I've heard that one casualty may be accelerating in math. Apparently the Common Core for math is that every year it builds on itself; it isn't in discrete topics anymore like Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, etc. So a gifted child can't accelerate through it.
With our local public school gifted program, my son will take Algebra I in 7th grade, Geometry in 8th grade, Algebra II in 9th, pre-calculus in 10th, then two years of Calculus. I'd hate to see that change.
It
is changing-- at least through Algebra II.
It's a more "integrated" math progression, which sounds fine until you dig into what curriculum modifications are being rolled out by the big curriculum/textbook houses as a result.
It's more spiraling pedagogy that goes over the same concepts
relentlessly drilling them...
and frankly, there is VERY little supporting analytical coverage, which means that the same structural problems that exist for the low-end NOW are going to persist in it under Common Core.
This, by the way, is my DD's report on the basis of the Course 3 math students that she has been seeing in tutoring sessions over the past year. They have underlying gaps in
understanding that are going unaddressed, and no amount of drilling on geometry theorems is going to help them
understand those theorems without filling them in first.
