the same school.

I just got my first 2.0 interim report card. I really have no idea how my child is really doing. Mostly P with a couple of I. The school basically said they're not giving ES, nobody is getting N. Not enough granularity. I have no idea if my child really understands, understands just enough to be proficient, is getting an I, but that's to be expected half way through etc. I don't have any real beef with 2.0, but the report card is terrible.

If you get back returned papers, you'll see trends in weaknesses. Notice where the Is are, for example, in reading. Most Is in reading, social studies and science stem from not yet reaching an analytical stage. So while the student may be able to pull details from a text, does s/he reach beyond the text to draw conclusions? Math also has that component, but the Is my daughter received were in rounding numbers. There was a trend. So when her work comes home - with or w/o her data binder - we review it together. I'd rather see Is than straight Ps if I know she's missing the mark in an area.

Kids today do no have number sense; they don't know the reason behind 3x5. With 2.0, they are asked to justify a response by viewing it through multiple lenses.

In reading, they are asked to make inferences starting at a young age. Kids do it all the time w/o recognizing it, but b/c we fail as educators in the area of metacognition. So kids rarely label their thinking.

If you look at IB at the high school level, you'll find similarities, as 2.0 is IB - but at the elementary level. Look at the PYP elementary schools or the MYP middle schools. same philosophy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That's lovely, but doesn't actually address the issue at hand. I can tell you from first hand information that under the old system, we, as parents got much more meaningful information about how our children were doing.

That is not my experience. I find the information I'm getting about my child under 2.0 at least as meaningful as the information I got under the old system. And I'm comparing the same teachers at the same school.

I just got my first 2.0 interim report card. I really have no idea how my child is really doing. Mostly P with a couple of I. The school basically said they're not giving ES, nobody is getting N. Not enough granularity. I have no idea if my child really understands, understands just enough to be proficient, is getting an I, but that's to be expected half way through etc. I don't have any real beef with 2.0, but the report card is terrible.

Under the previous curriculum, I didn't even get an interim report card, and the actual report card just gave O/S/I for each subject. Not much granularity there either...

[Anonymous]

How do I say this delicately? The problem for some of us is that our kids aren't exhibiting "weakness" areas. They are getting all the questions correct and getting P's on the returned work. We are looking for enrichment (which is nowhere to be found).
There is a lot of rhetoric about "going deeper" into subject areas, but there is not actual enrichment. When kids are consistently getting all the answers correct, but there is not additional, advanced, deeper work to be found (just more repetition), parents will get upset. That is what is happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That's lovely, but doesn't actually address the issue at hand. I can tell you from first hand information that under the old system, we, as parents got much more meaningful information about how our children were doing.

That is not my experience. I find the information I'm getting about my child under 2.0 at least as meaningful as the information I got under the old system. And I'm comparing the same teachers at the same school.

I just got my first 2.0 interim report card. I really have no idea how my child is really doing. Mostly P with a couple of I. The school basically said they're not giving ES, nobody is getting N. Not enough granularity. I have no idea if my child really understands, understands just enough to be proficient, is getting an I, but that's to be expected half way through etc. I don't have any real beef with 2.0, but the report card is terrible.

Under the previous curriculum, I didn't even get an interim report card, and the actual report card just gave O/S/I for each subject. Not much granularity there either...

We started in public last year for 4th and they still had grades. Plus, the math had an overall grade plus subsections. I've listened to their explanations numerous times, and I think this ES/P/I/N thing is crap since they don't seem to give ES or N. I've decided that as long as she seems to be learning I'm just going to go with the flow since grades in elementary don't really matter.