Reply to rumor about compact math true?

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "rumor about compact math true?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Meanwhile, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) mathematics milestone data for the past three years indicate a decline in performance for students across grade levels, with strategic challenges demonstrated in elementary school achievement, success in Algebra 1 by Grade 8, and success in Algebra 2 by Grade 11. In addition, the recent PARCC results (attached) also reveal disturbing achievement gaps. We know we must address these trends with urgency both in the short- and long-term to ensure that more of our students are prepared for college and careers upon high school graduation.[/quote]

The data doesn't show any underperformance by students in compacted math.  Prior to 2.0, the data also did not show any underperformance of accelerated students. The "I hear that students used to be accelerated too quickly" is solely an anecdotal MCPS line to justify removing substantive acceleration in math via 2.0. The statement isn't supported by the data.

MCPS has a problem with accelerated or compacted math because it doesn't like how the racial numbers play out. Higher math scores and students qualifying for compacted or accelerated math are in the high SES areas that trend toward asian and caucasian. Clearly we shouldn't be providing asian and caucasian students with an appropriate level of accelerated math education that they perform well in because it doesn't make the county's numbers look good. [/quote]
Maybe it's anecdotal, but enough people were complaining about it.  The supporting data could just be reflecting that many students had outside tutoring, not that they were in the right math class.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/montgomery-county-public-schoo/the-highly--touted-montgomery.html

"But a work group looking at the curriculum concluded in a report that too many high school students lacked a concrete understanding math fundamentals. Too many teachers, Birnbaum reported, were complaining that even advanced students were unprepared and parents wondered why they had to hire tutors for their kids in advanced math classes."[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics