Anonymous wrote:The new state guidance requires schools to do Individualized Acceleration Plans and hold IAP meetings (with a committee including a "school administrator, mathematics educator, counselor, family member, the student, and a gifted specialist when available") for all kids in accelerated math, which is a good idea in theory but probably will be very time-consuming. No wonder they want to decrease the numbers.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/sample-individualized-acceleration-plan-a.pdf
https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/math-acceleration-guidance-a.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except in the wealthier schools, many of our kids never got anything in ES or MS.

When CM was really for the advanced kids, and not for those whose parents were pushy, the 5 or 6 kids in our ES took a bus to the MS for acceleration.

Then some parents pushed for their kids to be in CM, so more than half the grade got pushed into CM which they then offered at the ES. I volunteered there, and it was clear that many kids did not belong in that class. I was thinking my youngest should probably be on track, not accelerated, but the teacher told me that because so many kids were pushed into CM, the kids left in the "on track" class were very behind, and my kid would be completely bored. It became opposite extremes with nothing in the middle.

That said, I'm super glad my kids will be out of MCPS. CM was necessary for one of my kids, who is now in college as a dual math/STEM major, getting a 4.0.

The dumbing down of MoCo kids. This will hurt those whom MCPS is trying to help the most. Some parents will just get tutors or teach their kids at home so their kids will be more advanced come HS so that they can take AP BC calc in 11th grade. It's the kids whose parents don't have the means/will to do the same who will suffer the most in the end.

This perfectly illustrates the problem with MCPS, which is constantly lurching from idea to idea rather than using proven change management tools.

In the early 2010s (and before), CM was truly only for a handful of kids per school. It might have been a little too tightly gate-kept, but not by much.

Then they lurched to throwing it open for every kid at or above grade level, so most of the kids in a lot of schools. They could have just opened it up a touch, but they threw open the gates entirely. SHOCKER - it did not set kids up for success, but the by time that cohort of kids started spinning out (usually pre-calculus), we'd already gone through two superintendents.

So now they are lurching back, without any sort of change management (buffer year) or any in-between approaches. It's just so dumb and avoidable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new state guidance requires schools to do Individualized Acceleration Plans and hold IAP meetings (with a committee including a "school administrator, mathematics educator, counselor, family member, the student, and a gifted specialist when available") for all kids in accelerated math, which is a good idea in theory but probably will be very time-consuming. No wonder they want to decrease the numbers.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/sample-individualized-acceleration-plan-a.pdf
https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/math-acceleration-guidance-a.pdf

That said, if your kid scores a 4 on the MCAP they have to do one of these for them, so folks in that situation should insist on one, convene the team, and push for the acceleration you think your kid needs. The guidance is pretty clear that acceleration is appropriate for kids who've already mastered all grade-level standards. (Not sure if this requirement kicks in next year or the year after, though, but you can try for it for next year.)

Is there guidance for acceleration other than in math?

Anonymous wrote:So, making current 4th graders repeat content is annoying, but parents may want to keep their eye on the ball here when it comes to math.

The REAL issue is that this model has kids doing Pre-Calculus in 9th grade, but then Calculus A/B and B/C in succession.

For a highly able kid, it makes zero sense to take both A/B and B/C, and pretending that it does make sense is likely covering up the fact that MCPS does not intend to provide those kids with a real math track beyond 10th grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new state guidance requires schools to do Individualized Acceleration Plans and hold IAP meetings (with a committee including a "school administrator, mathematics educator, counselor, family member, the student, and a gifted specialist when available") for all kids in accelerated math, which is a good idea in theory but probably will be very time-consuming. No wonder they want to decrease the numbers.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/sample-individualized-acceleration-plan-a.pdf
https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/math-acceleration-guidance-a.pdf

That said, if your kid scores a 4 on the MCAP they have to do one of these for them, so folks in that situation should insist on one, convene the team, and push for the acceleration you think your kid needs. The guidance is pretty clear that acceleration is appropriate for kids who've already mastered all grade-level standards. (Not sure if this requirement kicks in next year or the year after, though, but you can try for it for next year.)

Anonymous wrote:The new state guidance requires schools to do Individualized Acceleration Plans and hold IAP meetings (with a committee including a "school administrator, mathematics educator, counselor, family member, the student, and a gifted specialist when available") for all kids in accelerated math, which is a good idea in theory but probably will be very time-consuming. No wonder they want to decrease the numbers.

https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/sample-individualized-acceleration-plan-a.pdf
https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/documents/dcaa/math/math-acceleration-guidance-a.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity is about making sure every child has what they need to thrive to their fullest potential. The board and district are not doing equity. Instead they're cutting gifted students off at the knees. This isn't okay.

Keep voting the Apple Ballot! This is their goal.

Oh come on. Stop blaming teachers, they don't like this either. It's central office's fault, not classroom staff.

(And yes, theoretically MCEA should be endorsing BOE members who will hold central office accountable. But apparently it is impossible to find people like that. Year after year, when they're candidates they sound like they're going to take on MCPS and make things better, and then they get into office and roll over. Not sure there's anything else MCEA can do about that.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, there will be compacted math & advanced languages (CES) for rising 4th grader in the fall 2026 & rising ENROLLED compacted math CES 5th graders? When is the final decisions?

For now the CES program still exists, but the writing on the wall for the CES is coming...

In non-magnet schools there will only be mixed-skill CKLA classes with "enrichment" (no more cohorting). And it appears no compacted math for any grade, CES or not.

They will kill CES. No reading novels for anyone now.

Anonymous wrote:Equity is about making sure every child has what they need to thrive to their fullest potential. The board and district are not doing equity. Instead they're cutting gifted students off at the knees. This isn't okay.

Anonymous wrote:Shame on Niki Porter. You already went and ruined access to CES and magnets with your ridiculous lottery, and dismantled ELC, which people loved. You’re watering down the most successful high school programs. And now this.

Teachers DO NOT differentiate. Their classes are too big, they are pressured by admin to focus on the students below grade level, who exist in every school even the better resourced schools. No one is giving them any time, resources or incentive to provide acceleration or enrichment in a mixed ability classroom and there is no accountability mechanism to check and see.

What I would love to hear out of Niki Porter is why. Why why why do you want to keep preventing the kids demonstrating academic need and readiness for above grade level instruction from accessing appropriate learning and instruction. We test these kids up the wazoo and you have plenty of data indicating lexile levels, mastery of algebraic concepts, etc. The data shows you are teaching them using materials well below where you should be. Lumping all kids together regardless of readiness helps NO ONE. Why why why do you want to do that which harms kids and helps no one?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity is about making sure every child has what they need to thrive to their fullest potential. The board and district are not doing equity. Instead they're cutting gifted students off at the knees. This isn't okay.

Keep voting the Apple Ballot! This is their goal.