Anonymous
11/11/2013 17:25
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
If your PP is a math prodigy, she is not going to get what she needs in public school, period. And it's not because MCPS insists on keeping prodigies down. It's because public school systems are not good at serving the needs of prodigies. Get her a math tutor.
Anonymous
11/11/2013 14:09
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The big issue is that math is limited this year to 2 choices: either math 4 or math 4/5. This is unacceptable. Some of these kids are ready and able to do so much more but their math options are artificially limited. It is about 2.0 dumbing down HHS curriculum.
I attended a meeting with MCPS high school teachers who discussed the fact that many of their students were not ready for the highest level math and had missed developing a strong number sense. They all agreed on what they were seeing in the classroom. I'm not disagreeing that some kids are math prodigies but it's a small percentage. If your kid is in 4/5 math this year, they'll take Algebra I in 7th grade. That hardly seems remedial. Are you a mathematician? Just wondering why everybody is in such a hurry for Differential Equations in high school. If your child needs college level math in HS, they can be bussed to MC.
I'm the pp you quoted and, yes, my child is a math kid (prodigy, who knows or cares for our purposes here). My issue isn't about being in a hurry to get to Diff Equations in HS, my issue is that my kid is LOSING interest in math. She used to love it and look forward to doing math and thinking about math and talking about it. Now, she says it is boring and she doesn't even like doing the homework she has. She's right, it is boring and repetitive to her. My issue is that she, and other kids like her, could very well turn off to an important subject that they happen to be very good at.
If you can't get advanced math at the HGC, where can you get it? Maybe the real question is: why does MCPS insist on keeping the (maybe very small) highest-achieving/highest-ability math kids down? Why not let them thrive at their level?
Anonymous
11/11/2013 03:49
Subject: Re:HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Kudos to MCPS for agreeing to revert to the old curriculum when it became apparent the new curriculum was not as enriched/rigorous. It is unusual for such a big school system to make adjustments in mid-course and I applaud them for putting the kids ahead of politics and/or inertia.
While I agree it's good that they recognized their mistake, is it too much to expect that they would have done the upfront work to avoid the mistake to begin with? For over 2 years, parents have been saying that C2.0 isn't as challenging as MCPS is promising. Last year, MCPS took away the accelerated math options for all MCPS students and said C2.0 would be rigorous enough. Parents complained all year and this year, MCPS was forced to reinstate a compacted option that would get kids to Algebra in 7th grade. During the year, many parents expressed concerns about the HGC and C2.0. So, MCPS should have been on notice that C2.0 would not cut it for the HGC.
As a parent and taxpayer, I am honestly tired of the crappy rollout of C2.0. Nothing has been beta-tested before providing to our kids. There is no evidence that this curriculum will result in better outcomes. Materials are literally coming out moments before the teachers need them.
I don't think MCPS really deserves "applause" for recognizing a mistake that many people foresaw and they choose to willfully ignore.
It gets worse. Read Pearson's financial data and you'll cry when you realize our schools are strapped while Pearson celebrates its $1B profit and huge opportunity in the North American market.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 20:32
Subject: Re:HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Looks like Differential Equations IS offered at MCPS high schools. Seems reasonable to me.
Which MCPS high schools offer Differential Equations, and how many students take it?
It's listed as being offered at B-CC. I have no idea what the enrollment is.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 20:11
Subject: Re:HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Looks like Differential Equations IS offered at MCPS high schools. Seems reasonable to me.
Which MCPS high schools offer Differential Equations, and how many students take it?
Anonymous
11/07/2013 20:07
Subject: Re:HGC 4th grade this year
Looks like Differential Equations IS offered at MCPS high schools. Seems reasonable to me.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 19:34
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:The big issue is that math is limited this year to 2 choices: either math 4 or math 4/5. This is unacceptable. Some of these kids are ready and able to do so much more but their math options are artificially limited. It is about 2.0 dumbing down HHS curriculum.
I attended a meeting with MCPS high school teachers who discussed the fact that many of their students were not ready for the highest level math and had missed developing a strong number sense. They all agreed on what they were seeing in the classroom. I'm not disagreeing that some kids are math prodigies but it's a small percentage. If your kid is in 4/5 math this year, they'll take Algebra I in 7th grade. That hardly seems remedial. Are you a mathematician? Just wondering why everybody is in such a hurry for Differential Equations in high school. If your child needs college level math in HS, they can be bussed to MC.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 15:52
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Why is math the only issue? It's also an issue if the HGC curriculum has been dumbed down.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 15:00
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
The big issue is that math is limited this year to 2 choices: either math 4 or math 4/5. This is unacceptable. Some of these kids are ready and able to do so much more but their math options are artificially limited. It is about 2.0 dumbing down HHS curriculum.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 13:12
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My child reports that his 4th grade HGC class feels like a regular class. I wonder if that will change next semester.
What else should it feel like?
It doesn't feel accelerated.
It's not accelerated. It is enriched.
Ok. My child doesn't feel like it's enriched.
My child does think that the new compacted 4/5 math is more challenging than math used to be.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 13:11
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My child reports that his 4th grade HGC class feels like a regular class. I wonder if that will change next semester.
What else should it feel like?
It doesn't feel accelerated.
It's not accelerated. It is enriched.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 13:01
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My child reports that his 4th grade HGC class feels like a regular class. I wonder if that will change next semester.
What else should it feel like?
It doesn't feel accelerated.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 11:21
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:My child reports that his 4th grade HGC class feels like a regular class. I wonder if that will change next semester.
What else should it feel like?
Anonymous
11/07/2013 11:20
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
My child reports that his 4th grade HGC class feels like a regular class. I wonder if that will change next semester.
Anonymous
11/07/2013 11:00
Subject: HGC 4th grade this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Really? Cause that's what it seems like at Bannockburn Elementary School.
I'm sorry to read this.
(It does suggest to me, however, that the idea that the best schools in MCPS are in Bethesda is wrong. My kids' school has a FARMS rate and an ESOL rate both over 20%, and my experience of Curriculum 2.0 has been great.)
Again, at the risk of putting too fine a point on this, but schools that haven't been high-achieving will (of course) have a better experience with 2.0. Schools that were high-achieving with a lot of students in advanced/enriched classes are the ones losing with 2.0. This speaks to the fact that 2.0 is damaging the higher-achieving students by taking away opportunities and pathways to advance beyond the basic level. 2.0 has always been about bringing up the bottom and keeping the top from thriving -- that should trouble everyone.
2.0 is not about keeping the top from thriving. How would keeping the top from thriving ever benefit MCPS? No, really?
And why do you assume that my school is not a high-achieving school? Just because it doesn't have a FARMS rate <5%?
Or that I am unfamiliar with high-achieving students? I have one kid in an HGC, and another kid in our home school (pre-HGC grades) who is a high achiever.
I don't know anything about Bannockburn ES, besides what's on the at-a-glance page. But if you're having problems, I suggest you start with the teachers and the principal.