6th graders to take Algebra 1 HN

[Anonymous]

I understand that students who are in 6th grade AAP, with SOL>500 and IAAT >91% can enroll in Algebra 1 HN in their 7th grade.
How can students be qualified to take Algebra 1 HN in their 6th grade? They will have SOL, but do they take IAAT at 5th grade?
Can anyone share experience? I will ask school counselor today as well.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if your kid is an unusual math genius or not, but it's not really that wise to take Alg 1 hns in 6th grade.

My kid qualified to take it in 7th. We actually declined (his choice) and waited until 8th grade. He's in Alg 2 hns now, and while he is doing well, it's hard! Think down the road to what you are putting your child on track for. S/he will max out of math classes by junior year or earlier if your one to push for Grom in summer.

Teachers know that parents want to push kids into Alg 1 as a way of resume-building for TJ. They will resist your push unless they have seen an extra-ordinary math capability. If not, practice accepting that your kid is not your race horse.

[Anonymous]

(Geom in summer)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand that students who are in 6th grade AAP, with SOL>500 and IAAT >91% can enroll in Algebra 1 HN in their 7th grade.
How can students be qualified to take Algebra 1 HN in their 6th grade? They will have SOL, but do they take IAAT at 5th grade?
Can anyone share experience? I will ask school counselor today as well.

This is pretty rare in FCPS, but not impossible. Please work with the counselor but if I recall from other posts, there is a pretest that they give them to determine eligibility. But before that, they talk to teachers and I think they also look at the past few Math SOLs and are essentially looking for 600s. It is not some thing they do just do on parent request.

[Anonymous]

OP-I think it's both about math aptitude but also maturity. It's considered a HS level class. If the kid is great and passionate about math-maybe. But acceleration is not the same as being advanced in math. Algebra I is foundational. It is better to not be as accelerated and have a great grasp for later advanced math courses. I've read that a lot upper level HS math teachers and college professors are dumbfounded by kids in calculus classes who have a limited grasp of the basics.

[Anonymous]

In order to take Algebra I in 6th grade, they need to take 6th grade pre-algebra in 5th grade (or whenever). So the principal needs to move the child up a grade level (or more) for math. Some principals will consider this, many won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if your kid is an unusual math genius or not, but it's not really that wise to take Alg 1 hns in 6th grade.

My kid qualified to take it in 7th. We actually declined (his choice) and waited until 8th grade. He's in Alg 2 hns now, and while he is doing well, it's hard! Think down the road to what you are putting your child on track for. S/he will max out of math classes by junior year or earlier if your one to push for Grom in summer.

Teachers know that parents want to push kids into Alg 1 as a way of resume-building for TJ. They will resist your push unless they have seen an extra-ordinary math capability. If not, practice accepting that your kid is not your race horse.

This is us too. My DS qualified for Algebra 1 Honors as a 7th grader and chose to wait to take it in 8th grade.

I heard from many parents that even if your child does well in Algebra 1 Honors in 7th, it can come back to haunt them when they try to take Geometry as an 8th grader and Algebra 2 as a 9th grader. There is often just some maturity lacking at that pace.

I don't see the rush to take Algebra 1 honors as a 6th grader unless you have a super genius mathematician!

[Anonymous]

FCPS has an official track that they hide from parents. If your child had a CogAT Q score >= 145, SOL scores for 3rd and 4th >= 575, and the teacher recommends them, they are then invited to jump up to 6th grade AAP math at the beginning of 5th grade. The kids I know of on this track also had to take another test administered by Gatehouse before being jumped up. This track is only available if your principal chooses to participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if your kid is an unusual math genius or not, but it's not really that wise to take Alg 1 hns in 6th grade.

My kid qualified to take it in 7th. We actually declined (his choice) and waited until 8th grade. He's in Alg 2 hns now, and while he is doing well, it's hard! Think down the road to what you are putting your child on track for. S/he will max out of math classes by junior year or earlier if your one to push for Grom in summer.

Teachers know that parents want to push kids into Alg 1 as a way of resume-building for TJ. They will resist your push unless they have seen an extra-ordinary math capability. If not, practice accepting that your kid is not your race horse.

This is us too. My DS qualified for Algebra 1 Honors as a 7th grader and chose to wait to take it in 8th grade.

I heard from many parents that even if your child does well in Algebra 1 Honors in 7th, it can come back to haunt them when they try to take Geometry as an 8th grader and Algebra 2 as a 9th grader. There is often just some maturity lacking at that pace.

I don't see the rush to take Algebra 1 honors as a 6th grader unless you have a super genius mathematician!

There's no need to fear monger. Many kids who are regular, bright kids and not math supergeniuses have no problems whatsoever with Geometry in 8th and Algebra II in 9th. If your kid qualifies to take Algebra in 7th and has reasonably high executive function, your kid will be fine on that track.

[Anonymous]

High school math teacher here. Algebra 1 in 6th grade - and even 7th and 8th - generally not recommended. I wish school and parents wouldn't do this. The vast majority of kids, no matter their test scores or IQ or study habits, just aren't mentally mathematically ready. So the algebra course gets watered down because of pressure by admin and parents to not fail a lot of kids, and then the kids aren't ready for upper level classes that depend on a strong knowledge of algebra to succeed. I invariably end up having to teach/reteach much of the algebra they need, and thus do not have time to get through all the math they are supposed to be learning in that advanced class, and that pattern repeats in the rest of the math classes they take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if your kid is an unusual math genius or not, but it's not really that wise to take Alg 1 hns in 6th grade.

My kid qualified to take it in 7th. We actually declined (his choice) and waited until 8th grade. He's in Alg 2 hns now, and while he is doing well, it's hard! Think down the road to what you are putting your child on track for. S/he will max out of math classes by junior year or earlier if your one to push for Grom in summer.

Teachers know that parents want to push kids into Alg 1 as a way of resume-building for TJ. They will resist your push unless they have seen an extra-ordinary math capability. If not, practice accepting that your kid is not your race horse.

This is us too. My DS qualified for Algebra 1 Honors as a 7th grader and chose to wait to take it in 8th grade.

I heard from many parents that even if your child does well in Algebra 1 Honors in 7th, it can come back to haunt them when they try to take Geometry as an 8th grader and Algebra 2 as a 9th grader. There is often just some maturity lacking at that pace.

I don't see the rush to take Algebra 1 honors as a 6th grader unless you have a super genius mathematician!

There's no need to fear monger. Many kids who are regular, bright kids and not math supergeniuses have no problems whatsoever with Geometry in 8th and Algebra II in 9th. If your kid qualifies to take Algebra in 7th and has reasonably high executive function, your kid will be fine on that track.

+1 Taking Algebra HN in 7th was great for my son, who is not a math super genius but a regular bright kid. It allowed him the chance to learn how to do a hard class when the rest of his classes were relatively easy. He worked hard at it and is doing well in HS in math now. My younger son is turning out to be more gifted in math but I'm inclined to choose the same path for him, not to accelerate him further/younger.

[Anonymous]

at our school’s AAP, it looks like fifth grade math is taught again to sixth graders - ratio, percentage, order of operation and basic algebra. It would be better if qualified and ready 6th graders at ALL ES schools would be permitted to take Algebra 1 and not just Haycock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:at our school’s AAP, it looks like fifth grade math is taught again to sixth graders - ratio, percentage, order of operation and basic algebra. It would be better if qualified and ready 6th graders at ALL ES schools would be permitted to take Algebra 1 and not just Haycock.

The ES math curriculum all spirals, they see it again and again each year.

[Anonymous]

My son’s 5th aap class has a third grader that pushes in for math. I feel like 6th grade algebra isn’t something you ask about. They identify if it’s really an outlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:at our school’s AAP, it looks like fifth grade math is taught again to sixth graders - ratio, percentage, order of operation and basic algebra. It would be better if qualified and ready 6th graders at ALL ES schools would be permitted to take Algebra 1 and not just Haycock.

I suspect Haycock gets a nod/pass from gatehouse because they have large numbers of kids who might be ready or fine with taking it in 6th. Reasons for this are: The level of parental involvement with math is extremely high for that cohort, likely due to prepping for TJ, but also self selection into that pyramid (parents moving into the area hear that Haycock/Longfellow historically is extremely strong in math, so they move there if they can afford it). The Mathcounts metrics confirm that Haycock as an elementary school does really well at Mathcounts and historically has set a large pipeline of students to continue to excel in Mathcounts at Longfellow, etc. They also have a very vocal PTA from what I've heard, so they will obviously push the school/FCPS to get whatever they need to feed this cohort. It probably also doesn't hurt that logistically Haycock is located next to Longfellow, so they can just walk there in 2 mins if they need to take Alg1 or another math course.

But most elementary schools don't have all this setup, so they will not be able to get Alg1 6th grade classes.