Reply to Jeb Bush's org behind the new MSDE MS math minutes increase (which will likely cut MS electives)

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Reply to "Jeb Bush's org behind the new MSDE MS math minutes increase (which will likely cut MS electives)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wait what? "will be requiring [b]300 minutes of math a week [an hour a day][/b] in grades K-8 starting in 2027, [b]which is way more than middle schools offer currently[/b]"

Why aren't middle schools offering an hour a day of math? Students in middle school are there from 8:15-3:00. That is 6 hours and 45 minutes. Why can't math be an hour a day?

What also would be better would be to have actual math textbooks with WORKED EXAMPLES, direct instruction and workbooks like every other country that is highly ranked in math. [/quote]

The issue is the period schedule and the fact that not all kids are taking math at the same time — I’m not sure how you make math longer without making every class longer, which reduces the total number of classes the kids can take.  If you could magically make math 60 minutes for everyone but keep 6 other classes, I think most of us wouldn’t have a problem.[/quote]

Correct.  I don't see why so many posters don't understand this basic concept.  Take my middle schooler's schedule for example.  They have 8 periods of 44 minutes each with 4 minutes in between. One of the periods is advisory/lunch, so 7 periods of academic subjects (including PE/health).  Kids might have math during any one of these periods so you'd have to increase every period to 60 minutes.

Also for the person who suggested eliminating advisory, that's like 15-20 minutes of the lunch period.  Our school uses it so that there is a cushion between the end of one lunch and the start of another, because otherwise there would be chaos and kids only have 25 minutes to eat as it is.  Even if you eliminated it, it's not enough time to add 16 minutes to all the periods.

I guess you could do something math-y during advisory?  That's the only way I can think of getting to 60 minutes.  [b]But of course this goes back to the argument that there is no data showing that 16 more minutes of math per day is some sort of game-changer[/b].  And my kid likes to take a mental break during advisory and read a book.  But they already do well in math and extra time won't make a difference.  [/quote]

This is a great point and question and what MSDE should have confirmed before putting it into policy that all LEAs in the state have to comply with.

In general, I believe in the general idea that kids probably need more math instruction than they've been getting, but what makes 60 minutes the magic number and what kind of an upswing do we anticipate getting for this investment of time and resources?[/quote]

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