The state of MCPS is atrocious
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Anonymous
LOL. Look harder. |
Anonymous
I looked on Whitman’s website and didn’t see any of those courses listed. If they exist, post links. |
Anonymous
The issue was rushing to take Algebra and the stigma around not getting to it sooner instead of when a child is prepared, be that 7th,8th, or 9th grade. |
Anonymous
Most kids aren't going to want those things and for $50K, you can buy your kid a 3D printer and much more. However, they do have a lot of those courses and if not, kids can take them at Montgomery College, another college or do it somewhere else. There is zero need for cybersecurity foundations in high school. And, things like app development are in other computer science classes. Your kids must not be doing a lot of other things like foreign language and music because in my child's schedule there isn't a huge amount of room to take more than 1-2 electives each semester. Personally, I want a well rounded child and for that $50K, that allows for extra private sports, private orchestra, private summer classes, private music lessons and much more. As of middle school, my child has already done two computer science classes. Nothing wrong with Bullis, but its for rich families. You should try getting out of the W schools.. many offer what you are saying and more. |
Anonymous
It's not rushing if a child is ready for it and you need calculus for higher level computer science and science classes. What happens is a lot of the private school kids have to play catch up and double up on math classes or take Geometry in summer school. |
Anonymous
I agree with the earlier poster that compacted math should be available for some, but with an acknowledgment that it’s not the best choice for everyone. Of course rushing kids through math is bad pedagogy. They should be given time to master concepts and practice them. However, once a child has learned something, I don’t see what the pedagogical advantage is in refusing to teach them anything else for some predetermined interval. The important thing is that kids learn the material. Time is not the only variable in that process. The content children are exposed to, how it is presented, and the children themselves are just some of the other variables involved in the process. Regardless of how many hours they sit in a math classroom, they can only learn material they’re taught. For example: In 1st grade, as differentiation for advanced students, they offered advanced problems on the back of the regularly assigned homework. Giving a kid a worksheet with the instruction to put in the correct > or < symbol without mentioning that those symbols represent greater than or less than is never going to work. Of course advanced students aren’t automatically going to know this. You could keep students in the class for 10 years, and they might eventually through trial and error figure out what you wanted, but I wouldn’t call it good pedagogy. Or you could actually teach the concept and move on. Similarly, I was frequently frustrated by MCPS’s emphasis on calculator use. I told my kids they weren’t allowed to use calculators on homework without checking with me first. When DD told me they had a worksheet where they had to get square roots, it seemed like a calculator might be necessary, until I looked at the assignment. With problems like (sqrt 3) + (sqrt 27), she could have punched those numbers into a calculator and obtained a correct answer, while entirely missing the lesson. Knowing how to SIMPLIFY the problem is a much more valuable lesson. She could have filled out countless worksheets for years with the decimal answers to square roots that her calculator spit out, without ever learning how to actually work with radicals. On the other hand, once she had mastered working with radicals (fully understanding the concept, being able to employ it with ease, and had it solidly fixed in her memory), continuing to repeat the same lesson instead of using it to progress to the next level serves no purpose other than to frustrate and discourage. I think good pedagogy is to give students the right amount of time. For some, this may mean compacted math (or even more acceleration), for others it may mean a slower math progression, perhaps even with additional instructional time with a double period, summer school, or tutoring. Every kid is different, so expecting them to learn at the same rate seems not only like bad pedagogy, but as something that is blatantly illogical. I think we should have a wide variety of math classes and provide supports to help students succeed at their level and progress to the next level. Flexible ability grouping is not tracking. I don’t believe in gate keeping, but I also don’t believe in lowering standards. I don’t think our goal should be to go at any particular pace nor to get all the same students to the same place at the same time. I think the goal should be to teach all students what they need to know, and enable them to learn as much beyond that as they want. |
Anonymous
Proof of this? |
Anonymous
You don’t just move a kid along right after they’ve learned a math concept. There’s an element of brain development that is separate from intelligence that influences how quickly kids should learn math. This is where you need to read the research to understand why more and more experts are urging less acceleration in math, even for very smart kids who can understand higher level concepts. |
Anonymous
MCPS offers a variety starting in MS. In ES, most ES don't do any differentiation until compacted math in 4/5, which is technically ok but they need to focus on math facts and foundation work vs. strategies. We heavily supplemented at home with workbooks. The homework was a joke and not related in any way to what was learned in class and now in MS/HS classes there is very little homework for reinforcement and at best they just do a few problems in class. The new style teaching doesn't really work. They never ever review the assignments so if a child doesn't get it right, they have no idea where they went wrong. MCPS had offered free tutoring for the past two years. So, that was a huge help to many of us in terms of making sure our kids understood the material. |
Anonymous
Correct but that's not a pace issue, that's a curriculum and teaching style issue. |
Anonymous
It's not rushing and in MS, kids have a huge option of classes and they can start Algebra in 7-9th grades, some can start in 6th. Its not a once size fits all like your are making it. Most smarter kids take AIM in 6th, which is pre-algebra. |
Anonymous
No, it’s quite literally a pacing issue. |
Anonymous
It’s pathetic that many kids needed tutoring to understand the material. That’s clearly a teaching issue. |
Anonymous
No, it's not and there are multiple levels come middle school. Its the same pacing MCPS has always had, what has changed is the curriculum, homework or lack there of and teaching style. |
Anonymous
It's a teaching and curriculum issue. We get a few google slides per class at best to go over what a textbook takes pages or a chapter to explain so kids who need the written review cannot get it. Not everyone can process things with a quick 5-10 minute lecture and a few problems. |