Is 8th grade pre-algebra or algebra?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, I see there's a lot of question marks surrounding WHY the county is accelerating everyone into Algebra in 8th. I'll enlighten you.

It's because there was allegedly some study done somewhere that said that kids who take Algebra in 8th are more likely to go to college. That's it. That's the reason. I've asked for a link to the particular study they are referencing but have not been given the information. I asked if it controlled for environmental factors like...I don't know...maybe the fact that parents who value education and help their students be successful are more like to have a kid PREPARED for Algebra in 8th which then also naturally leads to an increased likelihood of college attendance but no one could tell me that answer either.

So, there you go.

Mind you, other states and counties have tried this (moving Algebra to 6th, pushing for it for all for 8th) and failed. So I don't know why we think we're different or better here in FCPS....

You hit the nail on the head but fcps is too inept to come to that realization. If they really want kids to do algebra in 8th, they should make advanced math available in elementary to all kids that are able to handle it, instead of holding most gen ed kids back.

[Anonymous]

Algebra should be banned in all FCPS middled schools.

8th grade is the year for pre-algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Algebra should be banned in all FCPS middled schools.

8th grade is the year for pre-algebra.

Yeah, no. Kids were taking Algebra in 8th grade in the 80's. There are kids ready for Algebra in 7th grade. Unless the county has a plan for helping to engage and teach kids who are advanced in math then Algebra in 6th and 7th grade it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Algebra should be banned in all FCPS middled schools.

8th grade is the year for pre-algebra.

Yeah, no. Kids were taking Algebra in 8th grade in the 80's. There are kids ready for Algebra in 7th grade. Unless the county has a plan for helping to engage and teach kids who are advanced in math then Algebra in 6th and 7th grade it is.

Algebra in 6th should be a fringe thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one with plans to go to college should be on the standard track.

Oh, come on. Get your head out of Northern Virginia. TONS of kids all over the country are taking "standard track" everything and going to college. You do realize there are still a fair number of schools/school systems out there that do not have the same class offerings we have here, right?

This is just such small thinking.

I want my kids to get into UVA, VT, JMU, William & Mary. If you're okay with Christopher Newport or Radford or paying twice as much for a "good" school out of state that's fine. I'm not. Our kids have to compete with the other Northern Virginia kids for spots. There may or may not be official quotas at the state schools, but the admissions office definitely compares applicants against all the other applicants from the same school and county. If one kid has a less rigorous course load they aren't getting in.

This is exactly us too.

What happens if they don't make it into one of them? Game over at 17-18 years old?

They would have to go to a lesser school. Obviously it wouldn’t be game over you idiot.

Idiot PP here. Have you gone through the college admissions process at all yet with any of your children? If you have, then we could debate whether or not I'm an idiot. If you haven't, then frankly, you don't know what you're talking about. There are so many high achieving kids in this county who could probably thrive at your choices. They do all the right things, take all the right classes, get wonderful scores and grades and still get rejected/waitlisted/deferred. Pop on over to the college board this time of year and there is always a thread or five about managing the disappointment and scrambling for a Plan B. And it's all so opaque, you never find out why you were rejected and someone with the same stats was accepted. Then the whole family feels let down, the senior may feel like a failure and that they couldn't live up to your expectations. Do you really want them to start out life feeling like a disappointment? I'm not an idiot or delusional, just a parent who had to navigate the college application process with Math that was taught by Powerpoint. But, you do you. Things will most likely turn out fine, but how are you all going to manage if they don't?

[Anonymous]

Carson has a math pathways handout in the kids' schoology that essentially says THIS YEAR they are skipping pre-algebra and next year the standard will be 7th graders will take pre-algebra and all 8th graders will take algebra. But current 7th graders are getting screwed. Looks like all the wealthy families will be hiring tutors to get our kids up to speed over the summer, and everyone else is just screwed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one with plans to go to college should be on the standard track.

Oh, come on. Get your head out of Northern Virginia. TONS of kids all over the country are taking "standard track" everything and going to college. You do realize there are still a fair number of schools/school systems out there that do not have the same class offerings we have here, right?

This is just such small thinking.

I want my kids to get into UVA, VT, JMU, William & Mary. If you're okay with Christopher Newport or Radford or paying twice as much for a "good" school out of state that's fine. I'm not. Our kids have to compete with the other Northern Virginia kids for spots. There may or may not be official quotas at the state schools, but the admissions office definitely compares applicants against all the other applicants from the same school and county. If one kid has a less rigorous course load they aren't getting in.

This is exactly us too.

What happens if they don't make it into one of them? Game over at 17-18 years old?

They would have to go to a lesser school. Obviously it wouldn’t be game over you idiot.

Idiot PP here. Have you gone through the college admissions process at all yet with any of your children? If you have, then we could debate whether or not I'm an idiot. If you haven't, then frankly, you don't know what you're talking about. There are so many high achieving kids in this county who could probably thrive at your choices. They do all the right things, take all the right classes, get wonderful scores and grades and still get rejected/waitlisted/deferred. Pop on over to the college board this time of year and there is always a thread or five about managing the disappointment and scrambling for a Plan B. And it's all so opaque, you never find out why you were rejected and someone with the same stats was accepted. Then the whole family feels let down, the senior may feel like a failure and that they couldn't live up to your expectations. Do you really want them to start out life feeling like a disappointment? I'm not an idiot or delusional, just a parent who had to navigate the college application process with Math that was taught by Powerpoint. But, you do you. Things will most likely turn out fine, but how are you all going to manage if they don't?

You asked what would happen if they didn’t get into one of those schools and I answered already. Your rant doesn’t change my answer. It wouldn’t be game over and they’d just go to a different school. VCU and GMU would be ok. We would manage just fine. But we are absolutely starting with higher expectations and expect more than NOVA or Radford out of the gate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Algebra should be banned in all FCPS middled schools.

8th grade is the year for pre-algebra.

But some of us have smart kids though..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one with plans to go to college should be on the standard track.

Oh, come on. Get your head out of Northern Virginia. TONS of kids all over the country are taking "standard track" everything and going to college. You do realize there are still a fair number of schools/school systems out there that do not have the same class offerings we have here, right?

This is just such small thinking.

I want my kids to get into UVA, VT, JMU, William & Mary. If you're okay with Christopher Newport or Radford or paying twice as much for a "good" school out of state that's fine. I'm not. Our kids have to compete with the other Northern Virginia kids for spots. There may or may not be official quotas at the state schools, but the admissions office definitely compares applicants against all the other applicants from the same school and county. If one kid has a less rigorous course load they aren't getting in.

This is exactly us too.

What happens if they don't make it into one of them? Game over at 17-18 years old?

They would have to go to a lesser school. Obviously it wouldn’t be game over you idiot.

Idiot PP here. Have you gone through the college admissions process at all yet with any of your children? If you have, then we could debate whether or not I'm an idiot. If you haven't, then frankly, you don't know what you're talking about. There are so many high achieving kids in this county who could probably thrive at your choices. They do all the right things, take all the right classes, get wonderful scores and grades and still get rejected/waitlisted/deferred. Pop on over to the college board this time of year and there is always a thread or five about managing the disappointment and scrambling for a Plan B. And it's all so opaque, you never find out why you were rejected and someone with the same stats was accepted. Then the whole family feels let down, the senior may feel like a failure and that they couldn't live up to your expectations. Do you really want them to start out life feeling like a disappointment? I'm not an idiot or delusional, just a parent who had to navigate the college application process with Math that was taught by Powerpoint. But, you do you. Things will most likely turn out fine, but how are you all going to manage if they don't?

You asked what would happen if they didn’t get into one of those schools and I answered already. Your rant doesn’t change my answer. It wouldn’t be game over and they’d just go to a different school. VCU and GMU would be ok. We would manage just fine. But we are absolutely starting with higher expectations and expect more than NOVA or Radford out of the gate.

Anyone with 3/4 of a brain and a mid gpa should be able to get in there.

[Anonymous]

My ds is in grade 7. He s currently taking algebra 1. He s thriving. I tried talk him out of it but he wants to take it and the teacher thought he d do well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ds is in grade 7. He s currently taking algebra 1. He s thriving. I tried talk him out of it but he wants to take it and the teacher thought he d do well.

This isn’t what you need to worry about. It is at the other end of your child’s academics when confronted with upper level math courses and possibly struggling there. The data is there in FCPS that shows a huge number of students taking less demanding courses in 11th and 12th grade because they aren’t prepared for the rigor due to acceleration and memorization vs. understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one with plans to go to college should be on the standard track.

Oh, come on. Get your head out of Northern Virginia. TONS of kids all over the country are taking "standard track" everything and going to college. You do realize there are still a fair number of schools/school systems out there that do not have the same class offerings we have here, right?

This is just such small thinking.

I want my kids to get into UVA, VT, JMU, William & Mary. If you're okay with Christopher Newport or Radford or paying twice as much for a "good" school out of state that's fine. I'm not. Our kids have to compete with the other Northern Virginia kids for spots. There may or may not be official quotas at the state schools, but the admissions office definitely compares applicants against all the other applicants from the same school and county. If one kid has a less rigorous course load they aren't getting in.

This is exactly us too.

What happens if they don't make it into one of them? Game over at 17-18 years old?

They would have to go to a lesser school. Obviously it wouldn’t be game over you idiot.

Idiot PP here. Have you gone through the college admissions process at all yet with any of your children? If you have, then we could debate whether or not I'm an idiot. If you haven't, then frankly, you don't know what you're talking about. There are so many high achieving kids in this county who could probably thrive at your choices. They do all the right things, take all the right classes, get wonderful scores and grades and still get rejected/waitlisted/deferred. Pop on over to the college board this time of year and there is always a thread or five about managing the disappointment and scrambling for a Plan B. And it's all so opaque, you never find out why you were rejected and someone with the same stats was accepted. Then the whole family feels let down, the senior may feel like a failure and that they couldn't live up to your expectations. Do you really want them to start out life feeling like a disappointment? I'm not an idiot or delusional, just a parent who had to navigate the college application process with Math that was taught by Powerpoint. But, you do you. Things will most likely turn out fine, but how are you all going to manage if they don't?

You asked what would happen if they didn’t get into one of those schools and I answered already. Your rant doesn’t change my answer. It wouldn’t be game over and they’d just go to a different school. VCU and GMU would be ok. We would manage just fine. But we are absolutely starting with higher expectations and expect more than NOVA or Radford out of the gate.

DP here. The college admissions process is bad enough for kids who took algebra in 7th. If a kid isn’t even taking algebra by 8th, that kid would be on the lowest track in high school and be bottom of class in terms of rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ds is in grade 7. He s currently taking algebra 1. He s thriving. I tried talk him out of it but he wants to take it and the teacher thought he d do well.

This isn’t what you need to worry about. It is at the other end of your child’s academics when confronted with upper level math courses and possibly struggling there. The data is there in FCPS that shows a huge number of students taking less demanding courses in 11th and 12th grade because they aren’t prepared for the rigor due to acceleration and memorization vs. understanding.

Or because they don't want to, even if they are highly capable. Kids and families choices once students finish algebra 2.

Why does it bother you what someone else chooses for their child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ds is in grade 7. He s currently taking algebra 1. He s thriving. I tried talk him out of it but he wants to take it and the teacher thought he d do well.

This isn’t what you need to worry about. It is at the other end of your child’s academics when confronted with upper level math courses and possibly struggling there. The data is there in FCPS that shows a huge number of students taking less demanding courses in 11th and 12th grade because they aren’t prepared for the rigor due to acceleration and memorization vs. understanding.

Or because they don't want to, even if they are highly capable. Kids and families choices once students finish algebra 2.

Why does it bother you what someone else chooses for their child?

Because we have a problem in our area where students needles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ds is in grade 7. He s currently taking algebra 1. He s thriving. I tried talk him out of it but he wants to take it and the teacher thought he d do well.

This isn’t what you need to worry about. It is at the other end of your child’s academics when confronted with upper level math courses and possibly struggling there. The data is there in FCPS that shows a huge number of students taking less demanding courses in 11th and 12th grade because they aren’t prepared for the rigor due to acceleration and memorization vs. understanding.

Or because they don't want to, even if they are highly capable. Kids and families choices once students finish algebra 2.

Why does it bother you what someone else chooses for their child?

Because we have a problem in this area where kids needlessly accelerate in mathematics for no reason and in doing so many suffer from a lack of understanding of content because they aren’t prepared due to memorization. Students struggle and get frustrated for no apparent reason.