Craziness of Compacted Math!

[Anonymous]

Compact math is good for "above grade level" but it really limits things for highly gifted and highly achieving kids. At some elementary schools they were allowed to go 2 and 3 years ahead in math, it is unclear if those principals are still allowing it. It does level the playing field for the schools with principals that refused to advance kids further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Compact math is good for "above grade level" but it really limits things for highly gifted and highly achieving kids. At some elementary schools they were allowed to go 2 and 3 years ahead in math, it is unclear if those principals are still allowing it. It does level the playing field for the schools with principals that refused to advance kids further.

One of the HGC teachers told us during orientation that, while for the vast majority of kids advanced in math compacted math is fine, if they find a kid who is just scary good at math, they will make an exception and let the kid go to MS/HS to take math. The teacher said there was at least one case in that cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Compact math is good for "above grade level" but it really limits things for highly gifted and highly achieving kids. At some elementary schools they were allowed to go 2 and 3 years ahead in math, it is unclear if those principals are still allowing it. It does level the playing field for the schools with principals that refused to advance kids further.

Compacted math gets you to AP Calculus A/B in 11th grade. How much more ahead do you think the general highly-gifted/highly-achieving kid should be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Compact math is good for "above grade level" but it really limits things for highly gifted and highly achieving kids. At some elementary schools they were allowed to go 2 and 3 years ahead in math, it is unclear if those principals are still allowing it. It does level the playing field for the schools with principals that refused to advance kids further.

Compacted math gets you to AP Calculus A/B in 11th grade. How much more ahead do you think the general highly-gifted/highly-achieving kid should be?

I'm guessing the PP thinks "as far as the kid can go that he can handle". Such kids are *rare*. Pre 2.0, too many kids were allowed to skip too far ahead and shouldn't have been. They ended up having weak math foundations. There were threads on this forum about it as well an article I read a while ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: Where are parents even talking about this? In our ES, parents seem to be content.

I'm guessing at a W cluster. I find that they obsess a bit more about these things than most of the other clusters.

I have a child that will be attending one of the schools in the MSMC, and at the in-boundary meeting, there was a line of rising 6th grade parents wanting to speak to the counselor after finding out their child would be locked out of a higher level science class in 8th grade due to a math decision made in 3rd grade. Needless to say, they were NOT happy. The magnet coordinator made sure to pass on the phone number to someone at the district level who had answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: Where are parents even talking about this? In our ES, parents seem to be content.

I'm guessing at a W cluster. I find that they obsess a bit more about these things than most of the other clusters.

I have a child that will be attending one of the schools in the MSMC, and at the in-boundary meeting, there was a line of rising 6th grade parents wanting to speak to the counselor after finding out their child would be locked out of a higher level science class in 8th grade due to a math decision made in 3rd grade. Needless to say, they were NOT happy. The magnet coordinator made sure to pass on the phone number to someone at the district level who had answers.

Which class will they be "locked out of" as a result of taking Algebra I in 8th grade instead of 7th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question: Where are parents even talking about this? In our ES, parents seem to be content.

I'm guessing at a W cluster. I find that they obsess a bit more about these things than most of the other clusters.

I have a child that will be attending one of the schools in the MSMC, and at the in-boundary meeting, there was a line of rising 6th grade parents wanting to speak to the counselor after finding out their child would be locked out of a higher level science class in 8th grade due to a math decision made in 3rd grade. Needless to say, they were NOT happy. The magnet coordinator made sure to pass on the phone number to someone at the district level who had answers.

Which class will they be "locked out of" as a result of taking Algebra I in 8th grade instead of 7th?

Not, PP, but HS credit physics which requires concurrent geometry enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Which high-school-credit physics requires concurrent geometry enrollment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which high-school-credit physics requires concurrent geometry enrollment?

3821/3822 Physics A/B, Honors (PC) in 9th Grade

[Anonymous]

Most kids take Bio in 9th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which high-school-credit physics requires concurrent geometry enrollment?

3821/3822 Physics A/B, Honors (PC) in 9th Grade

Also, the non-honors. Trig functions are not introduced in Algebra they are needed for HS physics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which high-school-credit physics requires concurrent geometry enrollment?

3821/3822 Physics A/B, Honors (PC) in 9th Grade

Thanks. So they could take that course in ninth grade, and take 3621/3622 Biology, Honors A/B (BC) in eighth grade instead?

I'm not understanding why this is a disaster. Or maybe it isn't a disaster, just an annoyance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which high-school-credit physics requires concurrent geometry enrollment?

3821/3822 Physics A/B, Honors (PC) in 9th Grade

Thanks. So they could take that course in ninth grade, and take 3621/3622 Biology, Honors A/B (BC) in eighth grade instead?

I'm not understanding why this is a disaster. Or maybe it isn't a disaster, just an annoyance?

It's concurrent Geometry enrolment, so 9th graders can usually choose between Bio or Phys with those stronger in math encouraged to take Phys.

But, PP was referring to the Parkland magnet which offers HS Physics in 8th grade but that would only be open to above grade level math students.

[Anonymous]

At our high school the science course you are recommended to take your freshman year relates to the math course you are in:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/wjhs/coursebook/science.pdf

There are also just more math options for kids who have done the compact math track in elementary and then the more advanced track in middle school:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/wjhs/coursebook/math.pdf

Is it a disaster if your kid doesn't jump on the track in compacted math? I would say no -- but it does have consequences for what math and science options are available. Would I push my kid to do compact math if s/he weren't ready? Again no, but I would advocate for my kid if compacted math were the right option and for whatever reason s/he hadn't been selected for it.

[Anonymous]

Yes, compacted math is just one year advanced and the material is not really much different (math is taught by hitting the same topics in more depth each year). However, being in the accelerated group means being with kids ready for that work. On the other hand, being in the grade level course comes with no guarantee that the other students are actually on grade level. No matter the class, what's taught is determined by the ability of the students so at some schools the difference is more dramatic than others. I knew parents who tried to ignore the "craziness" or even opted out of compacted math only to realize their kid was head and shoulders above classmates and it was then necessary to fight for a new placement. It may seem petty in third grade but by MS the dynamic is more obvious.