Algebra Exam results from January

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is one part of the solution - give all students an Algebra textbook. A kid misses a day of school or doesn't understand the class lecture. The student can go back and review the textbook. Today, with no book a student misses class and they have no way to study the content and Algebra builds so a good foundation is important.

No way to study the content without a textbook? There are many math resources on line these days. Many, many, many, many, many math resources.

Yes there are, but damned if I can find out what they're supposed to be learning in their classes. Just a few worksheets come home, and I have very little clue what is coming next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is one part of the solution - give all students an Algebra textbook. A kid misses a day of school or doesn't understand the class lecture. The student can go back and review the textbook. Today, with no book a student misses class and they have no way to study the content and Algebra builds so a good foundation is important.

No way to study the content without a textbook? There are many math resources on line these days. Many, many, many, many, many math resources.

Yes there are, but damned if I can find out what they're supposed to be learning in their classes. Just a few worksheets come home, and I have very little clue what is coming next.

Have you asked the teacher? Or, more importantly, has your child asked the teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The student doesn't need a textbook to find out what topics they missed. That's not nitpicking; it's a fact.

Now, you may think it's more effective for your child to go over pp. 120-131 in a textbook than to look up the topics on line. But that's a different question.

If there were accessible on-line materials that show concrete examples of the problems, a clear explanation, and a range of problems reflecting the levels of complexity and rigor expected then yes. This does not exist. 2.0 is boondoggle of vague non-sense eduspeak and language rather than math based exercises that belongs no where near a math curriculum.

The whole Internet, and no accessible on-line materials about algebra?

The problem is that 2.0 is not about demonstrating your understanding of Algebra. It's about giving a long winded, convoluted explanation of how you solved the problem vs. the fact you know how to solve the problem. The internet does not help you with the format the county wants the kids to be able to regurgitate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is one part of the solution - give all students an Algebra textbook. A kid misses a day of school or doesn't understand the class lecture. The student can go back and review the textbook. Today, with no book a student misses class and they have no way to study the content and Algebra builds so a good foundation is important.

No way to study the content without a textbook? There are many math resources on line these days. Many, many, many, many, many math resources.

Yes there are, but damned if I can find out what they're supposed to be learning in their classes. Just a few worksheets come home, and I have very little clue what is coming next.

Have you asked the teacher? Or, more importantly, has your child asked the teacher?

New PP chiming in - I have sent emails to the teacher and requested meetings. The teacher failed to show for 2 meetings. I met with the Principal and Department Chair instead. My child goes in daily to meet with the Department Chair because the teacher is not teaching the curriculum. The Principal and the Department Chair see the problem but they are stuck with a unionized teacher who is failing at his job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Have you asked the teacher? Or, more importantly, has your child asked the teacher?

New PP chiming in - I have sent emails to the teacher and requested meetings. The teacher failed to show for 2 meetings. I met with the Principal and Department Chair instead. My child goes in daily to meet with the Department Chair because the teacher is not teaching the curriculum. The Principal and the Department Chair see the problem but they are stuck with a unionized teacher who is failing at his job.

Your child doesn't need a textbook. Your child needs a principal and a department chair who know how to, and want to, address the problem of a teacher who is not doing what the teacher is supposed to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The problem is that 2.0 is not about demonstrating your understanding of Algebra. It's about giving a long winded, convoluted explanation of how you solved the problem vs. the fact you know how to solve the problem. The internet does not help you with the format the county wants the kids to be able to regurgitate.

What is your first-hand experience with algebra under Curriculum 2.0?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is one part of the solution - give all students an Algebra textbook. A kid misses a day of school or doesn't understand the class lecture. The student can go back and review the textbook. Today, with no book a student misses class and they have no way to study the content and Algebra builds so a good foundation is important.

No way to study the content without a textbook? There are many math resources on line these days. Many, many, many, many, many math resources.

Yes there are, but damned if I can find out what they're supposed to be learning in their classes. Just a few worksheets come home, and I have very little clue what is coming next.

Have you asked the teacher? Or, more importantly, has your child asked the teacher?

Yes to both. Not helpful unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Please get back to the books.
American text books are exported to countries where English is a 2nd or even a third language. Yet at home, most public schools do not use any textbooks.

There are so jmany holes in math 2.0 that a normal math teacher won't know how to fill in the gaps. If test one covers the beginning of algebra in a normal textbook, test two might have elements of algebra II. Teachers should not spend their time trying to figure out the order of the tests so that instruction can flow in a logiccal manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please get back to the books.
American text books are exported to countries where English is a 2nd or even a third language. Yet at home, most public schools do not use any textbooks.

There are so jmany holes in math 2.0 that a normal math teacher won't know how to fill in the gaps. If test one covers the beginning of algebra in a normal textbook, test two might have elements of algebra II. Teachers should not spend their time trying to figure out the order of the tests so that instruction can flow in a logiccal manner.

To go back to textbooks would mean to abandoned the 2.0 experiment. There are no textbooks for 2.0 and the new curriculum teaches in a different order and methodology from the old textbooks.

With that being said, I support abandoning 2.0 for published curriculums and textbooks because they are researched and tested by educational experts prior to publication. MCPS is using our children as free guinea pigs and they are getting a half baked curriculum while MCPS hopes to make money once all the kinks are worked out. Our children are paying the price in more subjects than Algebra and Geometry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Have you asked the teacher? Or, more importantly, has your child asked the teacher?

New PP chiming in - I have sent emails to the teacher and requested meetings. The teacher failed to show for 2 meetings. I met with the Principal and Department Chair instead. My child goes in daily to meet with the Department Chair because the teacher is not teaching the curriculum. The Principal and the Department Chair see the problem but they are stuck with a unionized teacher who is failing at his job.

Your child doesn't need a textbook. Your child needs a principal and a department chair who know how to, and want to, address the problem of a teacher who is not doing what the teacher is supposed to do.

If the curriculum followed a textbook, my child could learn despite having a teacher and school who are not teaching the curriculum. As it is, the exam tested her on material she was never taught nor had access to learn.

[Anonymous]

To go back to textbooks would mean to abandoned the 2.0 experiment. There are no textbooks for 2.0 and the new curriculum teaches in a different order and methodology from the old textbooks.

With that being said, I support abandoning 2.0 for published curriculums and textbooks because they are researched and tested by educational experts prior to publication. MCPS is using our children as free guinea pigs and they are getting a half baked curriculum while MCPS hopes to make money once all the kinks are worked out. Our children are paying the price in more subjects than Algebra and Geometry.

This X1000. However it will take a few years of MCPS falling further and further behind other school districts to get enough momentum going to FINALLY admit that the MCPS idiots failed miserably.

The level of denial within MCPS is HUGE. These people are just trying to hold onto their jobs they could care less about your child's education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

To go back to textbooks would mean to abandoned the 2.0 experiment. There are no textbooks for 2.0 and the new curriculum teaches in a different order and methodology from the old textbooks.

With that being said, I support abandoning 2.0 for published curriculums and textbooks because they are researched and tested by educational experts prior to publication. MCPS is using our children as free guinea pigs and they are getting a half baked curriculum while MCPS hopes to make money once all the kinks are worked out. Our children are paying the price in more subjects than Algebra and Geometry.

This X1000. However it will take a few years of MCPS falling further and further behind other school districts to get enough momentum going to FINALLY admit that the MCPS idiots failed miserably.

The level of denial within MCPS is HUGE. These people are just trying to hold onto their jobs they could care less about your child's education.

The MCPS staff writing the curriculum are just adding to their resume and looking for that next promotion. Totally self serving while our kids get a crap ass education and our tax dollars are wasted.

[Anonymous]

According to my child's teacher, they (teachers) are given very detailed lesson plans and know what to teach from day to day and have specific worksheets to give the students for every day of instruction. They do have flexibility on how they teach the material but there is a step by step approach from the county. This is per my student (I did not speak to the teacher about this) but I have no reason to doubt the veracity of what he says.
We have not felt the need for a textbook but I believe the teacher made some online resources available to the students through edline and that is what they are supposed to use if they need further clarification outside class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to my child's teacher, they (teachers) are given very detailed lesson plans and know what to teach from day to day and have specific worksheets to give the students for every day of instruction. They do have flexibility on how they teach the material but there is a step by step approach from the county. This is per my student (I did not speak to the teacher about this) but I have no reason to doubt the veracity of what he says.
We have not felt the need for a textbook but I believe the teacher made some online resources available to the students through edline and that is what they are supposed to use if they need further clarification outside class.

I see one child getting this type of instruction and one child not. The principal said the materials provided by the Central Office are optional tools that the teacher can elect NOT to use. The child that gets the materials though did better on the exam than the child who does not.

With that being said, I often copied the material for my child who did not receive such handouts, however, on day to day homework they have not been of help. The teacher not using the Central Office materials has not been teaching the same topics. They are like two different courses. So the handouts on their own have not been a replacement for a highly skilled and organized teacher.

[Anonymous]

Look parents have been complaining about 2.0 math since it rolled out. MCPS had no data or studies or anything to prove that it wasn't a pile of shit.

Well, guess what? Now, we have data. The students failed the test, the curriculum does suck. What are we going to do now?