[WillPostForFood]

America doesn't need more acceleration, but nor does it need more deceleration, which is what this policy does. What they got rid of was: some kids are ready for Algebra in 8th grade, and they can take it. New policy is: everyone takes the same class, regardless of skill or preparation.

[linuxftw]

Everyone gets the same 'x' regardless of individual circumstances. Easy policy to prescribe if one holds certain political beliefs.

Unintended consequences: Wealthy and middle class kids will still have access to the same quality of education as they did before, those that rely solely on public education will have access to lower quality.

Inevitably, students from CA will be less prepared for college entrance exams. CA will have to institute a 'statewide college entrance examination' and, maybe they'll pass a law prohibiting using any other entrance exam in an admission process (because they're racist or something or other).

[WillPostForFood]

100% agree - the real intent here is to reduce the achievement gap, and the real effect is to increase it. High achieving wealthy parents make sure their kids get math outside of school. The kids who lose are the smart, poorer kids who would have thrived and advanced given the challenge.

[User23]

Plenty of extremely poor Chinese immigrants scrimp and save every penny to pay for top notch tutoring for their children. This isn't really about wealth, it's about culture and ability.

[WillPostForFood]

I half agree. Chinese immigrants strongly value education, and on average, have more inherent ability. So many overcome the disadvantage of being poor. That doesn't mean that the average poor kid isn't at a disadvantage, and that the smart poor kid is hurt by removing advanced math courses. That smart poor kid may not be getting the support at home like a Chinese immigrant, so support at school is all they are going to get.

[linuxftw]

Why not send them to private school then? Or is top-notch tutoring only available outside of a traditional school? In which case, why have a traditional school model at all?

[magic_beans]

> Why not send them to private school then

Top-notch tutoring still costs less than 4 or 8 years of private school tuition.

[tlear]

It is not only that, if you parent is a successful engineer, businessman or whatever. Not only they will hire tutors if needed they can often teach kids themselves.

I learned more math from my dad who has PhD in physics then from all of my teachers and tutors combined.

One of the reason home schooling works so well. It is much easier to teach few kids you care about then whole classroom of the ones you don’t.

[PebblesRox]

From the school district’s page justifying the new course sequence:

“Historically, rigor meant doing higher grade-level material at earlier grades, and equity meant providing all students equal access. The CCSS-M require a shift to seeing rigor as depth of understanding and the ability to communicate this understanding, and to seeing equity as providing all students equal success.”

If the goal is equal success for everyone, you have to hold back the high-achievers so the rest of the group can keep up.

http://www.sfusdmath.org/secondary-course-sequence.html

[tropo]

The problem is hinted at here: "equity meant providing all students equal access"

What they are saying is that they refused to keep unqualified students out of the advanced classes. Keeping those students out would have exposed the schools to all sorts of accusations of discrimination, so they didn't do it. Parents insist that low-performing students be in the advanced classes, and the school doesn't say "no", so the class becomes a mess of failure.