New Math Program - NO Differentiation until Grades 11-12?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VOTE.

VOTE.

There is an election in November for statewide offices.

Vote out the idiots you elected last time.

What are the alternatives? And how are they different than these idiots?

Well there is a fool on this board that always says they will "care about education and not equity". As if those are inextricable. At best you get someone like that but benign, at worst you get the Trumpian wing of the party which is likely and its a shit show for a place that isn't just white, hetero, religious, etc.

I do wish the school board for FCPS wasn't such a political stepping stone. I do agree that is an issue because the size of the district certainly lends itself to people who are more ambition focused vs mission focused. I will give people that gripe. But "vote RED YALL" is not exactly a solution here. People's values are going to kick in and they won't vote for the opposition endorsed candidates if they show they are aligned with the kinds of people who storm the capitol, for example.

Will they vote for the candidates aligned with the kinds of people who rioted & burned cities all summer? Their kill count is higher.

Stop watching Fox. Cities were not burning all summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be good at Maths and teach their kids themselves.

I can get my kids through Algebra I and part of Geometry and Statistics. I should not have to learn Calculus to teach my kid. I'm a liberal arts major and last took calc in 1995. I certainly hope someone who teaches for a living could do better than I could.

I think this is exactly the point the VDOE is making. Very, very few people need calculus in their lives.

Nobody objects to having new high school pathways for the kids who don't need calculus. They object to restructuring the math program in a way that makes it very difficult for a child to take calculus and impossible for a child to take any post-calculus classes. It is possible to give non-math oriented kids new pathways without taking paths away from the STEM kids.

[Anonymous]

"It is possible to give non-math oriented kids new pathways without taking paths away from the STEM kids."

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I am pro-tracking. I also don’t like that students can enroll in AP or Honors if they just feel like it. Differentiation is impossible with the class sizes we are dealing with.

I at least understand the idea of letting anyone enroll - this prevents the 'permeant tracks' where a minority kid could get overlooked due to unconscious bias, and not have an opportunity to succeed at a high level.

I'm all for letting anyone who wants to try into the AP or Honors level classes. But the classes should run at pace. If the kids can't figure out how to pass the class, then they need to just drop down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be good at Maths and teach their kids themselves.

I can get my kids through Algebra I and part of Geometry and Statistics. I should not have to learn Calculus to teach my kid. I'm a liberal arts major and last took calc in 1995. I certainly hope someone who teaches for a living could do better than I could.

I think this is exactly the point the VDOE is making. Very, very few people need calculus in their lives.

Nobody objects to having new high school pathways for the kids who don't need calculus. They object to restructuring the math program in a way that makes it very difficult for a child to take calculus and impossible for a child to take any post-calculus classes. It is possible to give non-math oriented kids new pathways without taking paths away from the STEM kids.

I think you are missing the point of the changes. You are talking about pathways that pretty much eliminate calculus in high school.
I think the primary objection is that in 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, students have only one pathway- grade level classes. No advanced math pathway at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be good at Maths and teach their kids themselves.

I can get my kids through Algebra I and part of Geometry and Statistics. I should not have to learn Calculus to teach my kid. I'm a liberal arts major and last took calc in 1995. I certainly hope someone who teaches for a living could do better than I could.

I think this is exactly the point the VDOE is making. Very, very few people need calculus in their lives.

A ton of college majors require it though. Are we done with pushing STEM now? If this goes though, they need to bar state schools in Virginia from considering whether or not an applicant has taken calculus for admission to any undergraduate program or else we’ll just be subsidizing kids from New Jersey to take engineering spots at va tech

[Anonymous]

Burning cities all summer ! LOL and WTF

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be good at Maths and teach their kids themselves.

I can get my kids through Algebra I and part of Geometry and Statistics. I should not have to learn Calculus to teach my kid. I'm a liberal arts major and last took calc in 1995. I certainly hope someone who teaches for a living could do better than I could.

I think this is exactly the point the VDOE is making. Very, very few people need calculus in their lives.

Nobody objects to having new high school pathways for the kids who don't need calculus. They object to restructuring the math program in a way that makes it very difficult for a child to take calculus and impossible for a child to take any post-calculus classes. It is possible to give non-math oriented kids new pathways without taking paths away from the STEM kids.

+1. The problem is, this initiative is really 3 different proposals in 1:

A. Create higher level math options in addition to calculus (data science, discrete math, etc.)
B. Get rid of Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Precalc classes; chop up and rearrange the content for these classes into new courses.
C. Get rid of any honors, advanced, accelerated, or remedial math options. Put all the kids into classrooms together. The more advanced kids will somehow be exploring topics 'more deeply' which will remove the need for acceleration (so the theory goes) and the kids who are struggling will do better because they will see how the high-achievers learn, and will not feel bad about themselves for being in the 'not smart' class anymore. (Again - that seems to be their theory.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be good at Maths and teach their kids themselves.

I can get my kids through Algebra I and part of Geometry and Statistics. I should not have to learn Calculus to teach my kid. I'm a liberal arts major and last took calc in 1995. I certainly hope someone who teaches for a living could do better than I could.

I think this is exactly the point the VDOE is making. Very, very few people need calculus in their lives.

A ton of college majors require it though. Are we done with pushing STEM now? If this goes though, they need to bar state schools in Virginia from considering whether or not an applicant has taken calculus for admission to any undergraduate program or else we’ll just be subsidizing kids from New Jersey to take engineering spots at va tech

Their argument seems to be that, 'eh, people don't need calculus, they need DATA SCIENCE. And if they do need calculus they can take it in college'.

Totally ignoring the fact that for a non-trivial portion of students in the commonwealth, being able to take (and test out via AP) college level classes in high school is a financial game-changer.

I took 7 APs in HS, and was able to test out of over a semester's worth of credit in college; I maxed out my courseload while in college, which altogether let me save an entire year's worth of tuition. With the runaway train that is rising college tuition, that type of thing is HUGE for kids.

[Anonymous]

Why do kids need to take Calculus in high school anyway?

My high school didn't even offer calculus. I simply took a year of it freshman year of college, majored in mathematics, got a master's in a STEM area, and have been working on a STEM field ever since.

What benefit would taking calculus in high school have given me?

[Anonymous]

I understand the argument that acceleration does not mean better. In fact, a lot of times it translates into kids not getting an in depth understanding of subject. But I’m not sure if that’s the argument here. Also, is this a VA only thing? Has there been any discussion at the national level for changing the math curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids need to take Calculus in high school anyway?

My high school didn't even offer calculus. I simply took a year of it freshman year of college, majored in mathematics, got a master's in a STEM area, and have been working on a STEM field ever since.

What benefit would taking calculus in high school have given me?

Well, here in the 2020s, nearly all HSs offer calculus and college applicants without calc A/B aren't as competitive as ones who did take it in HS. Students who finished B/C are even better positioned for highly selective college acceptance. (This is like saying that when my mom graduated, all you needed was a HS diploma to get a job so why are so many people going to college today when you have to have a BA for a lot of admin jobs. Things change over time.)

Even and my mediocre, non-FCPS HS offered calculus in HS in 1993, and my husband's crappy rural school system at least offered a dual enrollment option so they could take it at the local CC since the HS didn't have a calculus teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand the argument that acceleration does not mean better. In fact, a lot of times it translates into kids not getting an in depth understanding of subject. But I’m not sure if that’s the argument here. Also, is this a VA only thing? Has there been any discussion at the national level for changing the math curriculum?

Most of the country is on Common Core. Virginia is one of the few states that has it's own standards (SOLs), and Virginia tends not to care what the rest of the country is doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be good at Maths and teach their kids themselves.

I can get my kids through Algebra I and part of Geometry and Statistics. I should not have to learn Calculus to teach my kid. I'm a liberal arts major and last took calc in 1995. I certainly hope someone who teaches for a living could do better than I could.

I think this is exactly the point the VDOE is making. Very, very few people need calculus in their lives.

A ton of college majors require it though. Are we done with pushing STEM now? If this goes though, they need to bar state schools in Virginia from considering whether or not an applicant has taken calculus for admission to any undergraduate program or else we’ll just be subsidizing kids from New Jersey to take engineering spots at va tech

Their argument seems to be that, 'eh, people don't need calculus, they need DATA SCIENCE. And if they do need calculus they can take it in college'.

Totally ignoring the fact that for a non-trivial portion of students in the commonwealth, being able to take (and test out via AP) college level classes in high school is a financial game-changer.

I took 7 APs in HS, and was able to test out of over a semester's worth of credit in college; I maxed out my courseload while in college, which altogether let me save an entire year's worth of tuition. With the runaway train that is rising college tuition, that type of thing is HUGE for kids.

I had several friends in HS who did this and managed to get out of college in three years. I grew up in a very middle-class/blue-collar area, so paying for three years of college instead of four was a game-changer for a lot of people who were the first in their families to get a bachelor's degree, and one of them earned a scholarship to a SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids need to take Calculus in high school anyway?

My high school didn't even offer calculus. I simply took a year of it freshman year of college, majored in mathematics, got a master's in a STEM area, and have been working on a STEM field ever since.

What benefit would taking calculus in high school have given me?

Well, here in the 2020s, nearly all HSs offer calculus and college applicants without calc A/B aren't as competitive as ones who did take it in HS. Students who finished B/C are even better positioned for highly selective college acceptance. (This is like saying that when my mom graduated, all you needed was a HS diploma to get a job so why are so many people going to college today when you have to have a BA for a lot of admin jobs. Things change over time.)

Even and my mediocre, non-FCPS HS offered calculus in HS in 1993, and my husband's crappy rural school system at least offered a dual enrollment option so they could take it at the local CC since the HS didn't have a calculus teacher.

So it's all about getting into the "right" college, or as the one poster pointed out, financial benefits of a shorter college experience, without any real educational benefits?