Reply to Is FCPS ending advance math for students who are not in AAP?

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Reply to "Is FCPS ending advance math for students who are not in AAP?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It was the year 2000.  But that just proves my point.  Many ideas and reforms aren't novel new ideas, they are updates/reboots/refined versions of older ideas.  So flexible groupings were the status quo in the 80's to 90's, the pendulum moved away from that.  We then saw things like balanced literacy and "new" math.  Things seem to move further left with the equity focus, etc.  Are we starting to go back towards the center?[/quote]

So last century.

Flexible groupings are far more equitable than AAP. 
[/quote]

PP.  Yes, I agree with you.  It worked when I was a kid, things started to change when I was in college and hopefully things will swing back that direction.  I like the very small GT for those who really need it.[/quote]

DP.  Agreed.  I'm the poster who grew up in FCPS when there was a tiny GT program.  No one resented those students because it was clear they were ACTUALLY gifted and needed a separate program.  Everyone else was put into flexible groups depending on their level, and no one was locked into any one group.  Students can improve and move up, or receive remediation, depending on their abilities in each core subject.  That was the way to go.  [/quote]

I was also in that tiny GT program and I teach for FCPS right now. The dynamics of the current classroom wouldn’t support that type of program anymore. There are kids, in one classroom, at seven different math and reading levels. To be able to put students in the groups that they “should” be in is essentially illegal nowadays.[/quote]

Have you read the entire thread?  This isn't at all what is being discussed here.  It's been repeated, over and over, that what FCPS needs are flexible groupings [b]*among the entire grade level team*[/b].  So Teacher A would take all the advanced math kids, Teacher B would take the grade-level kids, Teacher C would take the remedial group.  And so on for [b]all four core subjects[/b].  No one is talking about dividing up each individual classroom into multiple levels.

And if flexible grouping is "essentially illegal" nowadays (??), then assigning 7 yr. olds to either AAP or GE should absolutely be illegal.[/quote]

This is clearly written by someone who knows nothing about teaching/education. Why don’t you go to the national Department of Education website and do a little research on ability tracking. Once you’ve read up on that, then you’ll realize why FCPS specifically pushes more minorities into AAP. [/quote]

Doesn't work though[/quote]

I am new to the forum. Why does FCPS specifically push more minorities into AAP? Thanks.[/quote]

FCPS is an academic system; ie - a school system.

[b]FCPS has repeatedly stressed academics are not their first priority.  [/b]

Equity is the FCPS school board and superintendent’s first priority.  They stress this over and over.[/quote]

Citation? [/quote]

https://wpde.com/amp/news/nation-world/marginalization-is-driving-force-for-resource-allocation-in-virginia-school-district-fairfax-county-public-schools-equity-policy-thomas-jefferson-high-school-national-merit-recognition

Google the rest yourself.[/quote]
They are pushing for MORE kids to finish Alg 1 by 8th. They are promoting acceleration. 
[/quote]
And also removing acceleration for others aiming for Algebra in 7th. Equity. [/quote]

California attempted a [b]similar approach [/b]to “equity math.”  It was a monumental disaster, both in failing to achieve equity but also in failing to educate the most capable students:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/california-math-framework-algebra/675509/

Fairfax county’s school board and the superintendent are leading FCPS down a path to disaster.[/quote]

They were also pushing more kids to take Alg 1 in 8th? [/quote]
DP Heterogenous classes[/quote]

How is that relevant to what FCPS is doing? FCPS is pushing to have MORE kids take Alg 1 in 8th, not eliminating it. [/quote]
With E3, FCPS is making Grade 3 and Grade 4 math classes heterogenous; they are no longer offering separate advanced and regular math classes. CA also emphasized heterogenous classes. When you put a wide range of kids in one class, it makes it hard for teachers. They are not going to be able to successfully differentiate for everyone's needs, meaning they'll target instruction to the middle, shortchanging kids at either end. When they tried this in San Francisco, it widened the achievement gap, with kids at the lowest end of the spectrum hit the hardest. That is why some posters are questioning whether kids will be prepared for 8th grade Algebra in practice, if the method used to get there is E3's heterogenous math class approach. [/quote]

They did many other changes in SF. Not comparable. [/quote]
But heterogenous classes were one of biggest changes in San Francisco. And now FCPS is beginning down that path as well.[/quote]

Big scary heterogenous classes in early elementary! How will you sleep at night? [/quote]

Classes that bore my kid to tears in the name of equity programs that are failing make it hard to sleep at night. The baseball game analogy doesn’t work because this isn’t viewing a field and we are not changing people’s visibility. We are telling kids who can do more that they have to wait for the kids who are behind. The kids who are behind are not less capable intellectually but most of them have not been exposed to academic concepts from an early age. And there is not a thing that we can do to fix that.

My kid had parents reading to him, playing math games with him, coloring, naming shapes, and talking to him since he was born. We had/have lots of books in the house. We have an independent reading time before he goes to bed. We can help with homework. Most of the kids who are behind have had 0 to limited exposure to academics at home. Their parents didn’t read to them or play math games or color with them naming colors and shapes. There are no books in the house and the parents can’t help them with homework. We, as a society, cannot send adults into their house to do those things from birth or even now in school.

Holding back other kids to try and “level the playing field” is not working. The education gap is growing, not shrinking. Programs like E3 are denying kids who have the ability to do more the chance to work to their potential in the name of helping kids who started behind and are falling farther behind. Those kids would end up in non-college prep programs in every other country in the world but we are sacrificing the kids who can do more in the name of equity.

Provide classes for the kids who are behind. Provide tutoring. Do all of those things. Help where we can. Find the outliers who have the drive to push forward without help at home and work with them. But stop screwing over kids whose parents were able to do more.

As it is, not only could I afford books and games and do things with my kid to help him be ready for school, I can afford enrichment. So he is going to RSM and working to his potential in math. He does STEM activities outside of school that introduces him to concepts in a fun but challenging way. He reads. He is going to summer camps that introduce chemistry and coding and robotics. So he is bored at school, but he already was bored at school, but he is enjoying learning in other places. And he is looking forward to honors classes and AP as he gets older because school will be more engaging.

But sure, let’s keep wasting ES for 75% of the kids in the name of leveling a playing field that we have no chance of actually leveling. [/quote]

If he’s so bored at school, then why don’t you pull him out?[/quote]

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