Son scored a B Grade in 7thgrade ALgebra1 honors do we retake the course in 8th grade?

[Sania]

Hi,

My son scored a B grade in Algebra1 Honors this year in his 7th grade, is retaking the course a good idea.

Any suggestions or feedback on this issue will be appreciated.
Thank you in advance!

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't to get rid of a "B". Would if you thought there was grade inflation and they aren't solid enough on the material.

[Anonymous]

Sania wrote:Hi,

My son scored a B grade in Algebra1 Honors this year in his 7th grade. He is actually a very smart and outstanding student in math, in-fact he was interactive with the Algebra1 math teacher, answering her questions and even giving her some suggestions too! He wants a future in math but his grade went low due to overconfidence and playfulness. My son does not care about gaining a TJ admission but he feels bad for his low grade(he learnt his lesson now!) and is ready for expunging the B grade from the 7th grade to retake algebra1 honors in the 8th grade(which is possible as per FCPS rules). His teacher let him know than a B grade is fine, but we don't want to begin with a low GPA for college admission(since its algebra1 honors and will be counted), and most importantly because he wants his future to be with math. We also plan on taking Geometry honors in the 8th grade summer holidays.

My question-Is the above process worth the time and effort?
From what I have read and what I know- expunged marks will not show up again, but my husband is worried if it will persist show up in the records as two scores. Any ides on this?

Any suggestions or feedback on this issue will be appreciated.
Thank you in advance!

Based on what you have written and your general attitude, my perception of the situation is that the real issue you need to address is your son’s behavior in class. Fix that and he may then be able to achieve the grade of which you feel he is capable.

[Anonymous]

Sania wrote:Hi,

My son scored a B grade in Algebra1 Honors this year in his 7th grade. He is actually a very smart and outstanding student in math, in-fact he was interactive with the Algebra1 math teacher, answering her questions and even giving her some suggestions too! He wants a future in math but his grade went low due to overconfidence and playfulness. My son does not care about gaining a TJ admission but he feels bad for his low grade(he learnt his lesson now!) and is ready for expunging the B grade from the 7th grade to retake algebra1 honors in the 8th grade(which is possible as per FCPS rules). His teacher let him know than a B grade is fine, but we don't want to begin with a low GPA for college admission(since its algebra1 honors and will be counted), and most importantly because he wants his future to be with math. We also plan on taking Geometry honors in the 8th grade summer holidays.

My question-Is the above process worth the time and effort?
From what I have read and what I know- expunged marks will not show up again, but my husband is worried if it will persist show up in the records as two scores. Any ides on this?

Any suggestions or feedback on this issue will be appreciated.
Thank you in advance!

Stop gaming the system. Don't you know we have to even the playing field and your behavior is counter to that.

[Anonymous]

If it’s my child, I would get some good algebra workbooks. They have to make up what they missed during this summer. B means they probably didn’t have a good foundation in the four operations, either. In any case, I would do assessments on both their arithmetic and algebra, then look for problems where he needs understanding and practice and help them catch up.

The last thing I worry about is how grade affects college admission.

[Sania]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

The overconfidence as a reason was what I assume, its was mostly playfulness, which I agree, needs to be changed.

Everyone feels bad when they perform badly, especially when they feel they could have done better, there is nothing wrong in considering a second chance and improving, which is why we thought about retaking .

As suggested will use workbooks to help him work on the basics in arithmetic and algebra to have a better foundation.

[Anonymous]

I would expunge it and have him sit for HA1 again. That is what kids that got a B in ha1 in 7th grade did in our school

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your kid needs to learn how to behave in class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like your kid needs to learn how to behave in class

This but also could he do summer school this summer?

[Anonymous]

I don't see any problems with repeating Algebra IH in 8th. My problem is with the general attitude, though. I don't think you can explain away an entire school year's worth of math with 'playfulness and overconfidence'. That would be a test or two, or maybe a quarter.

I suspect your child has gaps in learning, and it would be in his best interest to just slow down, and let him learn at a normal pace. Repeat Algebra 1H. Do NOT do Geometry over the summer. These things are foundational, and acceleration, especially when he wants to go into Math, is going to become a stumbling block later in life. Let him do Geometry in 9th. Provide him the support he needs, if it turns out that he is stumbling in his classes, and re-evaluate his strengths as needed.

[Anonymous]

What do you even mean by "playfulness" and "overconfidence?" Did he fail to complete a lot of homework assignments? Did he lose a lot of points because he wouldn't show his work? Did he make a lot of careless errors?

If the answer to any of these is yes, then he likely wasn't mature enough to take a high school level class in 7th. Have him redo the class in 8th with an understanding that he needs to do his work, follow directions, and check his answers.

If the answer to these is no, then your kid struggled to understand the math or has big gaps in understanding. Once you account for FCPS inflated grades, a B really means he had a C or D level of knowledge. He should retake the class in 8th so he can learn the material.

Do not put this kid in summer geometry. A kid who is either too immature to handle Algebra in 7th or didn't understand the math well enough DOES NOT belong in summer Geometry. It's arguable that even the solid A students should do summer geometry. Your kid isn't that.

[Anonymous]

OP, what do you mean when you boast that your kid gave the teacher “suggestions”? This sounds so disrespectful. Maybe, since he wasn’t getting an A in the class, he should do things the teacher’s way without trying to advise her or give her suggestions?

This combined with what you call “playfulness” and “overconfidence”, makes him sound like a pita who distracts himself and others in class. If you knew he had these problematic behaviors, why did you let it continue for the whole school year?

[Anonymous]

I’m sure he deserved the B. Is he going to retake every class he gets a B in? Up to you.

[Sania]

I might not have worded myself well, by saying ‘suggestions to the teacher’, l meant he was highly interested in the subject and he had told me he corrected the teacher once. I am not boasting in any way here and l am least interested in boasting, l just wanted to say he was highly interested in the subject. He was well behaved and the teacher was very appreciative of him in her final email to me. By ‘playful’ I meant too much into gaming.
The final test carried heavy weight and he lost marks there but again l am not going to go to the excuses.He has low grades now and l just wanted to know what can be done because we felt he can do much better( he had very high scores in 6th grade- again this is not to boast) .

As of now we have decided to work on the basics and past mistakes and look to improve in the future.

All l wanted was suggestions so that we could improve.. Thank you to those who many me valuable feedback.

[Anonymous]

Are there really parents concerned that their kid got a B in 7th grade? I feel sorry for your kid!