APS Math instruction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I have a typo. Teachers have not rejected it- we would be happy to have a useful curriculum. But APS does not follow the sequence of envision, and it is common core not SOL. For example (this is just an example I don’t have curriculum docs in front of me) they have students learning prime and composite numbers in unit 1. Then next is decimal computation. On the decimal computation pages, they mix in prime and composite questions but in APS we learn decimal computation first and prime and composite much later so students can’t do those questions since they have not learned those concepts yet. And it continues to build with each concept that is out of APS sequence. Common core and SOL are actually quite different so there are also concepts we don’t teach in 5th such as exponents.

FCPS has an SOL aligned math curriculum so I’m not sure why APS didn’t select one. APS does not give teachers practice pages for each lesson for students. They give us quick checks to assess, often with just 2-3 questions which are difficult to use for an evaluative grade with so few opportunities, and no answer key so when there are weird questions we can’t determine what they meant to ask since no answer key. So teachers at all 20+ schools spend hours reinventing the wheel and making up practice pages on our own. A total waste of time. CKLA is not perfect but it’s a complete curriculum that we can follow and use. We supplement but it’s a whole curriculum.

I still don't understand. You say you don't use Envision. That it doesn't follow SOL standards so can't be used. But you say teachers haven't rejected it? That doesn't make any sense. If APS teachers aren't using Envision, that's rejecting it.

I agree that APS needs to ditch Envision and purchase an appropriate and evidence-based math curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
FCPS has an SOL aligned math curriculum so I’m not sure why APS didn’t select one.

NP What does FCPS use? Do they follow a textbook curriculum or did FCPS write their own and supplement with online materials?

[Anonymous]

Teachers are not being told to follow and use it.

[Anonymous]

I have taught Primary Mathematics (Singapore national math curriculum) for 3 years. It is a great, conceptual, interesting program. It also seemed to make my students really enjoy the math that they were doing. They got interested and wanted to know more and extend their learning.

That being said, there is a huge gaping hole in implementation in the US. I was never able to overcome this issue. In Singapore, nearly all students attend kumon-type drill/cram schools in their free time. They know their facts backwards and forwards and upside down.

Singapore Primary Mathematics assumes kids are doing this and the whole operation starts to fall apart around 3-4th grade if your students don’t know their facts lightning quick. You almost need to run like a drill workbook concurrently along with it…but that takes the fun and high interest out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are not being told to follow and use it.

Then why are we buying it?

It's baffling that we've been paying for an unusable curriculum for years and years. The APS math office appears to be asleep at the wheel, to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are not being told to follow and use it.

Then why are we buying it?

It's baffling that we've been paying for an unusable curriculum for years and years. The APS math office appears to be asleep at the wheel, to say the least.

I would be fine if the APS central office staff were cut by 50% and the money saved instead were spent directly on educating children. Teachers probably also would be happy because there would be fewer silly instructions/requests from central office staff trying to justify their jobs.

[Anonymous]

Who is selecting this math curriculum that teachers find lacking? The name of the person at Syphax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have taught Primary Mathematics (Singapore national math curriculum) for 3 years. It is a great, conceptual, interesting program. It also seemed to make my students really enjoy the math that they were doing. They got interested and wanted to know more and extend their learning.

That being said, there is a huge gaping hole in implementation in the US. I was never able to overcome this issue. In Singapore, nearly all students attend kumon-type drill/cram schools in their free time. They know their facts backwards and forwards and upside down.

Singapore Primary Mathematics assumes kids are doing this and the whole operation starts to fall apart around 3-4th grade if your students don’t know their facts lightning quick. You almost need to run like a drill workbook concurrently along with it…but that takes the fun and high interest out of it.

Agree that Singapore Math is great. I prefer Primary, but Dimensions is also much better than Envision. I believe Potomac School uses Math in Focus, which is also a Singapore-esque program.

Also agree that these programs don’t work well unless you’ve got cultural buy in that math is important and needs to be practiced outside of school. But, maybe parents could actually do that if they had a textbook to follow!

This would do nothing to close the achievement gap though. It would only widen it. Students with an IDGAF attitude toward school would be left far behind, never able to catch up.

APS would rather not teach anyone, so scores can be about the same for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have taught Primary Mathematics (Singapore national math curriculum) for 3 years. It is a great, conceptual, interesting program. It also seemed to make my students really enjoy the math that they were doing. They got interested and wanted to know more and extend their learning.

That being said, there is a huge gaping hole in implementation in the US. I was never able to overcome this issue. In Singapore, nearly all students attend kumon-type drill/cram schools in their free time. They know their facts backwards and forwards and upside down.

Singapore Primary Mathematics assumes kids are doing this and the whole operation starts to fall apart around 3-4th grade if your students don’t know their facts lightning quick. You almost need to run like a drill workbook concurrently along with it…but that takes the fun and high interest out of it.

Agree that Singapore Math is great. I prefer Primary, but Dimensions is also much better than Envision. I believe Potomac School uses Math in Focus, which is also a Singapore-esque program.

Also agree that these programs don’t work well unless you’ve got cultural buy in that math is important and needs to be practiced outside of school. But, maybe parents could actually do that if they had a textbook to follow!

This would do nothing to close the achievement gap though. It would only widen it. Students with an IDGAF attitude toward school would be left far behind, never able to catch up.

APS would rather not teach anyone, so scores can be about the same for all.

It sounds like the curriculum has to follow the APS sequence to be usable. I'm sure the Virginia SOL impacts the sequence options, but surely the same folks at Syphax determine both the APS math sequence and the selected curriculum. This must be solvable. And yes, someone needs to be fired for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have taught Primary Mathematics (Singapore national math curriculum) for 3 years. It is a great, conceptual, interesting program. It also seemed to make my students really enjoy the math that they were doing. They got interested and wanted to know more and extend their learning.

That being said, there is a huge gaping hole in implementation in the US. I was never able to overcome this issue. In Singapore, nearly all students attend kumon-type drill/cram schools in their free time. They know their facts backwards and forwards and upside down.

Singapore Primary Mathematics assumes kids are doing this and the whole operation starts to fall apart around 3-4th grade if your students don’t know their facts lightning quick. You almost need to run like a drill workbook concurrently along with it…but that takes the fun and high interest out of it.

But Primary Math comes with a workbook to accompany the textbook, no? Seems to just be an issue of sufficient time/homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have taught Primary Mathematics (Singapore national math curriculum) for 3 years. It is a great, conceptual, interesting program. It also seemed to make my students really enjoy the math that they were doing. They got interested and wanted to know more and extend their learning.

That being said, there is a huge gaping hole in implementation in the US. I was never able to overcome this issue. In Singapore, nearly all students attend kumon-type drill/cram schools in their free time. They know their facts backwards and forwards and upside down.

Singapore Primary Mathematics assumes kids are doing this and the whole operation starts to fall apart around 3-4th grade if your students don’t know their facts lightning quick. You almost need to run like a drill workbook concurrently along with it…but that takes the fun and high interest out of it.

But Primary Math comes with a workbook to accompany the textbook, no? Seems to just be an issue of sufficient time/homework.

It comes with a workbook and there is an additional workbook of practice problems. But APS doesn’t believe in homework, so…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need a solid math curriculum. I would like "Priimary Math" in the US Edition. It is the actual math curriculum used by students in Singapore - with minimal tweaks (i.e., US weights and measures; US currency denominations)

Isn’t going to happen, but you can purchase yourself (many homeschoolers do).

DP. I was homeschooled and used Singapore math and purchased it for home for my kid. It actually has a decent amount of group work so I don’t know that it’s what I would recommend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have taught Primary Mathematics (Singapore national math curriculum) for 3 years. It is a great, conceptual, interesting program. It also seemed to make my students really enjoy the math that they were doing. They got interested and wanted to know more and extend their learning.

That being said, there is a huge gaping hole in implementation in the US. I was never able to overcome this issue. In Singapore, nearly all students attend kumon-type drill/cram schools in their free time. They know their facts backwards and forwards and upside down.

Singapore Primary Mathematics assumes kids are doing this and the whole operation starts to fall apart around 3-4th grade if your students don’t know their facts lightning quick. You almost need to run like a drill workbook concurrently along with it…but that takes the fun and high interest out of it.

But Primary Math comes with a workbook to accompany the textbook, no? Seems to just be an issue of sufficient time/homework.

DP. The parent who purchased. The workbook to me won’t accomplish that. It reinforces what you learned but it doesn’t emphasize fact acquisition so you would probably need to do something additional. Like Kumon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have taught Primary Mathematics (Singapore national math curriculum) for 3 years. It is a great, conceptual, interesting program. It also seemed to make my students really enjoy the math that they were doing. They got interested and wanted to know more and extend their learning.

That being said, there is a huge gaping hole in implementation in the US. I was never able to overcome this issue. In Singapore, nearly all students attend kumon-type drill/cram schools in their free time. They know their facts backwards and forwards and upside down.

Singapore Primary Mathematics assumes kids are doing this and the whole operation starts to fall apart around 3-4th grade if your students don’t know their facts lightning quick. You almost need to run like a drill workbook concurrently along with it…but that takes the fun and high interest out of it.

But Primary Math comes with a workbook to accompany the textbook, no? Seems to just be an issue of sufficient time/homework.

DP. The parent who purchased. The workbook to me won’t accomplish that. It reinforces what you learned but it doesn’t emphasize fact acquisition so you would probably need to do something additional. Like Kumon.

APS used Reflex, an iPad app, to drill math facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need a solid math curriculum. I would like "Priimary Math" in the US Edition. It is the actual math curriculum used by students in Singapore - with minimal tweaks (i.e., US weights and measures; US currency denominations)

Isn’t going to happen, but you can purchase yourself (many homeschoolers do).

DP. I was homeschooled and used Singapore math and purchased it for home for my kid. It actually has a decent amount of group work so I don’t know that it’s what I would recommend.

Oh, come on. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure how to adapt it for a single child. Homeschoolers do it every day. 🙄