Is it just me? The MCAP Algebra I seems ridiculously hard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some students are getting to Alg I too quickly and don't have the necessary background and number sense to be successful. There is a reason many of us didn't take Algebra I until 8th or 9th grade.

When MCPS tried to slow things down, parents complain.
When kids aren't placed in the highest courses, parents complain.
When the content gets difficult parents complain.

This goes back to the point someone made earlier that there is no one size fits all. It should be the role of the school system to help everyone achieve their highest potential. Parents want a personalized approach to meet the needs of their specific child.

[juanjunoz]

Anonymous wrote:Wait a sec! You child was allowed to use a graphing calculator on the test to solve this problem? That’s what is ridiculous. The problems should be written so no calculator is needed.

I believe they were allowed to use a graphing calculator for tests 2-4, because that was the case in the practice tests, but according to my daughter, the actual test was pretty different from the practice test, so who knows? It's definitely not required to use a graphing calculator, but in the problem above, it made it much easier to visualize the problem (the ball being hit into the air and then fall back onto the ground).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some students are getting to Alg I too quickly and don't have the necessary background and number sense to be successful. There is a reason many of us didn't take Algebra I until 8th or 9th grade.

When MCPS tried to slow things down, parents complain.
When kids aren't placed in the highest courses, parents complain.
When the content gets difficult parents complain.

This. The sample problem in discussion is probably originated from a calling for "problem solving" approach, and relevance to "daily life", which were not required for Algebra twenty years ago. Good or bad I am not sure, but as the society (or the education system) as a whole bought this argument, we cannot complain about test writers simply following the guideline.

[juanjunoz]

Anonymous wrote:Some students are getting to Alg I too quickly and don't have the necessary background and number sense to be successful. There is a reason many of us didn't take Algebra I until 8th or 9th grade.

When MCPS tried to slow things down, parents complain.
When kids aren't placed in the highest courses, parents complain.
When the content gets difficult parents complain.

Actually, we're new to public school so this is my first complaint. Also, actually this isn't an MCPS issue and maybe I should not have posted here. The MCAP is a state wide test.
I showed some of these problems to my mom, who attended private school, then a seven-sisters college, and then started a PhD (but didn't finish) in educational psychology. She said that some of what is included in the Algebra I curriculum were things she wasn't doing until graduate school.

It was actually George W. Bush who started us down this path of high stakes testing, which is pretty funny since I highly doubt he could have passed the Algebra I MCAP then, now, or ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS packs in a lot of content but does not give students enough time to absorb and process the material.
This often causes issues in high school as kids don’t retain the information

This is true! I see it with my younger kid in Compacted Math AND with my high schooler.

The Compacted Math simply rushes through the same material as regular math. They just go through it faster. No additional depth. Geometry was just a fast whirlwind of info with little homework and repetition.

[Anonymous]

I think posters are all correct. Questions like this belong in Algebra 1. But most 7th graders probably shouldn't be in Algebra 1. (Mine shouldn't; she's getting As and is 'succeeding' in the class. But I think she would have been better off with a deeper dive into pre Algebra, or at least splitting Algebra 1 into two years and doing it in more depth).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think posters are all correct. Questions like this belong in Algebra 1. But most 7th graders probably shouldn't be in Algebra 1. (Mine shouldn't; she's getting As and is 'succeeding' in the class. But I think she would have been better off with a deeper dive into pre Algebra, or at least splitting Algebra 1 into two years and doing it in more depth).

I feel the same about my 8th grader in Geometry. She does well and gets As, but I would have preferred that she got a deeper knowledge of Algebra in 7th grade. It would have been fine to split the class into 2 years and go further in depth. As it stands, the only option is for kids to just take Algebra twice (which some kids are doing since last year was Virtual) but it’s basically the same material.

Textbooks and workbooks would also be helpful. I purchased a practice Algebra workbook from Amazon for DC and she found it helpful.

[Anonymous]

It's just gonna get worse. Even more compacted when Geometry, Algebra, and Statistics are combined into Integrated Algebra 1 and 2

[Anonymous]

"My daughter learns quickly but forgets quickly"

It's not learning then and the curricula is not effective.....

[Anonymous]

MD math stds are changing so that quadratics I believe will be in integrated algebra 2 not 1 moving forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's just gonna get worse. Even more compacted when Geometry, Algebra, and Statistics are combined into Integrated Algebra 1 and 2

Not sure reviving a 4 year old thread is the right way to go on this.

When the new Integrated Algebra 1 & 2 are rolled out, a new version of the Algebra MCAP will be rolled out with them, covering both years' content, and will be administered at the end of Integrated Algebra 2.