4th grader sucks at math, goes to lackadaisical DCPS, what should we do about middle school?

[Anonymous]

Diagnosis + IEP + DCPS co-taught middle school classrooms is what worked for my similar kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whaaaat? A nice person can't ask questions of teachers?

All you have to do is ask it politely! Dear Ms. Teacher, we are excited to have Larlo in your class this year. As you may be aware, math is a growth area for Larlo. I would love to meet or have a call with you to learn more about the curriculum and how we can support Larlo at home.

Sincerely,
Meritocrata

Dear Meritocrata,

Sorry, but your kid just sucks at math.

Good luck.

Sincerely,

Ms. Teacher

If you wrote this, OP, you are looking for excuses to not intervene. A teacher would never write that. If you phrase it as an IEP request, they have certain legal obligations.

[Anonymous]

As others have said, this seems to be a child-specific learning issue, not a school issue. You don’t need rock star schools to recognize multiplication and move past finger counting. Ask for a meeting, get an evaluation, and THEN figure out what your priorities are for middle school. A school that can remediate is not necessarily the same one as the one best for an IEP.

And talk to the teachers! No wonder he’s behind if you think it’s not nice to communicate his needs!

[Anonymous]

Maybe just this year try something like Mathnasium? Or even buy 2-4th grade math workbooks on Amazon and work through them at home? A big push just this year outside of school. It may help you figure out the middle school question. Tour a range of middle schools - some of them will have your child double up on math (with one regular and one remedial class).

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, fact fluency is a huge emphasis in DCPS this year. We (teachers) are being coached heavily in it and I think there will be more focus on it in the next few years as we get stronger in implementing this new program.

[Anonymous]

If your kid really needs fingers to count to 10 and doesn't know when something is a multiplication problem, s/he would be way behind as a 4th grader in my kids' DCPS (not fancy, not in UNW). I think you are underestimating the size of the problem, even relatively. Your kid may have bad teachers, but they also may have an actual learning issue; get them evaluated. Also, get them a tutor or enroll them in Mathnasium/Kumon immediately. Do this for the 4-5 months you have before making a call on middle school.

[Anonymous]

OP, it sounds like your child has special needs. And I think you know it, you just don't know the right terms for it, and it's shaking up your concept of yourself as the high-achieving parent of high-achieving children. So you're resisting it, avoiding it (like your child avoids math, no?), and generally being nasty about it because it is difficult for you to process and incorporate the idea. You are avoiding speaking with the teacher and initiating the IEP process because you don't want it to be true. But it is, and it's your job to face it.

DCPS in Ward 4 are not terrible. Some are great. I assume you're at one of the lower-performing schools for math (Truesdell, Lewis, or Height maybe?), but even so, they have some students passing math, and some coming close. And this is the school where your other kids learned just fine, right? So it seems like the problem is that your kid is not getting the help your kid needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know your child doesn't have an identified disability, but I would think schools that do better with that population than you would expect might be good for bringing struggling kids forward? Paul Middle School is in Ward 4...

https://www.empowerk12.org/research-source/2022-bold-performance-report

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f9857f027d55d2170cd92ac/t/634e108eb2cb967d1c3ffe3c/1666060435990/EmpowerK12+2022+DC+Bold+Performance+Schools+Report.pdf

Paul is terrible…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know your child doesn't have an identified disability, but I would think schools that do better with that population than you would expect might be good for bringing struggling kids forward? Paul Middle School is in Ward 4...

https://www.empowerk12.org/research-source/2022-bold-performance-report

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f9857f027d55d2170cd92ac/t/634e108eb2cb967d1c3ffe3c/1666060435990/EmpowerK12+2022+DC+Bold+Performance+Schools+Report.pdf

Paul is terrible…

Dude stop with your Empower. That's for policy arguments, not actually picking a school. OP needs to get her kid a diagnosis, fiigure out what the actual issue is, and then choose a middle school based on that.

[Anonymous]

We were in a similar situation with our 4th grader 2 years ago, OP. Twice a week to cheery Mathnasium has sorted her out. She didn’t have special needs. she had weak DCPS math instruction during the pandemic. We got out of DCPS in the nick of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Just wow. You, my friendly neighborhood "meritocrat", seem very much in need of an attitude adjustment and some education about math pedagogy and special needs. I don't doubt that your school is meh, but your contempt for your school and your child are really painful to read. No wonder your child is avoiding math. And clearly you cannot tutor the kid yourself, because of your attitude and failure to be helpful. Your kid is WAY behind. Like three grade levels behind.

The preferred term for "sucks at math" is "dyscalculia". It would seem to me that your child has special needs and should have an IEP and specially tailored support, either at school or privately. You can request an IEP meeting today. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/math-anxiety-vs-dyscalculia-compare-the-signs

When you're done calling everyone else lazy and pointing fingers, you can ask yourself why you haven't taken this problem more seriously until now.

The tell to not read anything beyond that because it's going to be stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, fact fluency is a huge emphasis in DCPS this year. We (teachers) are being coached heavily in it and I think there will be more focus on it in the next few years as we get stronger in implementing this new program.

Interesting! My DD is in second and doing a ton of fluency drills this year. Which I think is great, but unexpected. Can you share more about the new program?

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. Sometimes the teacher might feel he/she doesn’t have time to devote to your child because the class size is big. Maybe the teacher can’t give enough time in the Eureka curriculum lesson and has to move on.

All general education and special education teachers are equally yoked at teaching math. They may have credentials but can’t explain the subject matter well to children with different learning styles.

It’s not always a given that a child can easily get an IEP. Get evaluated at school to see if child has a math learning disability.

Try a special needs tutor online out of the DMV area. They might be cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I put this here in the most unfriendly/ranting terms so that you get the deal without all the self-delusion typical for DCUM. In real life, I say none of this and really love and help our very kind fourth-grader.

But my wonderful fourth-grader sucks at math.

We live in Ward 4 and have our kid in a DCPS where many or most of the kids are doing the same or worse, but again not to sugarcoat it, we're a dual income meritocrat high-income family whose parents/siblings/other kids have done more than good in school, basically excelled always, whichever schools we've gone to (which have varied a lot)....and our baseline expectations are either excellence without extraordinary effort (parents and other kids) or at least ability in line with elementary school kids in Ward 3.

But, again, this kid sucks at math. Like in multiplication problems on homework, doesn't figure out that multiplication is the way to solve the problem. Doesn't know the times table. Counts with fingers up to 10. UP TO 10. Any time there's a math problem, sidles around the problem to try to get us parents to tell them the answer.

To me, this distinctly seems like undereducation. Not necessarily a developmental delay or anything, just "well, everybody else in this DCPS Title I elementary is doing this bad so shrug." I am not surprised if that's the way it really is for the teachers there, who probably work from the worst kids on up, triage style, and this kid, who's not failing but not excelling, gets ignored.

My question now isn't "tutors, supplementing, ask the teachers to explain, have a meeting, call the principal, get a counselor, consider mental health challenges and screen time, blah blah blah" (Again I'm writing like this because I'm anonymously venting, not because I sound like this or want to cause drama in real life).

The question is - where can I get better for my kid in middle school? A place that will actually get this kid to build capacity to identify problems, answer them with specific learned techniques, and thereby become a capable math student? ALSO It has to be a school that has a chance of entry in the lottery. Gimme some school names!

I have thought that our local DCPS MS would be fine for years, but if it's as half-assed as the elementary, I'm doubtful. I get that I could do a lackadaisical school for this kid and tutor them myself, but I'd appreciate in middle school a setting that does what schools are supposed to do and not just settle for lack of education/lack of rigor because students around my child are just as lazy/unfocused/unready/untaught/whatever.

I'd appreciate thoughts.

Go to a spot with a heavy math intervention program that moves kids. Take a look at Parcc growth in math vs Parcc proficiency.

[Anonymous]

odd how you want to wait until middle school to address this problem.

what are you doing to help him now?