Reply to Algebra Exam results from January

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]According to my child's teacher, they (teachers) are given very detailed lesson plans and know what to teach from day to day and have specific worksheets to give the students for every day of instruction.  They do have flexibility on how they teach the material but there is a step by step approach from the county.  This is per my student (I did not speak to the teacher about this) but I have no reason to doubt the veracity of what he says.  
We have not felt the need for a textbook but I believe the teacher made some online resources available to the students through edline and that is what they are supposed to use if they need further clarification outside class.
[/quote]

I see one child getting this type of instruction and one child not.  The principal said the materials provided by the Central Office are optional tools that the teacher can elect NOT to use.  The child that gets the materials though did better on the exam than the child who does not.

With that being said, I often copied the material for my child who did not receive such handouts, however, on day to day homework they have not been of help.  The teacher not using the Central Office materials has not been teaching the same topics.  They are like two different courses.  So the handouts on their own have not been a replacement for a highly skilled and organized teacher.[/quote]
[b]I am not sure if you are in a position to judge but in your opinion are the Central Office materials high quality?[/b]  There have been a lot of posts bemoaning the lack of a textbook and I wonder whether these materials are meant to substitute for the textbook.  On the other hand if the materials simply replicate likely test and exam questions, all they are doing is teaching the child how to do well on a test or exam and they might not be learning enough to do well in Algebra II or Calculus. [/quote]

The handouts and worksheets are not as in depth as a textbook.  A textbook often goes step by step into the principals and rationale on how to solve problems.  A student can often supplement a teachers explanation or even self teach material (if absent from class) with what a textbook provides.

The MCPS 2.0 handouts for Geometry were a few examples of problems and often glossed over definitions or written explanations.  They did, however, come numbered with the Student Learning Objective which helped to keep the student notes organized.  The course is designed to be taught in sequential order so it was helpful to keep the handouts in sequential order for the progression in material.

Overall, the 2.0 handouts do teach to the test.  Kids are not learning more in depth, they are just learning to spit out the answers in a different format.  However, without exposing kids to the same materials and practice, the county exams are unfairly punitive to kids that are in schools who are doing their own curriculum and methodology.[/quote]
This is what I was afraid of.  My child is bright enough to use these type of handouts to ace the tests and exams but I worry about how much he is actually learning.  I guess we'll find out when he gets to the really high level classes.  He often reports that the tests have questions that are nearly identical to the ones on the handouts - just slightly different numbers.  The teachers are not doing these students any favors by sticking to the handouts.  I plan to have my child study using a textbook during the summer vacation but I can't bring myself to make him do this during the school year.[/quote]

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