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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a new poster, but I am a 4th grade teacher in the county.  To clarify some things, this has been a crazy few days. On Thursday we were given the guidance that kids were required to score a 251 on map tests to continue in compacted math. When that was posted it was fact with official guidance from the county.

This set off a flurry of activity. On Friday, the principals met to learn the details and ask the tough questions. The result of that meeting was the lowering of standards to the 90th percentile.

I don’t know any teachers, myself included, who do not feel that the standards need to be raised. The problem is with how they are doing it and with timing. If it had been done during the first quarter, that would have made sense. But after a full year, it’s pretty harmful for some kids.

An example is I have a student who has easily scored all 5’s on district testing, quickly learns things, loves math and is a perfect addition to the class. He speaks often about how he loves being in a class with kids who all love math.  He started the year at the 75th percentile and ended the year at the 88th percentile. So as he has been learning the material, he has been a sponge. Using even the lowered standards, he is not allowed to continue. This kid will suffer next year and there are a lot like him.

There is a big difference between 5th grade classrooms between schools. When the majority of kids in the school are above 50% on Map testing, a teacher can work with the curriculum and have time to enrich. In a school like mine, where the average map test is closer to the 25th percentile and many are below the 10th percentile, the higher kids really do get ignored.

[b]I really wish there were leveled math classes[/b]. Maybe they wouldn’t be in a compacted class, but an advanced grade level class would at least give these kids some attention. I really wish there was something I could do for the kids that have worked hard this year and as a reward will be repeating half of a year of curriculum (the same half that they have already shown full mastery of).[/quote]

Those of us who have been in MCPS for awhile remember the days of the leveled math classes in the early 2000's.  I sometimes miss those days.  It worked well for most kids to be in classes with similar performing students.  Unfortunately, the lowest kids were in class together and had no sparks to learn from in their peer group.  It was also very hard on the teacher who was supposed to get great scores on their unit tests  just like his/her colleagues with more able students.  That's why MCPS moved away from leveled classes.  The lowest performing students needed more peers to learn from.  Now we have a huge range of abilities in each class.  Unfortunately, the highest performing kids do not get enriched because so much time has to be spent with the lowest kids.   Next  year there is supposed to be a big focus on enrichment in all math classes but most Eureka problem sets are only ten questions.  You can hone a lesson (differentiate) as much as you want but with 10 questions there are still kids who will need more.  [/quote]

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