Reply to Compacted Math

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Compacted Math"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Compacted math decisions for next year are going home today if they have not already been sent.  All 3rd graders will be given a letter that either says they will be in 4th grade math or compacted math. If you do not agree with the decision, there is a form you can fill out.[/quote]

Is this a new process? I have a 4th grader this year who is not in compacted math, and we never heard a single thing last year about testing or math placement or anything.[/quote]

Yes, selection and notification processes are new this year.[/quote]

Hi PP, if you are the teacher, did they totally do away with the results of the UCARE assessment?  Decide to consider every 3rd Grader for 4/5 placement instead of just a select few?  Or what?  I got the letter out of the backpack just now, and notice that there is no mention of the UCARE testing, cut-off score, etc., as has been standard in past years.

Thanks![/quote]

It wasn't completely thrown out, just not given the same amount of weight as in past years.  We were allowed to look at a wider range of children and include more teacher feedback and Map scores to help us make the decision.  To be honest, I think we are going to run into a problem with more kids being allowed in with fewer restrictions.  The math gets much faster and much harder quickly (by 6th grade math), so kids that were fine in 3rd grade are really struggling by the second half of 5th grade compacted math. [b] And at that point, there is no slow down through the end of high school![/b][/quote]

But there are ways to slow down in reality.  They may be discouraged by Guidance Counsellors or something.  But a child could be placed in 6th Grade math in 6th grade if they were not succeeding in the 2nd half of 5/6.  They could repeat Algebra in 8th, if Algebra in 7th didn't work out (and the first grade is expunged from the GPA).  I think there are self-esteem issues of thinking "I'm not good at math", peer issues (none of the friends had to slow down), but academically it seems possible to address too kids that may be moving too fast before they get to high school. [/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