Algebra in 6th grade - new selection process?
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Anonymous
This is what I don't understand. The goal is for all students to take Algebra 1 by 8th grade. I don't understand why that means pushing kids into Algebra 1 earlier in 6th and 7th grade. Offer more sections of Algebra 1 in 8th grade. Looking at the SOL scores for Algebra 1 in 8th and 9th grade, the issue is getting the kids to a place that they can succeed in Algebra 1 and that means focusing on fundamentals for kids who are struggling in ES and not trying to force more kids into Algebra 1 early. 6th grade Algebra 1 does need to be expanded. It was annoying to know that there were schools that offered this while our school didn't and out kid could have benefited from it. A unform program across the County was needed. I do think that there are more then 30 kids who can handle it. I hope they hold firm to a strong cut off with the 99% in the iReady and pass advanced on the SOL. Don't allow parents to place or beg for their kids to be added if they don't hit that benchmark. But pushing kids from Math7H to Algebra1H in 7th grade makes no sense. The kids are on pace for Algebra 1 in 8th grade, they are on target. Why much with that? ES needs a remedial math class for kids that are below grade level, a grade level math group, and an advanced math group. Not the advanced group and everyone else. |
Anonymous
You can't. There was no standard across the County. No one knows what the requirement was supposed to be. People will post a CoGAT Quant score and some other metrics but there were kids who had those whose schools never mentioned the possibility of Algebra 1 in 6th grade. It was dependent on a Principal who was supportive of the idea and it seemed to happen at a few schools on a semi-regular basis. |
Anonymous
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Just got the call this morning. FCPS only notified the middle schools with sixth graders today.
We don’t have the staffing concern some are facing. Our sixth grader can slot right into the existing Algebra I HN class (originally for 7th/8th graders), with the teacher already in place and ready to go. We still don't know if it is the right choice for other reasons brought up here, but at least we should have staff prepared to teach the class. |
Anonymous
I do not have a 6th grader in FCPS. A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be at an event where Dr. Reid was present and a group of us were talking to her about boundaries and programs at the high school level. During the conversation, she mentioned trying to bring Algebra to 6th graders and the challenges she's facing. I got the impression that she is the one pushing for this. If you've been following the boundary issue, she wants 6-8 middle schools and not 7-8 with a major driver giving 6th graders access to Algebra. She did say they were going to be piloting Algebra in several elementary schools and they were lucky to have at least one teacher who was certified and experienced at teaching Algebra 1. But that this teacher was definitely a "unicorn" - she used that exact word. She didn't say what school. In a nutshell, I think its Dr. Reid pushing this. |
Anonymous
Yes, see, under this scenario, you're removing the kid from accessing a teacher who is competent in teaching the course and understands the curriculum. You're now going to place this kid into an online program administered by a third party probably unfamiliar with FCPS pacing, or hand it off to a teacher in ES who has the certification but has never actually taught the class. Good grief! It would have been far wiser to send the identified kids to the MS if the parent and school could have handled the need. |
Anonymous
I think you are misunderstanding. There are 3(?) middle schools in FCPS that are 6/7/8. At least one of those is offering Algebra I Honors to select 6th-grade students. Those students would be placed into an in-person class with 7th and 8th graders. ~PP |
Anonymous
My rising 8th grader who would have qualified based on the new criteria took Algebra 1 H as a 7th grader last year. It was already a pretty big jump compared to kids who had actual pre-algebra (kid did fine, but it was a lot of work). I cannot imagine if she hadn't had Math 7/AAP math 6 beforehand. |
Anonymous
Many of the kids who took Algebra in 6th grade, prior to this year, did got to the MS for 1st period Algebra 1 H and then a parent had to bring them to their ES. We did not push for Algebra 1 because that sounded awful. Our kid would have had different start times for school during the week, MS starts an hour or more earlier than ES, and with block scheduling that schedule would change. He would have had an entire math block, daily, at ES that would have been time doing what? Or he would have been in the library during his math period doing Algebra online. Neither sounded like a great option. At least under the new program kids will have a peer group in their class.
This makes sense. She really wants MS to be 6-8 and seems to be ignoring the fact that most MS don't have the space for 6-8. I don't think saying that .5% of students needing Algebra1 H in 6th grade is the best reason for trying to pack MS with a third grade. That said, there are 6th graders ready for Algebra, and I am glad that FCPS is trying to figure that out instead of relying on a few Principals who think it is a great idea and making it work while others just ignore those kids. I think the answer is that Algebra 1H is offered at Center schools and kids who need it will have to transfer to the Center to be in a large enough group to hold the class with a qualified teacher. I think shoving it into 11 pilot schools with little to no warning and not having properly qualified teachers at all of those schools who have had time to prepare, is shortsighted. If she really wants to make Algebra 1 H available to 6thg raders, take the time to develop a program that will work and prepare people for it. The current approach is ridiculous. |
Anonymous
Gotcha! |
Anonymous
It depends. Our school have 9 kids qualified, not enough to form a class for in person class. I heard that one of the center schools have in-person instruction, because they have enough kids. Talk to your principal or AART teacher about it to find out. |
Anonymous
| Does anyone know which elementary schools this is happening at? |
Anonymous
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This is 100% from Reid. The first in person meeting she had with math teacher leaders after she got here, she expressed shock followed by concern that our middle schools don't offer precalculus. She stated her previous district all had precalculus offerings for 8th graders, and that we'd have to "look into that".
I have no idea why massive acceleration is her goal (not just algebra by 8th, which is quite different), but it very much is. As a HS math teacher, all of us are against this acceleration as being "normalized" (we all agree it should be available in defined special cases). Even county math leadership takes big sighs before discussing it, but they have been told by Reid this is the priority. |
Anonymous
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I think one of several reasons for offering more kids Algebra in 6th is to discourage the practice of kids taking Geometry the summer between 7th/8th, a generally undesirable practice for reasons that have been widely discussed on this forum but that may be appropriate in extremely niche cases.
True to form for the neverending arms race some parents want to engage in, on the webinar one of the parents asked if their student could now take Geometry the summer between 6th and 7th. When the answer was no, they asked if their student could take Algebra II the summer between 7th and 8th. Maybe this parent has some 0.0001% child prodigy who really desperately needs that level of acceleration and the parent thought that this public webinar was the right forum for handling their very specific and individual question regarding their exceptional of the exceptional child, but it seems more likely it's just part of the "do anything to get a perceived leg up on the competition" attitude that some parents take towards their child's education. I share the concerns about the 6th grade Algebra teachers generally not being well experienced or adequately prepared for this, especially as the students will essentially be skipping two years of math (7th and 8th). On the other hand we spoke privately to our 5th grade teacher and she indicated that she thought our student was ready for it, and also said that she wasn't giving that same advice to everyone who asked her with an eligible student. So we're torn. Most likely we'll give it a shot, supplement at home with parental and maybe Beast Academy review of some of the 7th/8th grade pre-algebra concepts, and if it ends up a disaster or doesn't seem like our student fully mastered all the Algebra fundamentals we can expunge and repeat in 7th grade with an experienced MS teacher. It seems there are two main advantages for a student who is ready for it, if the school can rise to the challenge of successfully delivering the content at a deep level to these 6th graders. The first is less boredom and more excitement about math/school (our child thought about it for a day or two when we explained the option/choice we have, and said they wanted to do it because they wanted more of a challenge with math than they had last year), and the second is that it provides greater flexibility to take other math courses in HS (MV Calc/LA/DE on the traditional theory side, and on the more practical/applied side Data Science, AP Stats, and other offerings that may come online in the coming years around AI/ML or who knows what else). |
Anonymous
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So if our mathy 6th graders become decide they want to major in history and go to law school down the road, is it going to look bad if they stop taking math after sophomore year? Or will they now be forced to take multi var?
Our assigned high school is an IB school and does not offer AP stats or the option to slow down the sequence with multiple levels of calculus, it is 2 years of IB and then...nothing unless we pursue dual enrollment. It's hard to know who our kids will be in 5-6 years. |
Anonymous
I have a sibling who graduated from TJ with the minimum math (Calc AB) and was a successful philosophy major and lawyer. But he was able to do a lot of the slowing down on the math track, even there, that it sounds like your kid can't. |