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Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)
Reply to "Equitable access to advanced math"
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]URM kids need algebra1 in 6th grade more than anyone else, ensuring URMs are more than likely to enter and succeed in engineering and science majors. There is solid proof that algebra1 in 6th ensures student takes atleast two years of calculus in high school itself. Equity activists, especially the non-URM foxes, feel insecure letting URMs learning more math than they do. [/quote] 1. you need algebra [u]by 7th[/u] to take 2 years of calculus in HS - and you could actually do it with algebra in 8th if you double up in HS. 2. you don't need 2 years of calculus in HS to enter and succeed in engineering/science majors. -engineer [/quote] And this is why parents are absolutely nuts, pushing for early math that doesn't necessarily matter based on made up assumptions, and potentially at the expense of kids who might get by well enough or "mimic " the teacher's demonstrated steps, but end up lacking in higher level understanding in the more complex classes down the road. https://www.mathnasium.com/math-centers/littleton/news/algebra-too-soon-1816080540 [/quote] If my kid needs more acceleration, I'm going to push for it. It's not my problem or my fault that other parents will then try to push their unqualified kids into early Algebra. It's not my kid's responsibility to be held back for the benefit of others. Math is the one subject where there's no benefit and potentially some down side to having a kid sit in a classroom where they've already mastered the material. There are a lot of diagnostics out there showing exactly which math instructional level is appropriate for any kid. It's not exactly rocket science to follow the levels given in the diagnostics. If the goal is getting more URM or economically disadvantaged kids into 7th grade Algebra, then FCPS is handling elementary school math completely wrong. In FCPS with AAP, the kids effectively are only compressing 8 years of math into 7 years, which isn't much acceleration at all. Then, they're expected to skip 8th grade math to do Algebra in 7th. It would make more sense for bright kids to skip levels or compress levels much earlier if they've already mastered the material, and then spend more time with pre-algebra.[/quote] The potential down the road impact, especially with algebra, is you end up with kids who test well because they can mimic steps demonstrated by the teacher but ultimately don't form the higher level of understanding needed to excel when they get to much more advanced math like calculus later. [/quote] I agree that teachers should make better tests, so kids can't just memorize algorithms and plug-and-chug. The solution for kids who test well and get into early Algebra without having a true understanding isn't to bar everyone from acceleration. The answer is write better tests and get better diagnostics to identify both the kids who have mastered the material and are ready to move on as well as the kids who can get the answer for problems that are just like what they've done in class, but seem to lack a true understanding. [/quote]
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