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]

Because to offer an hour a day of math in middle school, you would either need to have 6 60-minute periods a day (only 1 elective) or two math periods out of seven 45-ish minute periods a day (only 1 elective) and MCPS has (rightly in my view) decided not to do either.[/quote]

There are only 6 hrs 45 minutes in a middle school day, and once you account for lunch and passing periods, it's down to about 6 hours. So that means the rest could be 6 one-hour periods or 7 43-ish minute periods.

If it is 6 one-hour periods, kids can only take one elective (zero if they are at a school that requires foreign language.)  If it is seven 43 minute periods kids would need 7 periods to be spent on math per week to get to 300 minutes, so at most they could have 1 full elective plus a three-day-a-week elective (and that may be too complicated schedule-wise so it may just be 1 elective.)  [/quote]

I may not be understanding your math here, but remember that you can't really use the "excess" 45 minutes for lunch and passing periods under your scenario because kids have math during different periods, so all period lengths need to be the same for everyone.  So you basically need 6 periods for the 5 MS core courses English, World Studies, Math, PE/Health, Science) and lunch.  And if your kid is in a magnet program, they have a required 7th period (for humanities it's media).  So that means someone in a magnet program doesn't have any foreign language or other elective at all.

Of course, the [/quote]

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