2.0 Math

[Anonymous]

Sorry to beat a dead horse. But does 2.0 use a textbook? If so, what grade do they start using a text book for Math? It has to be better than Everyday Math, right? Please tell me so. My son is still in preschool. But I am thinking about moving to Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

They have apparently been writing the math curriculum as the year went on. It has been rolled out to teachers as the year went on b/c the curriculum wasn't ready at the beginning of the year. The crummy roll-out and inept preparation are a couple of reasons that parents are suspicious of it and wary of future roll-out-years.

[Anonymous]

There is no textbook. The "textbook" is standards and indicators from the Common Core. Everyday Math was not universally used in MCPS schools under the previous curriculum-some schools used it, others used Harcourt, others used neither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have apparently been writing the math curriculum as the year went on. It has been rolled out to teachers as the year went on b/c the curriculum wasn't ready at the beginning of the year. The crummy roll-out and inept preparation are a couple of reasons that parents are suspicious of it and wary of future roll-out-years.

I'm the second PP and this is COMPLETELY incorrect. Please stop spreading misinformation on this forum. The curriculum (in its entirety) was available to teachers prior the beginning of the school year.

[Anonymous]

This is the kindergarten curriculum. It was available to parents at least since last year because my son was in kindergarten then: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/elementary/parent-guide-curriculum2.0-kindergarten-en.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the kindergarten curriculum. It was available to parents at least since last year because my son was in kindergarten then: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/elementary/parent-guide-curriculum2.0-kindergarten-en.pdf

This is far too vague to provide useful information.

[Anonymous]

OP you should do what you need to do but it would be a little bizarre to me to consider moving from MoCo to Fairfax because of 2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you should do what you need to do but it would be a little bizarre to me to consider moving from MoCo to Fairfax because of 2.0.

I agree - also because with time - I expect that the implementation of 2.0 will improve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the kindergarten curriculum. It was available to parents at least since last year because my son was in kindergarten then: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/elementary/parent-guide-curriculum2.0-kindergarten-en.pdf

This is far too vague to provide useful information.

I completely agree. This information is borderline useless. I strongly prefer that they adopt a strong textbook and use that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you should do what you need to do but it would be a little bizarre to me to consider moving from MoCo to Fairfax because of 2.0.

I agree - also because with time - I expect that the implementation of 2.0 will improve.

OP here. Really, I think it is all agreed that Fairfax does much better in terms of top 20%.

I am actually quite sympathetic of idea of the common core. If a student comes to me with solid high school algebra, I can teach them calculus no problem in college. It is when they cannot add and multiply, I felt powerless at the college level.

I do hope that with time and parental complaint, the 2.0 will improve. But the state of math education still worries me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you should do what you need to do but it would be a little bizarre to me to consider moving from MoCo to Fairfax because of 2.0.

I agree - also because with time - I expect that the implementation of 2.0 will improve.

OP here. Really, I think it is all agreed that Fairfax does much better in terms of top 20%.

I am actually quite sympathetic of idea of the common core. If a student comes to me with solid high school algebra, I can teach them calculus no problem in college. It is when they cannot add and multiply, I felt powerless at the college level.

I do hope that with time and parental complaint, the 2.0 will improve. But the state of math education still worries me.

That is exactly what 2.0 is supposed to address. Not sure why you would let the transition issues (including the inevitable change-induced angst) lead you to think 1) it will never address the issues you want addressed; and 2) it's worth uprooting your life.

[Anonymous]

Someone told me Singapore math is wonderful, but they spend like a week on the concept of zero. Can you imagine what MoCo parents would do with that? "But my snowflake has understood zero ever since we started eating cookies.

Honestly I have no idea if that is an accurate description of Singapore math, or if it's great, but any curriculum that tries to instill basic core skills is bound to get a lot of push back (and probably some of it is even deserved, but assuming it's a complete failure?).

[Anonymous]

13:45, "adopting a strong textbook" is not an option. The state has adopted the Common Core standards. There are no existing resources that could be brought in to address these standards. That is why MCPS developed their own curriculum based on those standards in-house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you should do what you need to do but it would be a little bizarre to me to consider moving from MoCo to Fairfax because of 2.0.

I agree - also because with time - I expect that the implementation of 2.0 will improve.

OP here. Really, I think it is all agreed that Fairfax does much better in terms of top 20%.

I am actually quite sympathetic of idea of the common core. If a student comes to me with solid high school algebra, I can teach them calculus no problem in college. It is when they cannot add and multiply, I felt powerless at the college level.

I do hope that with time and parental complaint, the 2.0 will improve. But the state of math education still worries me.

That is exactly what 2.0 is supposed to address. Not sure why you would let the transition issues (including the inevitable change-induced angst) lead you to think 1) it will never address the issues you want addressed; and 2) it's worth uprooting your life.

That is what I thought what the common core means. Until I read further that my elementary school child will be evaluated on meta-cognition and intellectual risk taking. I am all for basic skills. I just don't want him to explain in words, every time, the four inefficient ways of doing multiplication while cannot use the tried and true old fashioned algorithm. I am sorry but no children needs to know four different ways to do multiplication. They do all need to memorize the times table.

To the previous poster, the concept of zero is a very deep one. I need to see myself how Singapore math does that I cannot comment whether that is ridiculous or not.

I sure hope that the public school will work out for us. I have always thought the Montgomery County public school is one of the best until recently.

[Anonymous]

The algorithm being introduced later is explicitly from the Common Core, not MCPS's interpretation of it. The thinking skills you're referring to are part of MCPS's curriculum, but are not "graded" like you imply...you are given information since they are working on developing those skills in school, but your child is not going to fail a grade because he cannot think flexibly or analyze well, etc.