Ability adds up
New test program values math skills over pupils’ grade level.
If Carter takes two minutes to finish a math problem, his classmates take 10 minutes and the teacher takes another 10 to go over their answers, how long does Carter have to wait? Too long. Now he doesn’t have to. Nine-year-old Carter Nelson and his classmates at Banyan Creek Elementary in Delray Beach are on track to take six levels of math in four years. Their goal is to start algebra by seventh grade — something students typically don’t start until ninth grade, his principal said.
“I like that math’s not easy,” Carter shrugs.
The students are part of a pilot program at 68 schools designed to advance students based on their skill level rather than their grade.
The Palm Beach County School District launched the experiment last year with 1,358 students at 41 schools. More principals joined this year after seeing the results, and this year the number of students nearly doubled to 2,580.
Participating students posted higher learning gains on standardized tests than their peers who didn’t try the program, according to the district.
The Florida Legislature in 2016 authorized Palm Beach County schools and a few others to test the concept, known as “compentency-based learning.”
The move followed a growing trend to personalize learning, in which schools closely track each student’s progress to tailor lesson plans to their needs. Schools combine teachers’ methods with computer programs to determine student levels. For that, the model has been criticized for bringing too much screen-time into the classroom.
On a typical school morning at Banyan Creek, fourth-graders in the accelerated math class work within small groups at
various stations. Some multiply numbers on a chalkboard table; others wrote definitions to math concepts in their notebooks.
The kids begin the program in third grade, taking all of third and half of fourth grade-level math in one year. By the end of fourth grade, they finish fifth-grade math, and so on.
Middle and high students have traditionally been able to hop ahead but this is the first time elementary children are getting the chance.
“This is the future of education,” said David Christiansen, deputy superintendent for Palm Beach County schools. “In a decade, two decades from now, you’re going to have thirdgraders taking college courses. We’re going to be able to accelerate learning for students in a different way.”
Previously, students who excelled beyond their years only got to move ahead if their parents knew to ask. But now school leaders tap students who score high on standardized tests, get good grades and exhibit the curiosity to learn more, said Banyan Creek Principal Allison Castellano.
The goal is to allow students to take more complex math classes in high school, including college credit courses, and better prepare them for fields heavy in math, such as engineering.
For the students, it’s a reprieve from boredom.
Fifth-grader Maria Largaespada said she used to finish math problems so quickly her teacher gave her an extra sheet to keep her busy while she waited for everyone else to catch up.
Her classmate Sadie Miranda nodded.
“I was the only one who would raise my hand,” she said.
cmcglade@sun-sentinel .com, 954-356-4528 or Twitter @caitmcglade