Master of none, I started a thread last spring about the meaning of rigor. It's the new buzz word for the common core, and as far as I can tell, it now lacks meaning.
The switch from "mile wide and an inch deep" to "an inch wide and a mile deep" is problematic for those kids who, given and inch, will take a mile.
Our district is not starting CC math at the elementary level until next week, because training for the teachers didn't start until last week, finishing up today. So already, my 2nd grader is getting less math by nature of the inch wide, but at least with a month less of instruction time.
We fielded some inquiries from one of the HS teachers about "why we were pushing DS ahead," but once she got to know him a little and was made aware of his test scores, she understood his deal and had no objections to his acceleration plan.
We're finding that DD has to prove herself every year, and we're not yet dealing with the high school. It's sad to think that the high school teachers don't trust the elementary school administration's judgment, particularly considering how conservative they are in allowing accelerations.
Pearson's Digits for the middle school, jury is still out on that one.
This jury is back from deliberations with two thumbs down. It's very similar in approach to Everyday Math, made worse by online pre-algebra homework where half the questions are multiple choice. Multiple choice is the cop out for a poorly implemented system in my book. Worse, reference materials (formerly known as a textbook) are now scattered across two sections of the website, a workbook, and the teacher notes - to be downloaded from a different website.
