Jump to content

Menu

FYI: Collegeboard middle school math program (California comon core ed)


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 128
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

The California version has algebra 1 in 7th as the first pathway. Geometry in 8th, Algebra 2 in 9th, AP Stats and Calculus anytime in 10th to 12th grade. Just below the "Model Mathematics Courses, by Grade Level" table, it says "Local districts determine which course offerings and sequences best meet the needs of students. The table above provides guidance on possible course-taking sequence in higher mathematics. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of courses or sequence of courses that a student could take."

There is nothing in California's version against acceleration or compaction.  (page 58 of link)

 

 

 

That might push parents to jump ship to the chartered schools like Ocean Grove and CAVA which still allow subject acceleration.

 

 

Aracadia,

 

Thank you for providing this information.  This is good news for California and potentially other states who may decide to follow a similar, more flexible, pattern.  The more of us reviewing the standards the better informed the group will be as some go before their respective school boards to discuss these options.

 

i-MjKCjMq.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although both of these threads are for the most part way above me, I am concerned. I have a STEM student that is 3rd/4th grade. All this transitional and testing mess is definitely going to impact us. We haven't decided yet whether or not to homeschool high school since we have a strong STEM magnet nearby, but I feel like I have to pay attention to CCS because of what it could do to that school and his math sequence in general.

 

The school district and the school still have the final say.  You have to keep up with the "gossip" of whatever happens to the schools you might sent your child too, unfortunately there is no easier way.

 

 

Prior to CC, local middle school placed GATE kids into preA in 6th, algebra in 7th, and geometry in 8th. Now my friend (her daughter will be in 6th next year) is being told all kids take Math 6. No differentiation. We don't know if that will change in 7th and 8th. Hopefully there will be different tracks in upper grades.

 

 

I've seen this in the various districts we've lived in in CA.  But that could be changing as well if they decide they don't have to or want to anymore.

 

 

This is what I read in the acceleration options document for California.

 

"Understanding that the CCSSM are more rigorous than California’s previous standards for mathematics, there will still be some students who are able to move through the mathematics quickly. These students may choose to take an accelerated or enhanced mathematics program beginning in eighth grade or earlier so they can take college-level mathematics (e.g. Advanced Placement Calculus, Statistics or International Baccalaureate) in high school. "

 

"It is essential that multiple measures are used to determine a student’s readiness for acceleration. Districts should create a system for gathering evidence to determine if a student is prepared for an accelerated pathway. Placement assessments (including but not limited to SBAC assessments) that include constructed responses should be used to determine students’ conceptual understanding. The assessments should incorporate performance items that address multiple domains. In addition, the assessments should measure a student’s ability to demonstrate the skills included in the Mathematical Practice Standards. Many schools and districts in California use commercially produced assessments; however others use valid and reliable district-created exams. A portfolio of student work may be collected as evidence of readiness in addition to student grade reports and assessment data from their previous math courses."

 

"The Achieve Pathways Group has provided “compacted†pathways in which the standards from Grade 7, Grade 8, and the Algebra I (or Mathematics I) course could be compressed into an accelerated pathway for students in grades 7 and 8, allowing students to enter the Geometry (or Mathematics II) course in grade 9. "

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The Achieve Pathways Group has provided “compacted†pathways in which the standards from Grade 7, Grade 8, and the Algebra I (or Mathematics I) course could be compressed into an accelerated pathway for students in grades 7 and 8, allowing students to enter the Geometry (or Mathematics II) course in grade 9. "

 

But that isn't really that accelerated. (it isn't accelerated at all in our homeschool.  That is the same path my completely avg math students have taken.)   It only means alg in 8th grade since the Mathematics III course is alg 2.  

 

Also, does compaction mean having to complete all materials or are students allowed to simply demonstrate mastery?  (I am so not meant to be the parent of a child in ps.   I hate bureaucracy.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But that isn't really that accelerated. (it isn't accelerated at all in our homeschool.  That is the same path my completely avg math students have taken.)   It only means alg in 8th grade since the Mathematics III course is alg 2.  

 

Also, does compaction mean having to complete all materials or are students allowed to simply demonstrate mastery?  (I am so not meant to be the parent of a child in ps.   I hate bureaucracy.)

The accelerated pathway options seems to cater to children who weren't accelerated in the earlier grades and is being offered the compaction option so that they will still be on track to do calculus in 12th grade. Or it could just be a nicer name for what California currently offer of algebra in 8th grade to all.

 

My older has done science compaction by covering all the materials in a faster pace and passing all the proctored tests.  For example, science in B&M school is once a week, schooling at home allows him to do science everyday including weekends since that is his area of interest.  For his math, he had to do the unit test for every single topic to prove mastery of the topic.  The teacher also administers tests in person to make sure he more than master the math.  My older can sit through more than 3 hours of proctored written tests non-stop which has no multiple choice questions and include word problems. I had to put in a request for subject acceleration but the choice is there. If my older had stayed in B&M instead of moving to online, I might have to much more paperwork and maybe an IEP for him but I am used to bureaucracy.

Each district implement acceleration and compaction their way. California standards are just a baseline and there would always be children who would have trouble meeting. The good thing is that the parent of a child who marginally fails to meet state standards can demand for intervention/remedial using the state test scores from 3rd grade onwards.  It is not perfect in any way but it gives parents an option, schools can inflate grades for whatever purpose but state tests scores can't be inflated (excluding fraud).

 

For those of us who have children in public schools or might send them to public schools, we have to keep abreast of what is in our state's documents and use it to get whatever services for our children.  My older loves learning with other kids and paying for outside classes every month is going to cost more than my mortgage or even sending him to a cheaper private school.

 

ETA:

Dual enrollment is still an option in my school district.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aggggg. This isn't accelerated. We took the kids out of elementary because they eliminated all the differentiation. In fact prior to CC couple of the teachers used to send home differentiated homework for my kids. After CC one of the teachers told me the principle gave the order that only the material covered in class could be sent home, putting the end to our nice arrangement.

I have no idea what our district will do in the upper grades (I don't think they have it figured out yet), but again looking at grade 6 material put together by College Board, I can tell you my 8 year old can solve a chunk of it (by no means have I gone through the entire thing. Hard to read the small script :) ). I guess at this point I have to figure out how to generate extra $60k after tax money to send the two to private school, because I doubt out district will be easy to work with. Couple of years ago our middle school prevented placing one of the girls into accelerated path only because they transferred from out of district elementary. They wouldn't even consider testing. I should probably watch another year how things proceed and then go talk to somebody. I would hate to complete AOPS algebra and geometry and end up in CC Math 1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately, many states & school districts have chosen to interpret the CC standards as a ceiling instead of a floor. Actual implementation seems to be leaning that direction, anyway.

 

I happen to be in a state that didn't adopt the CC math standards. However, reading the literature put together by the Dept of Education, my state is rewriting the standards to match them anyway.  :thumbdown:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First sample is Algebra 1, so either grade 8 or 9, correct? (Depending in school district). I just want to make sure before I scream "too easy."

 

Yes, first sample is Algebra 1 which would be grade 8 or 9.  Amazon is selling too. Amazon also have the precalculus book for sale.  So basically collegeboard have been selling textbooks for awhile. Precalculus "sample"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find it very disingenuous when publishers make a few quick changes and then announce their curriculum is CC compliant.  I wonder at one point their self-proclaimed status actually gets reviewed.  Unless they apply for state approval at some point their claims seem pretty shallow.  That is not to say that any curriculum which doesn't attempt to follow the CC is not good. In fact none of the curriculum we currently use is CC compliant.  But that is a different discussion entirely.

 

While the CC explains 'What' the standard is, it is the publisher's job to determine 'How' it is presented and implemented.  And it is that implementation which will vary greatly especially when not peer reviewed. 

 

 

Reminds me of a section from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. Dr. Feynman was put on the committee to help select CA textbooks.

 

 

They discovered that I was kind of a goldmine: I would tell them, in detail, what was good and bad in all the books; I had a reason for every rating.

 
I would ask them why they had rated this book so high, and they would say, "Let us hear what you thought about such and such a book." I would never find out why they rated anything the way they did. Instead, they kept asking me what I thought. We came to a certain book, part of a set of three supplementary books published by the same company, and they asked me what I thought about it. I said, "The book depository didn't send me that book, but the other two were nice." 
 
Someone tried repeating the question: "What do you think about that book?" 
 
"I said they didn't send me that one, so I don't have any judgment on it." 
 
The man from the book depository was there, and he said, "Excuse me; I can explain that. I didn't send it to you because that book hadn't been completed yet. There's a rule that you have to have every entry in by a certain time, and the publisher was a few days late with it. So it was sent to us with just the covers, and it's blank in between. The company sent a note excusing themselves and hoping they could have their set of three books considered, even though the third one would be late." 
 
It turned out that the blank book had a rating by some of the other members! They couldn't believe it was blank, because they had a rating. In fact, the rating for the missing book was a little bit higher than for the two others. The fact that there was nothing in the book had nothing to do with the rating. 
 
I believe the reason for all this is that the system works this way: When you give books all over the place to people, they're busy; they're careless; they think, "Well, a lot of people are reading this book, SO it doesn't make any difference." And they put in some kind of number--some of them, at least; not all of them, but some of them. Then when you receive your reports, you don't know why this particular book has fewer reports than the other books--that is, perhaps one book has ten, and this one only has six people reporting--so you average the rating of those who reported; you don't average the ones who didn't report, so you get a reasonable number. This process of averaging all the time misses the fact that there is absolutely nothing between the covers of the book! 
 
I made that theory up because I saw what happened in the curriculum commission: For the blank book, only six out of the ten members were reporting, whereas with the other books, eight or nine out of the ten were reporting. And when they averaged the six, they got as good an average as when they averaged with eight or nine. They were very embarrassed to discover they were giving ratings to that book, and it gave me a little bit more confidence. It turned out the other members of the committee had done a lot of work in giving out the books and collecting reports, and had gone to sessions in which the book publishers would explain the books before they read them; I was the only guy on that commission who read all the books and didn't get any information from the book publishers except what was in the books themselves, the things that would ultimately go to the schools. 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

*snip*

According to the appendix that Derek linked somewhere (thanks, I was reading it last night), there are two recommended paths, traditional or integrated.  So, I really don't understand using CC as an excuse to change from traditional to integrated, especially if that limits acceleration; not that it needs to - why can't the middle school simply offer "Topic 1" to 8th graders the same way it would have offered "algebra 1"?  Sometime I wonder where these administrators' brains are.  Sorry for being blunt but...

 

As it is, in that appendix, the recommendation is to offer no acceleration whatsoever prior to 7th grade with no algebra prior to 8th - not that that's terribly different from how things play out in many elementary schools, but seeing it in black and white, as a recommended rule, is sort of jarring for me.  Talk about one-size-fits-all for K-6.  I wonder if any gifted-ed advocates are aware of this.

*snip*

 

Whoa! I've been reading through the standards and completely missed this. I've been trying to figure out where the justification for eliminating all math acceleration was coming from in our state. Thanks for posting this.

 

In our district, they eliminated all math acceleration prior to 7th at the start of this year. There was pushback from some parents of kids already accelerated, so they were able to get their kids grandfathered in. There will be no acceleration in the future, and parents who didn't request grandfathering and bring their kids in for the required Saturday testing (an option that most schools didn't notify parents of) have had their kids moved back to grade level. Our neighbor's son was being pulled out for Pre Algebra last year in 4th. This year he is taking Common Core Math 5 in his regular class. The universal path for our middle schools is shaping up to be CC Math 6, CC Math 7, CC Math 8 with the promise of acceleration in high school.

 

The accelerate in high school approach has been pushed here for a while now. Theoretically it is a genuine option since the high schools are all on semester block scheduling (4 classes fall & then 4 classes spring). In the past when parents were upset with their child's middle school math placement (which for many years was at the sole discretion of their teacher regardless of test scores), the parents were told not to worry, because they could accelerate in high school. What has actually been happening (according to parents I know in real life) is that schools won't allow students to double-up during 9th or 10th, because of other course requirements. If they wait to double up in 11th, then they are too late for PSAT and it puts math in conflict with foreign language (which also requires doubling up since kids aren't allowed to start taking languages until 10th for continuity). So even in a district with block scheduling, doubling up on math isn't as easy as you would think. I don't know how it would be possible in a school with traditional year-long classes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This has been enlightening. MN accepted CC LA but rejected the math standards. (first under a republican governor then democrat, btw) I have never understood it. Their reasoning was that MN already goes above and beyond, so why change it? This never made sense because that is precisely the same reason they chose to accept the LA standards - we already do that and more, why not just accept it? I think the powers that be are trying to be vague for the sake of political correctness, but it looks like they have very good reason to not adopt the math standards. I hope they hold to that decision.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Any idea what the schools will be using for Advanced Probability and Statistics?  Generally I like the inclusion of numbers theory along with probability and statistics in math programs which has been lacking in the past.

 

Had been tied up with stuff so prodding along comparing curriculum with the standards.  The common core standards itself on probability and statistics covers little ground.

For example my kid has just covered permutations and combinations in his K12 PreAlgebra and it is covered in Holt's Algebra 1 2007 edition in 4 pages.  Its not in AoPS intro to algebra book either.

 

"CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-CP.B.9  Use permutations and combinations to compute probabilities of compound events and solve problems."

 

I'm quite sure my district is still using the Yates, Moores, Starnes book for AP Statistics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, because AoPS has an entire Intro to Counting and Probability book devoted to pretty much this topic.

 

I haven't bought that book but its good to know since my boys definitely need more practice on that.  Two days on that out of 180 days of school isn't cutting it. They can list the outcomes, draw the tree diagrams but need more practice with the nPr and nCr formulas.

Would the intro and intermediate book cover the entire high school syllabus?

 

ETA:

I'll be getting the intermediate book anyway. There are topics my kids like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't bought that book but its good to know since my boys definitely need more practice on that.  Two days on that out of 180 days of school isn't cutting it. They can list the outcomes, draw the tree diagrams but need more practice with the nPr and nCr formulas.

Would the intro and intermediate book cover the entire high school syllabus?

 

 Sorry - I don't know the intermediate book. And I am not entirely clear what the high school standards entail; too much verbiage and too little interest to dig through the educese and figure out what they are talking about.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Sorry - I don't know the intermediate book. And I am not entirely clear what the high school standards entail; too much verbiage and too little interest to dig through the educese and figure out what they are talking about.

 

I followed the link and skimmed the SOLs.   They don't seem overly deep to me.   AoPS would be way beyond what they are describing.   The chpt in Foerster seems like it covers all the probability info.   The stats stuff seemed pretty elementary.....mean, median, mode, range.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I followed the link and skimmed the SOLs.   They don't seem overly deep to me.   AoPS would be way beyond what they are describing.   The chpt in Foerster seems like it covers all the probability info.   The stats stuff seemed pretty elementary.....mean, median, mode, range.

 

I am still not clear on what exactly is new about incorporating statistics and probability... they're on the SAT and the subject SATs Math right now, with 8-12% of questions.

 

Could somebody tell me in plain English (because I am too stupid to understand the convoluted language of those "standards") what exactly is going to be added re probability that is not already covered? I'd be very grateful.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am still not clear on what exactly is new about incorporating statistics and probability... they're on the SAT and the subject SATs Math right now, with 8-12% of questions.

 

Could somebody tell me in plain English (because I am too stupid to understand the convoluted language of those "standards") what exactly is going to be added re probability that is not already covered? I'd be very grateful.

I can't answer bc it seems like much ado about nothing to me. I didn't see anything my kids hadn't covered in regular math coursework wo an additional probability/stats class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had been tied up with stuff so prodding along comparing curriculum with the standards.  The common core standards itself on probability and statistics covers little ground.

For example my kid has just covered permutations and combinations in his K12 PreAlgebra and it is covered in Holt's Algebra 1 2007 edition in 4 pages.  Its not in AoPS intro to algebra book either.

 

"CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-CP.B.9  Use permutations and combinations to compute probabilities of compound events and solve problems."

 

FWIW, there is a chapter on counting and probability in AoPS Prealgebra.  It's just a small taste of what would be in the Intro to C&P book, but I doubt that the above CC standard is really calling for something more complicated than what's covered in the prealgebra chapter.

 

I don't have the Prealgebra text handy to look again at the problems to see if "compound events" are involved.  Would a "compound event" include a problem where a person chooses a card or rolls a die, and then does so again?  Those sorts of problems are definitely included.

 

14.1 Counting with Addition and Subtraction

14.2 The Multiplication Principle

14.3 Casework

14.4 Counting Pairs

14.5 Probability

 

FWIW, here are the standards:

 

Use the rules of probability to compute probabilities of compound events.

 

CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-CP.B.6 Find the conditional probability of A given B as the fraction of B’s outcomes that also belong to A, and interpret the answer in terms of the model.

 

CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-CP.B.7 Apply the Addition Rule, P(A or B ) = P(A) + P(B ) â€“ P(A and B ), and interpret the answer in terms of the model.

 

CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-CP.B.8 (+) Apply the general Multiplication Rule in a uniform probability model, P(A and B ) = P(A)P(B|A) = P(B)P(A|B ), and interpret the answer in terms of the model.

 

CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-CP.B.9 (+) Use permutations and combinations to compute probabilities of compound events and solve problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am still not clear on what exactly is new about incorporating statistics and probability... they're on the SAT and the subject SATs Math right now, with 8-12% of questions.

 

Could somebody tell me in plain English (because I am too stupid to understand the convoluted language of those "standards") what exactly is going to be added re probability that is not already covered? I'd be very grateful.

 

This is a very good question and one which I have been mulling over as well.  I was already considering AoPS Intro to C&P.  But I've heard at least one of these courses is extremely challenging and I am also looking for a little different scope. Something else I really like are all the open courses available now such as Carnegie Mellon's Intro to Probability and Statistics.  I think I would be interested in this even if the CC wasn't emphasizing it as I see value in P&S educationally.

 

With regards to the CC requirement, it looks like it is intended to be satisfied within the normal course sequences *without* an extra class.  So an AoPS course or any other would be above and beyond the standard.  That is assuming these topics get addressed within these standard courses.  I think the diagram in Appendix A helps to break this down a bit more by course:

 

i-7hB4NvJ-XL.jpg

 

i-xkMLWr2-XL.jpg

 

Then more specific details for each course can be viewed as well.  Here is one example of Geometry:

 

i-BfGSScZ-XL.jpg

 

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_Mathematics_Appendix_A.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW, there is a chapter on counting and probability in AoPS Prealgebra. It's just a small taste of what would be in the Intro to C&P book, but I doubt that the above CC standard is really calling for something more complicated than what's covered in the prealgebra chapter.

I was referring to the nPr and nCr portion of permutations and combinations which my kid just covered in his k12 PreAlgebra textbook. That part is not in the AoPS PreAlgebra chapter. What was in that PreAlgebra chapter was covered by his 6th grade math textbook.

 

Interestingly California's CC standards expand upon the general CCS to describe in more detail Advanced Mathematics courses for HS including Advanced Probability and Statistics and Calculus

I find the California version easier to read. The problem for me is that both the common core standards and the California's version does not have examples to illustrate so I'm not sure of depth. It is more for my curiosity, my kids would likely cover everything required.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't bought that book but its good to know since my boys definitely need more practice on that.  Two days on that out of 180 days of school isn't cutting it. They can list the outcomes, draw the tree diagrams but need more practice with the nPr and nCr formulas.

Would the intro and intermediate book cover the entire high school syllabus?

 

ETA:

I'll be getting the intermediate book anyway. There are topics my kids like.

 

I was referring to the nPr and nCr portion of permutations and combinations which my kid just covered in his k12 PreAlgebra textbook. That part is not in the AoPS PreAlgebra chapter. What was in that PreAlgebra chapter was covered by his 6th grade math textbook.

 

I'm not sure I understand.  Are you saying that nPr and nCr are required by the CC standards?  Or are you saying that your K12 books cover more than the standards?  Or are you just looking for more resources on them, for your own purposes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that nPr and nCr are required by the CC standards? Or are you saying that your K12 books cover more than the standards? Or are you just looking for more resources on them, for your own purposes?

I think permutations and combinations are in the common core 9th grade math standards.

I think their k12 books don't cover things in the typical traditional textbook sequence which throws me off sometimes but not something I am bothered by.

I wasn't looking for resources for my boys. We probably have more than enough for the moment from having well stocked public libraries.

My reply was more in reponse to Derek's comment about Prob & Stat in common core.

 

ETA:

I'm probably confused and having a caffeine deficit :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...