Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Montgomery back to basics in math classes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/04/AR2010110407581.html

Montgomery back to basics in math classes
By Michael Birnbaum
Friday, November 5, 2010

Montgomery County long has pushed its students to take ever-more-challenging math at ever-younger ages. Now educators will back off in the hope that more time and depth with the basics will yield payoffs in high school and beyond, school officials said Thursday.

Elementary and middle school students will no longer skip grade levels in math in large numbers. Instead, they will spend extra time on fundamental mathematical concepts that will better prepare them for Algebra I in the eighth grade and advanced math topics in high school. The school system aims to increase the number of high school students taking courses such as calculus and statistics.

The new direction comes as part of a sweeping set of recommended changes in the math curriculum released Thursday. Some of the recommendations cost money and require school board approval. Others, including the change in math acceleration, do not, and will be implemented quickly, officials said.

"Some students were placed in classes, and perhaps they weren't as prepared as they should have been," said Frieda Lacey, deputy superintendent of Montgomery schools, who sat on the work group that wrote the report. She said it was better to tackle topics in greater depth.

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I wonder if this move will be good for gifted kids in the Montgomery schools. A previous article is

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060303438.html
Accelerated Math Adds Up To a Division Over Merits
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 4, 2008

No, this will help many students that need it. They are afraid to ability group so they will expect all students to be the same.

I am having a similar problem in science. My daughter will be expected to take a lower science course in ninth grade because most students need the extra remediation.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Charles Murray calls this educational romanticism --- the belief that everyone can be above average. Or that 20% of students can be highly or profoundly gifted:


It is a mistake for schools to believe that forcing children into coursework they aren't ready for is a way to "raise standards." Raising standards means that by the end of 5th grade math, a child understands 5th grade math (even if this happens when the child is 12 or 13 or whatever).

I doubt very much that 80% of students could get through Algebra 1 by the end of 9th grade, let alone 8th. Some kids just need more time. They need to go more slowly and get more practice. And this completely okay. In my opinion, it's better to understand algebra in 10th or 11th or 12th grade than it is to be confused by it and hate math at an earlier time. Not to mention that a few kids will never really be able to get algebra, just like a few kids will never be able to draw competently or whatever. And this is okay. As is admitting that it's the case.

<sigh>

Val

We have the opposite problem in Orange County. I was just on the phone with the gifted coordinator for our public elementary school. Basically, the ONLY gifted programming they do for elementary aged kids is "enrichment" which is AT (NOT above) grade level. So they take all the first graders out of their regular academic classes one day a week and do enrichment activities (an example she gave is "they write their own word problems"). There is no presentation of work above grade level standards, and they do not believe in either grade skipping OR subject acceleration. All I can say is that this is going to go nowhere fast. DS is in K, and is working at third grade level math. They have no interest in fostering his abilities, and say "that's not what gifted education is about. We just want to present the material in a different way for different learning styles." Hello? The truly gifted kids already KNOW the material. They don't need it presented in a different way, because they don't really need it presented at all!

This is very frustrating to me. We are going to be scheduling our meeting with the gifted coordinator and the gifted teacher for first graders (they don't have a program for K, but said he could possibly come work with the first graders if we wanted). We'll see, but I suspect we will stick with our private school and work through whatever accomodations we need to with them.

My daughter was in classes for math enrichment. At the time (five years ago), I felt that this was not enough. Now, I realize that very little is actually covered in a class and most of the really cool parts of math are never explored.

She is now in Geometry in 8th grade and loves math and patterns and has a very deep appreciation of math. She is hating the proofs, but has a much more fulfilled understanding of math than most of the students. My fear is that her class won't get to the interesting parts at the end of the book, such as topology.

I get frustrated at how little is covered in all subjects. The students often get the overview.

My understanding from the teachers who have tried to explain the spiraling curriculum of Everyday Math to me (which Montgomery County uses) is that students are exposed to a wide range of higher level math and if they don't get the concept in the short time it is introduced, it comes around again next year for a brief period. Doesn't seem to be a method for deep learning.

We will supplement with EPGY, which DS7 has again expressed an interest, after a three month hiatus. Hopefully this will help.