For those here who's kids have been taking a compressed version of common core math how is it working for your gifted kids? I'm mostly interested at the junior high & high school level, but if anyone's school system has added compressed math for elementary school that would also be relevant. Please include details like what grades they are compacting, if they felt they were missing information, or is going too slow.
For those who don't know what compression means. Common core isn't a spiral curriculum, so skipping isn't recommended for acceleration. Instead it's recommended for the fastest kids to take compacted classes. Pushing 7/8/9th grade in two junior years. Or 9/10/11th (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II) in two years. These are the two more common configurations. As I've posted earlier 8th grade math is a new class, that includes part of what was per-algebra, what used to be the first 3-4 chapters of algebra & a few chapters from geometry. The official documents from my states does not recommend compaction before 7th grade.
I'm asking this because I am on a committee that is trying to figure how to change math tracking for my school district in response to thew new common core math curriculum for 7-12th grade. Many of the junior high teachers feel very strongly that they want to eliminate tracking in junior high, although I don't think that will happen. Too many very bright and advanced mathematicians in my school district. One of the things we are trying to figure out is a way to add more entry points into the advanced tracks, for a kid who wasn't ready for advanced math at 12 but might be at 15.
I know several posters were discussing this as an issue last spring/summer.
Last edited by bluemagic; 12/03/14 09:48 AM.
