1. The "equal outcomes" ideology is new to me so I'll have to look into that. And kind of scary, actually. I'm not sure if our district is operating that way but definitely something to examine.
2. Spaghetti, thank you for your insight. DD8's teacher does act like what she's teaching is difficult. At the last meeting we had, the teacher said she'd have DD do the 3rd grade math lesson on measurement because they were going to measure to the 1/4-inch--and she said this like it was a huge deal. Like using a ruler to measure was difficult to master. Sigh.
The other teacher we've been in conversation with is the math curriculum leader for the district. He originally told us DD8 has a good conceptual understanding of 3rd grade math, then a month later told me DD needs to be re-evaluted on 3rd grade concepts to make sure she understands. What?!
And the teacher keeps talking about going deeper into the material. I understand that there's surface understanding, and then there's understanding at a deeper level. But they get so focused on this "deeper learning" stuff that they don't get that DD8 has gone as deep as she can go with the knowledge they've given her. If they would teach her new stuff, she could go even deeper! But when the pool is shallow, you can only go so deep!
How exasperating!
