Your experience with Algebra 2.0 this year
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Anonymous
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This is the first Math course that ends up on their high school transcript and more importantly it is a key foundational course. What was your child's experience with the rollout of C2.0 Algebra? I heard they did not have textbooks yet and that the teachers were getting lesson plans at the last minute and weren't sure what kind of questions would be asked on summ. assessments. These are the normal teething problems one expects and hopefully the second year will be smoother. I am more interested in what you think about the actual curriculum - is it thorough? Does it cover topics in sufficient depth? Too hard? Too easy?
TIA |
Anonymous
| My DS really liked the teaching methods of algebra 2.0. Students were given problems and asked to figure out how to solve it rather than the teacher giving the method for solving and having kids practice. He felt he learned the concepts much better that way. I was not aware of any problems with the tests. Kids seem to do very well..but that is not unusual with all the grade inflation in MoCo. We have rarely had a math text book. We find info on line if we need it. That is not a big deal to me though I know others feel very strongly about it. |
Anonymous
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Its not hard but it is overly laborious and bad math.
Its disorganized and IMO misses conveying the foundational bases Algebra 2.0. There is very little rigor in developing any real mastery or depth of understanding of the materials. There is a lot of jumping around from different directions in a disorganized state. MCPS has this obsession with lightly introducing other concepts in a very shallow manner. I think that they think the more the students see something repeated the more students will eventually learn it. This is stupid IMO because they don't actually let the students work deeply on the concepts they are introducing at first so it doesn't stick for kids that don't know it. For kids that already know it, it seems ridiculously easy. Yes, many teachers who were very good or fine teaching Algebra before really struggled with the disorganization of the materials. I do not see these as teething pains. The central office had a responsibility to the students and teachers to have their act together before rolling something out. Once again, they failed. At what point does the curriculum office ever get held accountable for their failures?? |
Anonymous
Very worrying. I am the OP and I was considering having my child work on Math this summer to prepare for Algebra. She did very well in IM but I am nervous about the relatively new and untested Algebra curriculum. Are there specific concepts or procedures that you think I should focus on (pre-algebra or Algebra). I am less interested in her grade (as the PP implies it isn't that difficult to get a good grade in MCPS!) and more concerned about ensuring she has a solid understanding of Algebra so that she is ready for Calculus etc. |
Anonymous
| There are earlier threads on this topic. I have not seen any specific complaints like...xxx topic is no longer included or zzz is weak. |
Anonymous
| I'd suggest using IXL this summer. It does a much job at presenting enough problems to ensure that you child understands math. |
Anonymous
| Are your kids really motivated to do math over the summer? It would be a battle in my house..but mom I got an A!! |
Anonymous
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Disaster. DD is going to take it again.
In all honesty, I think it was more that the teacher was overwhelmed with the transition and not that interested in actually in-depth teaching, DD got discouraged and stopped trying, etc. etc. But there was no textbook that corresponded to what they were doing in class so very hard to catch up and/or study extra at home. |
Anonymous
This is the OP- Yeah it will be a battle but I figure it is an insurance policy because I will not be able to help her if she has trouble in high school. I'm hoping that a solid foundation in middle school will set her up for success in high school. She will not be happy with me though and yes I will hear the "but I got an A in IM" line more than once. Thanks to the poster for the 1XL rec. That might work as I think she has understood the concepts in Math 7 and IM and so mostly needs practice. I have not ruled out buying a pre-Algebra textbook and having her work through it. |
Anonymous
Sounds awful - especially the part about your dd getting discouraged. |
Anonymous
It was too easy. I have 3 kids and one was in private and struggled to get an A working her butt off. 2nd took Algebra as a 7th grader and difficult and passed with a high B. My youngest just got a 100% on the final and breezed thru the year. She normally has to work hard at math but IM was a waste and I don't think this year was true full course Algebra. It was nothing compared to what my other kids received. Another dumbed down class 
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Anonymous
| Can any curriculum followers provide info on what was missing? PP have mentioned shallow and unorganized..but were there concepts missing? What did they spend the year on if everything was shallow? I was amazed at how much algebra was included in the elementary curriculum so given they had background in solving for x and manipulating equations..seems like there was plenty of time to really cover algebra in MS. Thanks. |
Anonymous
It would be good to know so I know what to focus on over the summer. I don't want to put her through the entire pre-Algebra curric. and don't want to cover too many topics in a shallow way because she has probably already done this. I would ideally like to focus on no more than half a dozen topics and do them thoroughly. It would be nice to know which ones are most essential for algebra (fractions?) and/or which MCPS does inadequately. I would ideally like to spend around 3 hours a week for 8 weeks. |
Anonymous
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This is from DS "welcome to algebra" packet:
Unit 1 Relationship between quantities and reasoning with equations Unit 2 Linear and exponential Relationships Unit 3 Descriptive Statistics Unit 4 Quadratic Relationships Unit 5 Generalizing Function Properties |
Anonymous
PP here with discouraged child. This is exactly the problem -- there's no real written curriculum yet, according to DD's teacher, except for some very general guidelines, and there's no textbook. And many tests are viewed as confidential so the school doesn't send them home. Therefore, it's really hard to figure out what your kid is missing. This is true for my DD, whose C's went unexplained despite my frequent questions, but it's also true for kids who are getting A's. You can't look in the textbook and see what's going on ... so who knows? |