Reply to Why is the math so terrible? Can parents do anything?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You have two main cluster groups with the movement to change math in MCPS:

1) Kids now in Grade 5 (who have been guinea pigs with the new program since 3rd grade)

2) Kids who took Algebra 2.0 last year and Geometry 2.0 this year who are the older crop of guinea pigs.

* Kids taking Pre Calculus and above lucked out and dogged this major catastrophe.  Kids younger than 5th grade have the benefit of the teachers and hopefully MCPS learning from their mistakes with the earlier roll outs to do better.

I unfortunately have had kids in both of the two main guinea pig groups.  MCPS bulldozers out a program without adequate training for the teachers and resources for the classroom.  Inherently, there are then instructional gaps as MCPS struggles to provide the tools for the classes.  The curriculum is pieced milled out chapter by chapter, the old textbook does not align with the curriculum, and even the MCPS website lags behind so parents can pull off resources till MCPS gets their crap together.  Meanwhile the school calendar trots along and kids are not being taught what they need to learn.  For the older kids, last year's failing exam grades in Algebra are a trend destined to be repeated this year because the Geometry roll out was even more pitiful than the Algebra roll out.  I know in fact, my child's teacher has been clueless and did not know what student learning tasks to teach for this entire marking period.  No one is checking to see if the teachers are actually teaching what the students are expected to learn in the order it is expected to be taught.  How can my child's class make up a quarter of the year's lost instruction?

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I think you bring up a good point RE: the rollout.  I've looked at the standards and I don't have a huge problem with them.  I think MCPS's rollout of them was really bad.  Hopefully they'll be better prepared next year when my daughter gets to Algebra.
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