Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 11:06     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I spoke to my son's teacher. Each principal is handling things differently. My principal is moving everyone forward but they are going to review everyone at the end of the 1st quarter and knock kids down who are not ready. He said that other schools are following the county recommendations and moving kids down for the start of the year as it can be traumatic to have to switch classes midway through. I am not sure what is best, but I know I will be working with my child this summer.


Wow, that's very different than our case, where they're planning to cut down from 3/4 compacted math classes in the school to just 1/4. They said that compacted math was always meant for a very small subset of kids, but we know that the kids at our school are much more advanced in math than the average. For instance, my son got a 95th percentile nationally on the Cogat, whereas in MCPS it was just 77th, but we know that the MCPS score was based on schools with similar FARMs rates. (And not all kids take the Cogat.) My point being probably a lot more than 25% of the kids at our school are in the top 10-15% nationally in math and that they are not served by the regular curriculum. They're making it sound like you have to be a genius to be in compacted math and I just don't think that's the case.


MCPS has the same scores for all the schools, not just the rich schools. All kids who take the Cogat.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 11:04     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:I spoke to my son's teacher. Each principal is handling things differently. My principal is moving everyone forward but they are going to review everyone at the end of the 1st quarter and knock kids down who are not ready. He said that other schools are following the county recommendations and moving kids down for the start of the year as it can be traumatic to have to switch classes midway through. I am not sure what is best, but I know I will be working with my child this summer.


Wow, that's very different than our case, where they're planning to cut down from 3/4 compacted math classes in the school to just 1/4. They said that compacted math was always meant for a very small subset of kids, but we know that the kids at our school are much more advanced in math than the average. For instance, my son got a 95th percentile nationally on the Cogat, whereas in MCPS it was just 77th, but we know that the MCPS score was based on schools with similar FARMs rates. (And not all kids take the Cogat.) My point being probably a lot more than 25% of the kids at our school are in the top 10-15% nationally in math and that they are not served by the regular curriculum. They're making it sound like you have to be a genius to be in compacted math and I just don't think that's the case.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 11:02     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
I was told that DC was going forward with 4/5 and there would be the same number of classes as other years.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 10:54     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:I spoke to my son's teacher. Each principal is handling things differently. My principal is moving everyone forward but they are going to review everyone at the end of the 1st quarter and knock kids down who are not ready. He said that other schools are following the county recommendations and moving kids down for the start of the year as it can be traumatic to have to switch classes midway through. I am not sure what is best, but I know I will be working with my child this summer.


Our school seems to be moving most if not everyone forward to 5/6 (I’m guessing unless 4/5 was a really bad fit). They did send out a list of concepts the kids are expected to have learned this past year and will need to know before starting 5/6 (along with links to practice assignments), which is really helpful.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 10:39     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
I spoke to my son's teacher. Each principal is handling things differently. My principal is moving everyone forward but they are going to review everyone at the end of the 1st quarter and knock kids down who are not ready. He said that other schools are following the county recommendations and moving kids down for the start of the year as it can be traumatic to have to switch classes midway through. I am not sure what is best, but I know I will be working with my child this summer.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 10:36     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:

Most kids who go forward in math have parents who supplement, hire tutors, etc. regardless of COVID as MCPS math is painfully slow. We always used workbooks.


We need to have a conversation as to what "most" means. That is absolutely not true at every school. Might be true in your friend group, but not across the county.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 10:34     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
We just got an email a few minutes from our principal. We're fine for 5/6, wondering about others.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 10:17     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about 4/5?


Not us.


Not us either. We were told tomorrow, Tuesday.


Does that mean we can expect a letter home then? Or an email? Thanks!


We got a paper letter.


We are virtual - are you? Just curious what to look for.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2021 10:05     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Letter is from the school, recommending to speak to someone within the school if you have questions.
Anonymous
Post 06/14/2021 22:17     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Thanks PPs. Our school hasn’t said anything about math placement, so it is helpful to hear that some have announced. Are the letters from central office or from your school?
Anonymous
Post 06/14/2021 22:11     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about 4/5?


Not us.


Not us either. We were told tomorrow, Tuesday.


Does that mean we can expect a letter home then? Or an email? Thanks!


We got a paper letter.
Anonymous
Post 06/14/2021 21:24     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about 4/5?


Not us.


Not us either. We were told tomorrow, Tuesday.


Does that mean we can expect a letter home then? Or an email? Thanks!


I was told a letter among the final distribution materials.
Anonymous
Post 06/14/2021 20:48     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about 4/5?


Not us.


Not us either. We were told tomorrow, Tuesday.


Does that mean we can expect a letter home then? Or an email? Thanks!
Anonymous
Post 06/14/2021 20:40     Subject: Compacted Math- FYI
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about 4/5?


Not us.


Not us either. We were told tomorrow, Tuesday.
Anonymous
Post 06/14/2021 20:27     Subject: Re:Compacted Math- FYI
Is anyone hearing their 4th grader didn't move up to 5/6? I have twins and one in CES. And haven't heard about either.

We didn't know our one twin not in CES was in 4/5 until school started this year. Had no idea. Have others experienced the same? We haven't received any communication from either our ES schools about compacted math and its changes.