Reply to Old VMPI plans & FCPS’s E3 Math Pilot

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Posting this here since it is popping up a bit in the AAP thread but it would impact all types of students…

Some here may that last year VDOE proposed in its VMPI (VA math pathways initiative) to do away with any type of math grouping of kids before 11th grade so that the only potential differentiation for math that would be delivered would be in-class (as in what happens in K-2 now, not what happens in 3-12 now). VDOE then stepped away from that idea after backlash.

Apparently FCPS is piloting this idea now though at the ES level and intends to expand it over the next few years. This is part of their published improvement plan. My youngest is in 5th so I don’t have a direct dog in this fight but thought others with younger kids may want to be aware and on the lookout for when the proposal gets drafted for expanding this program. Link and details below:

https://www.fcps.edu/node/44416
 
“Partner with the Advanced Academic Office to launch the Engaging, Enhanced, and Extended Mathematics (E3) Network, a group of 10 schools from across the division that will implement E3. The purpose of E3 is to broaden the access for all third and fourth graders to a more rigorous curriculum in elementary mathematics. E3 raises the rigor for all students through an enhanced program of studies that layers more opportunities for depth and complexity through flexible delivery of Advanced Academic extensions.
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Write and obtain feedback on a five-year strategic plan to implement…the expansion of E3 in elementary schools. [/quote]

E3 is just a curriculum designed to raise the bar in gen Ed. This says nothing about not being allowed to have advanced math groups. [/quote]

From the above coupled with what PPs have posted in other threads on it, E3 seems to mean that all the kids are in the same math class together and there is no advanced math class (as in grouped at a class level to move quicker). Call me super skeptical that eliminating the whole class grouping of kids quicker at math will still result in math being taught well for those that need it. You can raise the bar in GE without eliminating whole class faster math instruction - but this program does not seem to have taken that path from what I have seen posted and from interpreting the FCPS language above. [/quote]

Under E3, there might still be periodic “pull out sessions” for advanced / accelerated learners for an hour or two per week. But it would depend on the school.[/quote]

All this is going to do is push more parents who are engaged in their kids education to apply for AAP and put pressure on that program, one which a lot of people are already unhappy with.

My kid is in Advanced Math and finds it slow. He is not a genius, he is not Einstein reincarnate. He is a smart kid who likes math and Advanced Math, in 4th grade, is slow. He took and passed the multiplication test the first day he could. He has classmates who have not passed the test. And that is fine, kids are at different places in math with different abilities. Tossing him into a class with the kids who are not confident with multiplication means that he is going to be beyond bored. This means he will not be engaged or have any chance at being challenged. This is bad for him and the other kids like him.

We don't need a plan that tosses all kids into the same class. It is not going to help the kids who are struggling with math because the material is going to move too fast for those kids and they are going to be frustrated. It is not going to help the kids who are ahead because the material is going to move slowly. We need kids to be meet where they are and that is not done by tossing everyone in the same pot.

We need Advanced Math, so that the kids who are ahead can move at a pace that works for them. This also decreases the rest of the kids in the math class so that the Teachers can meet the needs of the kids on pace and the kids who are struggling.

If anything, we need a similar path for LA.

The idea that all kids benefit from being in the same groupings is crazy. I was the kid who was behind and struggling. I had an IEP and was pulled for individual services. I needed a different speed then the kids who were ahead. I caught up and earned a PhD. But I only caught up because my individual needs were met, thank god for my Mom in the 80's and all the parents who fight for their kids needs with the schools. I would have been screwed in an E3 program. I knew I was the kid who was struggling with math in ES. The last thing I needed was to be the kid that everyone looked at as being the class idiot (although they did already) and who was holding the entire class back.

Kids recognize who is ahead and who is behind. Crushing kids spirts and desire to learn by making it even more obvious that they are the ones holding the class back is not going to help. [/quote]

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