Each of us needs to take action NOW if we are to help save GT education in Maryland and Montgomery County .
This is not an overstatement. In more than 35 years of GT advocacy, I have never seen GT education more at risk.
WHY IS ACTION NEEDED? There is a misconception that the new Common Core State Standards and Curriculum (CCSS/C) will meet the needs of gifted/advanced students and that there is no longer a need for gifted programming in Maryland. The Maryland State Advisory Council has heard this from educator and parent members of the council across the state for 2-3 years. BUT THIS IS NOT CORRECT. The fact is that the CCSSC are designed to ensure proficiency and that all students will graduate from high school college and career ready. The CCSS/C DO NOT include goals, objectives and extensions for gifted/advanced learners. Presentations from MSDE staff working on the Maryland State math curriculum made that clear. And the new MSDE video reinforces this misconception when a secondary school supervisor from Kent County says: “There is no longer a track [sic] for your less high performing students and a track [sic] for your higher performing students. The rigor is there for everyone.” Not only do these words indicate that the CCSS/C will meet the needs of all students, but also the use of the emotion-laden word “track” prejudices the listener against any differentiated instruction for gifted/advanced students and does not reflect the flexible grouping arrangements used in Maryland schools for instruction of students.
If the myth persists and education decision makers believe it, gifted education is doomed.
MCPS parents, students and teachers have had experience with curriculum 2.0, MCPS application of CCSS to MCPS curriculum, and are therefore in a unique position to speak about whether 2.0 and CCSS/C meet the needs of gifted advanced learners. Did math 2.0 meet the needs of your gifted/advanced student? Did your children continue to learn and love math when she/he was taught with math 2.0? How is the advanced English/language arts curriculum challenging your gifted/advanced learner?
Do you think the CCSS/C meet the needs of gifted/advanced learners? How does curriculum 2.0 work for your children? Many believe that 2.0 did not help their children learn something new every day and may even have stifled their interest in math/school. We need to refute this myth and give the facts to education decision makers.
Please take a moment to watch the new MSDE video http://media.msde.state.md.us/2013/BACK.mov and then email Dr. Lillian Lowrey, State Superintendent of Schools at llowery@msde.state.md.us about the experience of your child with CCSS/C. More than 200 parents came to the MCCPTA meeting about 2.0 a year or so ago and the superintendent’s forum on GT, and most said that 2.0 did not challenge their advanced learners and, indeed, decreased their interest in math and school in general. Please make your voices heard to Dr. Lowery.
Secondly, please alert your friends and colleagues about the four regional forums on CCSS being held around the state (see posting by Fred Stichnoth earlier today). Make an effort to attend one yourself and ask questions about how CCSS meet the needs of gifted/advanced learners. None is convenient to MC, but please try to attend at least one and also alert friends and colleagues, and organizations in other jurisdictions and ask them to attend and get others to attend.
The gifted/advanced learners of Maryland are counting on us. Let’s each of us take action to contact Dr. Lowery to refute this myth and press for the continued importance of provisions for gifted/advanced students as required by COMAR 13A.02.04 Gifted and Talented Education in Maryland Public Schools.
Katherine Rigler
Hi,
ReplyDeleteMy current fourth grader took math 3 in second grade. She was in the top group in that class.
Her end of year assessment score for math 3 that year was 84 out of 85. For 4th grade math in the same assessment she scored well in several sections, even though none of the 4th grade level material was covered in the class.
Her raven math was just under 600 and her TN2 math scores were almost all over 90 with several over 95.
I think she was doing just fine in math.
The following year as a third grader all acceleration was ended and she was forced to repeat math 3 because the school implemented "curriculum 2.0".
There were no options for acceleration or honors anymore.
Now, she is in 4th grade and they put her in 4th grade math. This is now a full year behind where she should be based on her abilities and pre-curriculum 2.0 work.
In reviewing the math curriculum tracks on the MCPS website there is a compacted 4/5/6 program where 3 years of instruction are presented in 2 years.
They tested in February for entry into the program, but I don't know if they told anyone or what was covered on the tests. There were 4 or 5 rounds spread over several weeks.
Does anyone else have any information on how this compacted program is being implemented in other schools? in my situation, they are bussing the kids from the ES to the MS for a 50 minute class before ES starts. They will be on the bus for an hour, 30 minutes from the ES to the MS, then 30 minutes from the MS to the ES. During the regular math class at the ES, which is 75 minutes and that they will be required to attend, they will be expected to do their homework in an independent study environment. They will be in the room with the rest of the math students but not participating in the class.
This is not a very good situation, but I have no choice. In order for her to be in IM in 6th grade, which is a wonderful position to be in, this is the only TRACK that allows for it. My other 2 daughters did IM in 6th grade and are thriving in math. One is a 9th grader in HONORS Algebra 2.
I am very concerned, and worried, that the level of instruction allowed by "curriculum 2.0" will be deficient for my child's abilities.
In what cluster is your fourth grader? That is ridiculous that they are sending 4th graders to a middle school? Is anyone else experiencing this? As parents you need to ban together and DEMAND that your students be educated at their home school because I am guessing the home school isn't happy about it either but their hands are tied by those above them. I don't know an elementary teacher that wants to send 4th graders (at this point really 3rd graders) to a middle school!
ReplyDeleteWho is teaching the class? A secondary education teacher who has no experience with elementary students? They are most likely certified 6-12 and although they can teach one year out of their certification, this is NOT how I would want it to happen! Will they even know how to do small group instruction? Use manipulatives? I have heard of 5th graders being sent to MS for math instruction, but 4th graders? Sounds like a decision at the central admin level.
On another note, regarding the compacted program and how the students were selected, has the county provided parents any information on the "testing" and scoring for this? Or are we back to the lack of transparency of old? Who is running this program on the central office level? Again, the parents need to ban together and demand answers above the principal level because this decision is being made somewhere else.
These classes are a secret. When I spoke to the Division of Accelerated Instruction they denied the class existed at any other school and argued with me about it.
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