Advanced middle school math
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Anonymous
| What is the highest level of math class available to you 6th grader that is offered through their school/district? Struggling to find something that can accommodate our 6th grader and wondering if our district is just subpar or perhaps this is the normal |
Anonymous
| In rare cases 6th graders can take Algebra. I even think I heard of a 6th grader in geometry, but that would require transport to another school. Standard advanced 6 math is essentially 7th grade math |
Anonymous
| MCPS/Algebra in 6th |
Anonymous
Same here. The standard advanced course is pre-algebra for 6th graders. The only 6th grader taking algebra had been in a different school district, but as far as I know there wasn't a big fuss about it. |
Anonymous
This is APS |
Anonymous
| APS the most advanced course offered is Pre-Algebra. If you believe your child should be placed beyond that start first with the math coach at the middle school and go from there. Do you have test scores or recommendations from the elementary RTG or other data to support placing into Algebra? |
Anonymous
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Pre-Algebra in 6th is generally the most advanced track. There are always exceptions to the rule, but some districts or even principals let very few kids be the exception to the rule and tend to make it a huge hassle.
IME, larger school districts with highly competitive parents tend to be much less flexible with math placement. They know that if they let one kid skip ahead, everyone else will want it too. |
Anonymous
| My APS kid had a classmate in 5th grade who took a middle school math class. I don’t know how many years ahead he is now, 2 years later. Pre algebra is the most common 6th grade advanced math placement. It’s rare that a kid takes a more advanced track than that, but it does happen sometimes. |
Anonymous
| There was a kid in Geometry in 6th grade in DCPS a couple of years back, but Algebra 1 is more likely (if the sequence is Alg 1/Geo/Alg 2). |
Anonymous
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My child attends BASIS DC (a public charter school), where s/he took Algebra in 6th grade.
BASIS already has an accelerated curriculum. All kids (with the exception of the small handful of more advanced kids) take pre-Algebra in 6th then Algebra in 7th. |
Anonymous
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You don't need to accelerate, there is 0 purpose
Algebra in 7th puts you in second semester+ Calculus in high school. Almost all universities/colleges/math people don't recommend skipping more than one core math class in college. |
Anonymous
The purpose for acceleration is to put the child in a situation where they learn a year's worth of material in a school year. Believe it or not, there are a small subset of students who are multiple grade levels ahead in one or more subjects, just as there are children multiple grade levels behind. If OP's child is part of that cohort, doing 8th grade math in 5th grade for example, then they should be working with the school and school system to identify how to meet their child's very unique needs. |
Anonymous
NP I get the argument that kids don't want to be bored, and shouldn't have to do a bunch of assignments to teach them things they already know. But other than that (which is a big thing!), is it actually helpful to take algebra in 6th? |
Anonymous
Kids who are that advanced in math generally enjoy math competitions. Accelerating in math helps quite a bit with that. Really, though, the main reason to accelerate is that there's no point in making a kid sit through a class in which they already know all of the content. My kid is in AP Calc in 8th grade. He will go to the local college and take math classes there in 10th-12th grade. That's what most of the very accelerated kids do. |
Anonymous
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^Forgot to add:
The types of kids who end up accelerated in math usually LOVE math. It's a travesty to take a kid's favorite school subject and turn it into a boring slog. It also tends to make them dislike school as a whole. |