Moving into AAP in 6th grade - Math question

[Anonymous]

Due to a summer move, my son is going into a 6th grade AAP class. He was not in AAP previously (we chose not to send him to the center school and our base school had no LLIV), although he qualified in 3rd grade. The new teacher was a little concerned about him missing some of the math content, so I was wondering if anyone else has gone from a 5th grade non-AAP school to a 6th grade AAP class. We are specifically wondering what skipping a year of math content will do. He took the 5th grade math SOL in 5th grade, and will take the 7th grade math SOL in 7th grade. What is covered in 6th grade that he will be missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Due to a summer move, my son is going into a 6th grade AAP class. He was not in AAP previously (we chose not to send him to the center school and our base school had no LLIV), although he qualified in 3rd grade. The new teacher was a little concerned about him missing some of the math content, so I was wondering if anyone else has gone from a 5th grade non-AAP school to a 6th grade AAP class. We are specifically wondering what skipping a year of math content will do. He took the 5th grade math SOL in 5th grade, and will take the 7th grade math SOL in 7th grade. What is covered in 6th grade that he will be missing?

Why would you put him in AAP now? You are in Fairfax county. All of the schools are great. If AAP did not seem appropriate previously then why would you go there now? It doesn't make sense. Put him in honors classes at his assigned school and don't put that kind of pressure on a kid he will have some catching up to do as FFX AAP works consistently one school year ahead of actual grade level. The transition from elementary to middle is hard enough as the schools here are very large. I assume you moved into Fairfax county from elsewhere and maybe you do not have a good understanding of the great public school system here. It seems to me you should have flip flopped this with AAP in your other county and honors in Faifax county. Try not to listen to your new neighbors and do what is best for your child. AAP does not make an Ivy League'r the student does.

[Anonymous]

See the last quote from the "Lower numbers for 3rd grade AAP this year" thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Due to a summer move, my son is going into a 6th grade AAP class. He was not in AAP previously (we chose not to send him to the center school and our base school had no LLIV), although he qualified in 3rd grade. The new teacher was a little concerned about him missing some of the math content, so I was wondering if anyone else has gone from a 5th grade non-AAP school to a 6th grade AAP class. We are specifically wondering what skipping a year of math content will do. He took the 5th grade math SOL in 5th grade, and will take the 7th grade math SOL in 7th grade. What is covered in 6th grade that he will be missing?

If in fact he is going from 5th grade gen ed to 6th grade AAP he will be behind but if good in math will catch up. If he is going from 5th grade to 7th grade AAP do not do it unless he is some kind of math prodigy. Advanced math curriculum in fairfax county a 5th grader takes the 6th grade test and a 6th grader (a critical year because 6th grade places advanced 7th grade math groups) will take the 7th grade testing plus an algebra aptitude test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Due to a summer move, my son is going into a 6th grade AAP class. He was not in AAP previously (we chose not to send him to the center school and our base school had no LLIV), although he qualified in 3rd grade. The new teacher was a little concerned about him missing some of the math content, so I was wondering if anyone else has gone from a 5th grade non-AAP school to a 6th grade AAP class. We are specifically wondering what skipping a year of math content will do. He took the 5th grade math SOL in 5th grade, and will take the 7th grade math SOL in 7th grade. What is covered in 6th grade that he will be missing?

All students in FCPS have access to advanced math, including students at non-AAP center schools. Did your son complete advanced math in 5th grade in FCPS? I believe a note is made on the report card/progress report. If he did, the transition to upper 6th/7th grade math in 6th grade AAP should be pretty straightforward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Due to a summer move, my son is going into a 6th grade AAP class. He was not in AAP previously (we chose not to send him to the center school and our base school had no LLIV), although he qualified in 3rd grade. The new teacher was a little concerned about him missing some of the math content, so I was wondering if anyone else has gone from a 5th grade non-AAP school to a 6th grade AAP class. We are specifically wondering what skipping a year of math content will do. He took the 5th grade math SOL in 5th grade, and will take the 7th grade math SOL in 7th grade. What is covered in 6th grade that he will be missing?

All students in FCPS have access to advanced math, including students at non-AAP center schools. Did your son complete advanced math in 5th grade in FCPS? I believe a note is made on the report card/progress report. If he did, the transition to upper 6th/7th grade math in 6th grade AAP should be pretty straightforward.

They have advanced math at both our base school and our center school. The SOL scores are very similar. Not sure about the Iowa scores.

[Anonymous]

It is definitely NOT true that all students in FCPS have access to adv. math. In my kids' pyramid, our ES was the only one that had Adv. Math in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th until last year. Then, last fall, two other elem. schools in the pyramid got Adv. Math for their 6th grade. I was told by our adv. math teacher (who is on the pyramid's math comte.) that those two other schools would be adding 5th grade adv. math this year, with the intention of adding 4th grade adv. math the next year, etc. There are other schools that feed into the HS and I don't think they have adv. math at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is definitely NOT true that all students in FCPS have access to adv. math. In my kids' pyramid, our ES was the only one that had Adv. Math in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th until last year. Then, last fall, two other elem. schools in the pyramid got Adv. Math for their 6th grade. I was told by our adv. math teacher (who is on the pyramid's math comte.) that those two other schools would be adding 5th grade adv. math this year, with the intention of adding 4th grade adv. math the next year, etc. There are other schools that feed into the HS and I don't think they have adv. math at all.

Per the FCPS website:

http://www.fcps.edu/is/math/elementary/index.shtml

With the implementation of the new standards Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is aligning the new Elementary Mathematics Instructional Sequence (EMIS) with these standards. EMIS will allow all students to access the advanced mathematics curriculum either in an advanced mathematics classroom or in a general education classroom through differentiation. The new instructional sequence provides teachers with the tools needed for differentiation. EMIS offers multiple entry points for students to access the advanced mathematics curriculum when they have developed the cognitive skills to be successful. Advanced mathematics extended indicators and above grade level correlated standards will be available for students as early as kindergarten and will build a stronger foundation in mathematics.

The compacted mathematics curriculum is being enriched and expanded to include extensions that allow students to develop critical thinking skills and develop a deeper understanding of mathematics that will better prepare them for upper level mathematics in high school and beyond. The current learning gaps that exist in compacted mathematics, created by selecting only certain standards, are being closed allowing students access to all standards. Compacted mathematics will become Advanced Mathematics to be more representative of the rigor in the program. The Advanced Mathematics curriculum will be available in all elementary schools including Advanced Academic Center schools.

Link to presentation:

http://www.ebmcdn.net/fcps/courses/emis/player.html

[Anonymous]

PP, I'm not 14:41, but the point is that while it is FCPS policy that advanced math is available at all schools, in practice it is NOT available at all schools. Our base school only had 5-6 kids per year who were eligible for compacted math (this was not a LLIV school) and those kids got "advanced" math as a pullout service, It happened sporadically at best.

OP, if your son is moving from a GenEd traditional 5th grade math and not compacted math, then he may have some content to catch up on in 6th grade. The 6th graders in AAP are taking the equivalent of the middle school level Math 7. But unless he struggles in math, I don't think it's a huge deal. He will take the Iowa in January and based on that and his SOL in the spring, he'll place into Math 7 HN or Algebra 1 HN for the following year.

You can look at the math FCPS curriculum to see what topics were covered in Math 6 that he may not have covered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, I'm not 14:41, but the point is that while it is FCPS policy that advanced math is available at all schools, in practice it is NOT available at all schools.

This is due to site based management.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the help. He is moving into an AAP LLIV class because we just moved from an ES in the eastern part of the county that only goes up to 5th grade, no advanced math was offered there, we did not have the option of sending him to the AAP center due to family circumstances. The new school placed him in LLIV because of his very high test scores and the fact that he's Level IV qualified from when he was tested in 2nd grade. This new school is his base school - not a center school but a LLIV - so hopefully they will work with him to catch up on anything he's missing. His older sister rolled from the same ES in 5th grade into a 6th grade class in the middle school where she took the 7th grade SOL at the end of 6th grade, so the same set up. (It was called compact math back then I think.) She just finished Alg II H in 9th grade now, with no problems at all. I just wasn't sure about the 6th grade in ES vs. MS part. Thanks for the advice though - we will definitely look at the curriculum to see what he's missing.

Just to confirm what someone else posted, not all schools offer advanced math studies in ES. Our former ES does NOT offer any advanced math, nor did several of the schools around that school. Can't speak for everyone, but not all parts of the county have equal access to the more advanced classes, even though there are kids qualified at the schools and who may benefit from those classes.

[Anonymous]

It is fast paced math and you may want to see about a math tutor. It doesn't mean your son is not able to do the work, but he needs to close the gap.

We had a great tutor last year and it really helped ground our sons understanding of the faster paced math lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is fast paced math and you may want to see about a math tutor. It doesn't mean your son is not able to do the work, but he needs to close the gap.

We had a great tutor last year and it really helped ground our sons understanding of the faster paced math lessons.

My kid was able to close the gap by doing nothing but showing up. Most kids who belong in AAP will quickly catch on without a tutor. How sad you didn't give your son an opportunity to discover this himself -- it kind of begs the question why he was in AAP to begin with.