Posts
Ben learned the range, maximum, minimum, mode, and median every year from 1st grade through 4th grade. In the 5th year they learned to divide and so they taught them to calculate the mean. This is still going on in middle school -- but in the curriculum they are using, they do seem to give it less emphasis.It's a nightmare.
You brought back my Everyday Math experiences with Ben in grade school -- every day he'd come home with something in homework that they hadn't been taught. I remember the day he came home with division problems, when he hadn't been taught long division. It turned out they were intended to do the divisions with calculators -- that left them more time for learning higher-level skills like calculating the max, min, median, etc..
We're almost halfway through Year 2 in Irvington's "Phase 4" accelerated math class & the kids are dropping like flies. (Not quite, but close enough. Kids who managed last year's class pretty well are seeing their grades drop; more tutors are being hired.)
Even Ed is now talking about hiring our Own Private Math Teacher.
Which won't do much good, seeing as how even Our Own Private Math Teacher will have to practice reactive teaching to get Christopher through the tests in one piece.
7 comments:
Do you think Christopher would be better off in phase 3, especially given the importance of overlearning? Or do you think that class wouldn't be challenging enough?
I guess if he's in phase 3, he won't be able to take AP Calculus. Maybe could he take a calculus course over a summer in community college.
It's a tough decision.
oh probably
a lot of kids have dropped down; more will follow
at this point he doesn't want to move to Phase 3, so I'm not going to push him
I've given up on Christopher learning math in Irvington schools
he might learn more math in Phase 3; he might not learn more math in Phase 3; who knows?
unless they decide to host a Parent Information Night I have no way to tell
Jettisoning the irony, I think he'd probably be better off in Phase 3.
A parent who dropped one of her older kids down told me that in that year kids in Phase 3 not infrequently did better on the state tests
this whole project (getting Christopher on par with his peers in Europe & Asia) has been a debacle, start to finish
I'm sure it's not a total debacle.
Kids in our district are having a similar experience. Many kids are being exited out of accelerated math. These are (or were)strong, self-confident students, but they still need good teaching and a coherent program to learn math.
Robyn
Can I use your last comment in a post to the Irvington Parents Forum?
Hi Catherine,
Sure, you can use the comment. I heard this from another mother. My kids aren't old enough for accelerated math, so I have no direct experience.
I'm about to do battle over the same issue. I discovered a couple of months ago that since around 4th grade my kid has been tracked in such a way that he won't have access to AP calculus as a senior. I told the principal I wanted him accelerated, and he called me to argue over it.
The stated reasons? It's not fair to the high school to accelerate a kid just before high school (that was a weird one).
The real reason, revealed when I asked him point blank about it: he doesn't want to set the precedent. I said my kid has an IEP and each such case is individual, so precedent doesn't apply, and there is good evidence he'd do much better in algebra than in 3rd year connected math.
So he said I could do it, IF I could prove that my son is ready. What would that require, I asked? Demonstrate that he knows all the topics covered in 8th grade math. We argued about exactly what that meant; I claimed it shouldn't mean mastery because of all the repetition in middle school math.
In the end, I'm left feeling that I wish I had it all in writing.
Post a Comment