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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Compact math is really not compact math anymore
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Anonymous
Our school mix compacted math with non-compacted math in one math classroom! Always political correct! |
Anonymous
most schools don't do this -- so not always "politically correct" |
Anonymous
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I think compacted math is still compacted, it's just that it's not as "advanced" in that it is not reserved only for the kids who are outliers/exceptional in math. It's still compacted in that it combines Math 4, 5, and 6 into two years and puts kids in Algebra in 7th grade rather than 8th grade. They have just decided/recognized (depending on your point of view) that more kids can complete Math 6 in elementary school and be ready for Algebra in 7th grade.
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Anonymous
| Kids don’t need to take compacted math in 4th and 5th to be ave to take algebra in 7th. |
Anonymous
| Is 7th and 8th grade math combined? |
Anonymous
This is the biggest issue here. Every school is increasing every single year, double digit increases in most cases and some schools like College Gardens decided everyone will take compact math (which is so obnoxious.) Are we slowing down the curriculum to allow more kids in or are we just allowing more kids to enter and have the top kids that really should be in the class sitting around help the kids struggling once again like a normal classroom? This is the ONE thing advance students get their entire 6 years in elementary school get. The one thing unless they want to be bussed away from their home school. It really bothers me that we have to turn it into an "everyone" thing. And I say this as a parent of a child that I think probably shouldn't be in compact math, but they are. And I am not taking her out because she is in a district where more than 50% are taking it, and the ones that are not in it, are struggling in math and really not on grade level. It seems like compact math is for grade level and above and that is unfortunate. As a volunteer in the school, there are kids that are so bored and are always ask to help other kids. They are the ones whose reading groups meet maybe once a week so the below levels can meet every day. Compact math should be the one hour a day, they should get that chance to be challenged and not have to be bored and help. If MCPS wants to increase the kids, just give it two levels or go back to tracked math every single grade like before 2.0. Putting every kid on the same level, who obviously have different math capabilities, does not work. |
Anonymous
So what is the point of this compact math class if it doesn't advance your math skills? |
Anonymous
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The point is to teach Math 4, 5 and 6 in two years. Some kids who did not take compacted math skip Math 6 and still do fine in 7th grade algebra. But they did potentially miss some bits of the curriculum that they might have to fill in along the way. If they are good math students, that’s not the end of the world.
My oldest was not always challenged in school. The switch to CES has definitely made a difference in her being challenged. But she was still definitely learning and growing in her home school throughout. I was happy with her home school, and would have been fine continuing if she hadn’t been selected for CES. She was more rested and relaxed, and spent a fair amount of time reading what she wanted for pleasure. Of course the teacher needs to meet with struggling readers more frequently. My kid still learned a lot with less time spent with the teacher. She could be given vocabulary building tasks to do independently, etc. I think her school did a good job providing a rich reading/writing experience to kids with a range of skills. Math not so much, we supplemented math. |
Anonymous
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I can assure you with kids prior to 2.0 that your compact math class is nothing but a sham. It is old school basic math level.
Kids used to finish Math 7/IM under accelerated math curriculum and went to Algebra 1 in 6th. And kids on level finished Math 6 and went to IM in 6th. Going into IM in 6th was the basic overall target. So getting back to that is average. Nothing special. Your advanced peers in high school right now are tracking AP Calc BC in sophomore or junior year. |
Anonymous
And the math teachers in MCPS said that this was overacceleration for most kids. http://www.gazette.net/stories/11182009/potonew194846_32535.shtml |
Anonymous
| And ill tell you that in my Easter European country I studied systems of equations in 4th grade with symbolic notation. And when I went to evening math school here in the us (since we were here on a visa and not immigrated and were going to move back) it was a hard adjustment since my day to day math at an American school (a W feeder) was so behind. |
Anonymous
Algebra I in the 6th grade was never the norm. It was more common then now but usually only for kids who were at HGCs. |
Anonymous
and not even all of them.. |
Anonymous
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Compacted math was not anymore accelerated or rigorous when it was selective. If you remember the history, MCPS fought against any type of acceleration. It reluctantly started offering compacted math but with a bizarre test in process that was very verbal and very light on the math. At our school, the reading specialist who could not count to twenty if she was wearing socks administered the test. Several kids who were very strong in math didn't get in because they were quiet, shy and more numbers than verbal type kids. In MS the principal was better and accelerated them. The central office pushed quotas on the schools. If your principal was a central office brown noser, you had very few kids in compacted math until the central office backed off.
My older DD got in during the more selective time and my younger DS got in during the less selective time -there was no difference in the level of the class. Compact math is a sham and another MCPS BS lets slap a label on something to appease people. Don't be fooled into thinking the problem is too many kids in the class. Its a bad curriculum with shitty materials and no understanding of math as a system. The materials in all math classes are horrible but what do expect when the guy (Eric Lang) running your curriculum office making it up on their own is the former gym teacher hiring equally unqualified people. . |
Anonymous
Kids who take Algebra in 7th grade never take 7th grade math. 8th grade math doesn't really exist. On target is taking Algebra in 8th and MCPS's goal is that all students take Algebra by 8th. I know a student who has a learning disability and she has to take Algebra in 8th plus, instead of an elective, she has to take another period where she gets math help. Plus she has to stay for math tutoring after school. So three hours of math a day just so she can complete math by end of 8th. And because of her learning disability, despite all of that hard work, she gets Cs in math. |