APS Elementary: On the Rise ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

You have to be careful to define what you're looking for in math. Calkins was considered evidence-based for a long time. VMPI was supposedly evidence-based but it was the Calkins-equivalent for math. It would be great to see APS adopt a curriculum focused on building core math knowledge instead of Calkins-like discovery learning and group projects with limited math components. The latter approach can actually prompt teachers to turn to tech programs or external resources like teachers-paying-teachers in an effort to find material that covers core math.

does APS have a math curriculum now?

APS bought new enVision textbooks last year that emphasize discovery learning and project based learning. One of the co-authors was very involved with VMPI.

thank you, I saw that on the website so I was confused when people on here said APS does not have a math curriculum. So is their info just old?

Is Envision considered a curriculum?

https://www.apsva.us/mathematics/elementary-math-program/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

You have to be careful to define what you're looking for in math. Calkins was considered evidence-based for a long time. VMPI was supposedly evidence-based but it was the Calkins-equivalent for math. It would be great to see APS adopt a curriculum focused on building core math knowledge instead of Calkins-like discovery learning and group projects with limited math components. The latter approach can actually prompt teachers to turn to tech programs or external resources like teachers-paying-teachers in an effort to find material that covers core math.

does APS have a math curriculum now?

APS bought new enVision textbooks last year that emphasize discovery learning and project based learning. One of the co-authors was very involved with VMPI.

WOW, that's like adopting Lucy Calkins method in math. Now that we are finally teaching kids how to read the correct way, let's destroy math instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

You have to be careful to define what you're looking for in math. Calkins was considered evidence-based for a long time. VMPI was supposedly evidence-based but it was the Calkins-equivalent for math. It would be great to see APS adopt a curriculum focused on building core math knowledge instead of Calkins-like discovery learning and group projects with limited math components. The latter approach can actually prompt teachers to turn to tech programs or external resources like teachers-paying-teachers in an effort to find material that covers core math.

does APS have a math curriculum now?

APS bought new enVision textbooks last year that emphasize discovery learning and project based learning. One of the co-authors was very involved with VMPI.

Discovery based learning and math is so odd to me. I went to schools outside of the US for most of my early learning years. Math was taught /old school' i suppose. You learned a concept and then did a bunch of problem sets to practice that concept and the nuances. When our family moved back here, they had this math discovery stuff at the high school level that was so weird. First off, you sat in these group tables rather than learning from the teacher. And then they would walk you through like a discovery situation (ex - let's discover how to calculate the volume of something). I guess we were supposed to learn from each other? Who knows. The books spent so much time guiding you to whatever eureka moment you were supposed to have and little time actually mastering the concepts. Needless to say I did not learn much this way.

I am not an advocate of rote memorization for other subjects, and do think inquiry based learning has its place (ex - science!). But math needs good foundation and lots practice, and the whole discovery learning set up seems a misstep

[Anonymous]

Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

I'm not an educator so I'm confused. I didn't think the SOLs are a curriculum. I thought they were standards, and that you would teach them via a curriculum??? If the SOLs are a curriculum then what is CKLA? I thought that was a curriculum.

Do math curricula exists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

Yikes. That sounds problematic. Envision is new this year isn’t it? Does APS realize there is a mismatch for teachers in the classroom?

[Anonymous]

The brightest spot in APS right now are the improvements in reading. But lots of other things going in wrong direction: overcrowding, overreliance on ipads, class Sizes too big, faux-equity policies, poor math and writing instruction. Lots of parents hiring tutors or supplementing separately to fill in the gaps. Sure we’re better off than many poor rural
Schools but we don’t compare to the best public schools in the dmv. And we should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The brightest spot in APS right now are the improvements in reading. But lots of other things going in wrong direction: overcrowding, overreliance on ipads, class Sizes too big, faux-equity policies, poor math and writing instruction. Lots of parents hiring tutors or supplementing separately to fill in the gaps. Sure we’re better off than many poor rural
Schools but we don’t compare to the best public schools in the dmv. And we should.

But you won’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

I'm not an educator so I'm confused. I didn't think the SOLs are a curriculum. I thought they were standards, and that you would teach them via a curriculum??? If the SOLs are a curriculum then what is CKLA? I thought that was a curriculum.

Do math curricula exists?

The curriculum is what is taught. The SOL’s are our curriculum. That is what we teach. CKLA is also a program, but APS has aligned it to our standards and made the CKLA units the primary program used to teach the reading and writing standards. We are required to use it. However we also have to supplement for some standards. We are not required to use envision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

I'm not an educator so I'm confused. I didn't think the SOLs are a curriculum. I thought they were standards, and that you would teach them via a curriculum??? If the SOLs are a curriculum then what is CKLA? I thought that was a curriculum.

Do math curricula exists?

The curriculum is what is taught. The SOL’s are our curriculum. That is what we teach. CKLA is also a program, but APS has aligned it to our standards and made the CKLA units the primary program used to teach the reading and writing standards. We are required to use it. However we also have to supplement for some standards. We are not required to use envision.

The CKLA website uses the terms program and curriculum interchangeably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

I'm not an educator so I'm confused. I didn't think the SOLs are a curriculum. I thought they were standards, and that you would teach them via a curriculum??? If the SOLs are a curriculum then what is CKLA? I thought that was a curriculum.

Do math curricula exists?

The curriculum is what is taught. The SOL’s are our curriculum. That is what we teach. CKLA is also a program, but APS has aligned it to our standards and made the CKLA units the primary program used to teach the reading and writing standards. We are required to use it. However we also have to supplement for some standards. We are not required to use envision.

The CKLA website uses the terms program and curriculum interchangeably.

Dp. Syphax calls it a curriculum. They said ELA had a curriculum adoption. Math apparently already had a curriculum and they just had a resource adoption. I think the difference might be that APS has completely changed the approach to teaching reading and CKLA reflects that. Math they did not change their approach (APS uses something called math workshop) but they needed resources. That’s how I understand it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

I'm not an educator so I'm confused. I didn't think the SOLs are a curriculum. I thought they were standards, and that you would teach them via a curriculum??? If the SOLs are a curriculum then what is CKLA? I thought that was a curriculum.

Do math curricula exists?

The curriculum is what is taught. The SOL’s are our curriculum. That is what we teach. CKLA is also a program, but APS has aligned it to our standards and made the CKLA units the primary program used to teach the reading and writing standards. We are required to use it. However we also have to supplement for some standards. We are not required to use envision.

The CKLA website uses the terms program and curriculum interchangeably.

Dp. Syphax calls it a curriculum. They said ELA had a curriculum adoption. Math apparently already had a curriculum and they just had a resource adoption. I think the difference might be that APS has completely changed the approach to teaching reading and CKLA reflects that. Math they did not change their approach (APS uses something called math workshop) but they needed resources. That’s how I understand it.

DP Thanks, good point about the different adoptions. But math workshop is a pedagogical approach that emphasizes small group, differentiated instruction versus whole class, direct instruction. It doesn't define the content itself, just how the content is taught. Does APS provide curricular guidance for math content beyond just the VA standards?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

I'm not an educator so I'm confused. I didn't think the SOLs are a curriculum. I thought they were standards, and that you would teach them via a curriculum??? If the SOLs are a curriculum then what is CKLA? I thought that was a curriculum.

Do math curricula exists?

The curriculum is what is taught. The SOL’s are our curriculum. That is what we teach. CKLA is also a program, but APS has aligned it to our standards and made the CKLA units the primary program used to teach the reading and writing standards. We are required to use it. However we also have to supplement for some standards. We are not required to use envision.

The CKLA website uses the terms program and curriculum interchangeably.

Dp. Syphax calls it a curriculum. They said ELA had a curriculum adoption. Math apparently already had a curriculum and they just had a resource adoption. I think the difference might be that APS has completely changed the approach to teaching reading and CKLA reflects that. Math they did not change their approach (APS uses something called math workshop) but they needed resources. That’s how I understand it.

DP Thanks, good point about the different adoptions. But math workshop is a pedagogical approach that emphasizes small group, differentiated instruction versus whole class, direct instruction. It doesn't define the content itself, just how the content is taught. Does APS provide curricular guidance for math content beyond just the VA standards?

Oh yes. Pages and pages… that we never get a chance to look at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Envision is not a curriculum. It’s a program to support the curriculum which is the VA SOL’s. Envision seems okay except that APS has not changed the order of units they have us teach. Which does not match envision. So a lot of it isn’t usable because the review questions which are integrated into just about every workbook page are often things we haven’t learned yet. There is a small “Virginia” section in each workbook as well tailored to the SOL’s. I wish they had just bought an entire program based on the va SOL’s. So we are rarely rarely using envision right now.
-5th grade teacher

I'm not an educator so I'm confused. I didn't think the SOLs are a curriculum. I thought they were standards, and that you would teach them via a curriculum??? If the SOLs are a curriculum then what is CKLA? I thought that was a curriculum.

Do math curricula exists?

The curriculum is what is taught. The SOL’s are our curriculum. That is what we teach. CKLA is also a program, but APS has aligned it to our standards and made the CKLA units the primary program used to teach the reading and writing standards. We are required to use it. However we also have to supplement for some standards. We are not required to use envision.

The CKLA website uses the terms program and curriculum interchangeably.

Dp. Syphax calls it a curriculum. They said ELA had a curriculum adoption. Math apparently already had a curriculum and they just had a resource adoption. I think the difference might be that APS has completely changed the approach to teaching reading and CKLA reflects that. Math they did not change their approach (APS uses something called math workshop) but they needed resources. That’s how I understand it.

DP Thanks, good point about the different adoptions. But math workshop is a pedagogical approach that emphasizes small group, differentiated instruction versus whole class, direct instruction. It doesn't define the content itself, just how the content is taught. Does APS provide curricular guidance for math content beyond just the VA standards?

Oh yes. Pages and pages… that we never get a chance to look at.

In theory, a resource adoption provides the opportunity to adopt a curriculum that is self-contained and doesn't require teachers to pore through loose leaf material or find their own material. enVision may not have been an ideal resource/curriculum choice given its problem-based learning approach at a time when learning loss remediation could benefit from a more content-focused approach. However, setting that aside, any resource adoption should be an improvement. Is there no way to use enVision as a curriculum, say by changing the order that content is taught to align with enVision? Why didn't APS require teachers to use enVision when they did require them to use CKLA?