Meet the New Common Core

Ynotgo
Sat, 10 Oct 2015 22:37:58 +0000

@bluebayou California government is actually quite functional these days (http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/diaz/article/How-California-tamed-its-once-dysfunctional-5256895.php). Most talk of our dysfunctionality is out of date. (Though we still do spend very little per student, especially when corrected for cost of living.)

@ucbalumnus The problem with the push to have all 8th graders take algebra (which was really only ever <70%) was the same pendulum problem that is always an issue in education. Lots of kids can successfully take algebra in 8th grade, and lots did test proficient. But, lots didn’t test proficient or get good grades. The key is having good placement tests to inform the decision of when a kid is ready for algebra.

Math placement tests aren’t rocket science. Overall, districts statewide did manage to do good placement testing for the ~9% of 7th graders who used to take algebra 1, because 86% of them tested proficient or higher in 2013, the last year of the STAR tests. But, of the 58% of kids who took algebra 1 in 8th, a lot of them would have been better off waiting a year, because only 50% tested proficient or higher. But, in all honesty, a lot of kids never really got to proficient in algebra, though they did manage to pass the class.

http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2013/ViewReport.aspx?ps=true&lstTestYear=2013&lstTestType=C&lstCounty=&lstDistrict=&lstSchool=&lstGroup=1&lstSubGroup=1

It would be interesting to have statewide (or nationwide) data on which districts have gone with integrated math vs. the traditional sequence. I do not know of any place to find collected data like that. Even finding that answer for our HS district would be difficult on their current website for an outsider to find. I found an article here http://edsource.org/2014/districts-split-between-choices-for-high-school-math/66169 that says a questionnaire in “fall 2013 found slightly more districts choosing integrated (34 percent) than traditional (26 percent) but 40 percent hadn’t yet decided.”

Acceleration by “skipping” is discouraged, and there aren’t really outside places where you can take Math II like you might have been able to take Alg II over the summer before. The new plan is compaction, which is shown rather poorly on pages 18-20 of this document: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/documents/aug2013apxacourseplace.pdf

Our district does have a compaction option to take Grade 7+Grade 8+Math 1 in 7th and 8th grades, but limits the availability of that course dramatically. A course that combines Math II+Math III+Precalculus into 2 years will be more common, and is basically the “honors” path.