Multi Age Cluster Class
Multi-Age Cluster Class is originally a Vancouver-based gifted education program meant to enrich the regular curriculum for students in grades 4-7 commonly referred to as MACC. The admission process involves several steps where a child's suitability for the program is evaluated. A student is referred by their home school, challenge-class teacher, or parent for consideration for admission. Children seen as suitable candidates are invited to attend the "Pre-MACC Experience", a two-day session held at a Vancouver School Board school. After that, students who are seen as candidates are invited to spend one-two days in the classroom at the school they would potentially attend. Offers of admission are based on this final step. A certain I.Q. score is not needed to be accepted into the program, but instead the student must have a gifted mind and be able to "think outside the box." The program emphasizes the creation of lifelong learners.
Location
Currently, there are three schools with MAC classes in Vancouver, British Columbia that are administered by the Vancouver School Board (VSB). Tecumseh Elementary School and Queen Mary Elementary School offer a grade 4/5 and a grade 6/7 MACC class. General Gordon Elementary School currently offers a 4/5/6 French Immersion MAC class. There used to be two additional MAC classes at Lord Nelson Elementary School and Sir William Osler Elementary School, but they both merged into David Livingstone Elementary School, which was taken away due to budget cuts to the VSB in June 2010. However, there are other MACC programs outside Vancouver, such as Berkshire Park Elementary School, Hyland Elementary School, Citadel Middle School, and Bayridge Elementary School in Surrey, which is in the Lower Mainland region. All three Surrey programs are grades 5-7. Surrey is considering adding a high-school program. There also used to be a high school MACC program in Kitsilano Secondary School, but they changed it because the 4 pillars of the MACC (Autonomous Learning, Literacy, Numeracy and Project-Based Learning) were not sufficient for the number of subjects taught in High School.
Autonomous Learning
The word "autonomous" means to be independent, self-governing, efficient and to be able to learn by yourself and be a self-motivated learner. This is a very important life-skill that is emphasized in this program. The students need to be autonomous, as they are not always reminded of due dates, or to take notes for their projects. This flexible learning style works well for self-motivated, creative students because it allows them to set their own goals. This benefits students and general society because this teaches students how to become leaders in their own learning and the world.
Numeracy
In the MAC classes, students work on self-paced textbook work in addition to problem solving and contests. That way they can work at their own pace. More emphasis is placed on problem solving to promote critical thinking skills. Some classes have 'individual math work' but in small groups where everyone's skill is more or less the same. Teachers believe that in doing so, this will bring up a lot of interesting math discussion, which they think is useful in learning math. Also because of all the work MACC students/teachers spend on problem solving type math, they score high in math competitions.
Individual Education Plan (IEP)
In the MACC program, each student along with their parent(s) and teacher, personalizes his/her goals in his/her IEP. It summarizes their goals in the four pillars of the MACC program: Literacy, Numeracy, Autonomous Learning and Project-Based Learning. Report cards are also partially based on what the students have done to achieve these goals.
Scale Scores and Grades
In the MACC program there are 4 letter grades on term-end report cards. Teachers use a combination of student self-evaluation, Provincial performance standards, Individual Education Plan goals and classroom-generated performance scales to evaluate student progress. The four scores are Acquiring, Developing, Mastering and Extending.
| Score | Definition |
|---|---|
| "A" Acquiring | Student is receiving teacher direction in Skills and Strategies. |
| "D" Developing | Student is practicing and applying Skills and Strategies. |
| "M" Mastering | Student consistently and independently demonstrates competence in Skills and Strategies. |
| "E" Extending | Student takes ownership and self initiates innovative use of Skills and Strategies. |
Previously, a 0-to-4 scale was used, with varying +s and -s.
Events and Projects
In the Vancouver MACC classes there have traditionally been 4 long term projects. The first is the Eminent Person project, where the MACC students intensively study an eminent individual for 2 to 4 months. Depending on a student's grade, the project may be on an eminent individual in Canada or abroad. Each 6/7 MACC class goes to the Museum of Vancouver to display their eminent individuals alongside the other classes at the 'Evening of Eminence', in an environment designed for both presentation and debate. In 2008, the grade 6/7 students began participating in eminent lunches at the Vancouver School Board where each student took on the role of their eminent individual and brought food that the individual may have eaten. At these events they interact with other eminent people, as well as teachers. Another project is SIP (Special Interest Project), also known to others as PIP (Personal Interest Project) or PIRP (Personal Interest Research Project) or PRP (Personal Research Project) or PSP (Personal Study Project). The third project is a Science Fair/ Exploravision project, students are asked to do a project in any area of interest with the limit that it has to be related to science. For Science Fair, students may choose to do a study (research project), an experiment, or a innovation (creating something new). For Exploravision, the requirement is that students must do a innovation and rules are more strict than Science Fair. If you choose to participate in Exploravision, you may also participate in Science Fair if you wish. Some people are chosen to attend the Science World Science Celebration or the Vancouver District Science Fair (VDSF) in March. In 2007, 5 projects were chosen to go to the VDSF, and all were chosen to move on to the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair (GVRSF), which features projects from Bowen Island to Langley, British Columbia (city). Students also participate in the Heritage Fair, a project based on Canadian Heritage. About 200 people from Metro Vancouver/ Greater Vancouver get chosen to go to the regional Heritage Fair- approximately 25 of this number being MACC students- , and out of them one person is chosen to represent the region at the nationals, and five to the provincials. Last year, 2010, there were 6 students chosen from the region of Metro/Greater Vancouver to go to the Pronvicial Heritage Fair, 3 of these 6 were MACCians. Every MACC student has the opportunity to display their project among others in the Celebration of Learning hosted below the Vancouver Library Square. All these projects are designed to allow students to excel in their preferred areas instead of following prescribed projects that may not generate as much interest.
See also
In the MACC Classes, students set individualized goals, and are 'marked' based on what they have done to accomplish their goals as outlined in their IEP (Individual Education Plan). Their grades do not go as A, B, C, D they are:
A: Acquiring: Teacher-directed, responds when teacher directs D: Developing: Practicing and applying the skills and strategies M: Mastery: Has mastered and is efficiently and consistently demonstrating competence in skills and strategies E: Extending: Is making connections and taking learning on to new independent levels
There are grades such as D/M (TRANSITION STAGE) M (E) MASTERY WITH BITS OF EXTEND E (M) EXTENDING WITH STILL SOME ELEMENTS OF MASTERY A/D(M/E) moving from acquiring to developing with some elements of mastery moving into extending. This is often referred to as the awesome score. No student has yet attained this score although one has managed to attain a D/M(E) which is quite close. This is an example on how to obtain such an "awesome score" under a general area, say Reading. Perhaps this particular student could read and understand poetry, and are inspired to make a painting out of it (The highest level of thinking), yet can't fully understand novels of their grade. THESE SLASHES AND BRACKETS ALSO APPLY TO ACQUIRING AND DEVELOPING OR DEVELOPING AND MASTERY
Grade fours and fives are expected to be acquiring and developing mostly compared to the grade 6 and 7 expectations of mastering and extending. In the MAC Classes students work at self-paced and autonomous paces, and often self-assess their work. Also going with the idea of autonomous paces, students have a lot of freedom in what they choose to learn and how they choose to learn it.
External links
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