Middle Schools Math Differentiation

[Anonymous]

What are the public and charter Middle Schools that follow a math differentiation approach for their students? We know about Deal, Hardy, and BASIS. What else? Let’s make a list.

[Anonymous]

I think Latin does? Have heard from friends of their kids taking Geometry by 8th, or Algebra in 8th, or presumably there is a lower track. So three.

[Anonymous]

ITDS does.

You can look at the OSSE CAPE results spreadsheets and see which schools had kids taking which test. Many middle schools offer Algebra I and some offer Geometry.

[Anonymous]

Look at the CAPE scores. Any middle school with Algebra or Geometry results offers those courses. Also gives you a sense of how many students take the class (i.e., is it selective or universal), what year(s) they're offered, and how successful students are at learning the material.

[Anonymous]

Jefferson offers an advanced math class for 6th and offers Algebra and Geometry for kids who are ready for it.

[Anonymous]

"Differentiation" can have a lot of different meanings and be done in various ways. And it doesn't always mean acceleration. Can you be more specific about what you want to know?

[Anonymous]

DCI: When you enter, you can take 6th grade or 7th grade math (IB curriculum), depending on MAP testing (and maybe other components--I'm not sure). They've also allowed a few kids to skip ahead two grades in math, I'm not sure when in middle school this can happen.

[Anonymous]

Wells

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Differentiation" can have a lot of different meanings and be done in various ways. And it doesn't always mean acceleration. Can you be more specific about what you want to know?

Yeah, this. Like, BASIS has acceleration, but not that much differentiation (the vast majority of kids take Algebra 1/Geo in 7th and Algebra 2/Geo in 8th, with a tiny handful taking those classes one year earlier and then precalc in 8th.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Differentiation" can have a lot of different meanings and be done in various ways. And it doesn't always mean acceleration. Can you be more specific about what you want to know?

OP here- Thank you for highlighting this. Perhaps what I had in mind is a combination of both: I am assuming that an X school would meet their students where they are - with the assumption- as a baseline- the students take Algebra 1 in 8th grade (because this is the norm to be on grade level).
But also would provide pathways to meet stronger students with additional advanced math roadmaps for those 6-8 grades based on their levels.

I am curious: How would define differentiation vs. acceleration in math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Differentiation" can have a lot of different meanings and be done in various ways. And it doesn't always mean acceleration. Can you be more specific about what you want to know?

OP here- Thank you for highlighting this. Perhaps what I had in mind is a combination of both: I am assuming that an X school would meet their students where they are - with the assumption- as a baseline- the students take Algebra 1 in 8th grade (because this is the norm to be on grade level).
But also would provide pathways to meet stronger students with additional advanced math roadmaps for those 6-8 grades based on their levels.

I am curious: How would define differentiation vs. acceleration in math?

differentiation: giving students different work according to their ability
acceleration: doing more work in less time/earlier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Differentiation" can have a lot of different meanings and be done in various ways. And it doesn't always mean acceleration. Can you be more specific about what you want to know?

OP here- Thank you for highlighting this. Perhaps what I had in mind is a combination of both: I am assuming that an X school would meet their students where they are - with the assumption- as a baseline- the students take Algebra 1 in 8th grade (because this is the norm to be on grade level).
But also would provide pathways to meet stronger students with additional advanced math roadmaps for those 6-8 grades based on their levels.

I am curious: How would define differentiation vs. acceleration in math?

Acceleration means you take a course before the official grade level time. For example Algebra I in 7th and Geometry in 8th.

Differentiation means being taught differently. It doesn't have to involve acceleration. It can mean side projects or deeper dives into relevant topics. For example, there may be a group that gets their math work done pretty quickly so they spend the math period on Fridays on statistics or physics or learning about astronomy or whatever. This is helpful when a group is not going to be able to get a full year ahead but still needs a little more to keep their interest engaged.

[Anonymous]

Truth

[Anonymous]

they mostly for math all do to some extent. stuart hobson: 6th graders are placed into basic 6 (with or without an additional remediation course during an elective period), an enhanced 6th class which then leads to math 8 in 7th and algebra in 8th, or straight into math 7. straight into math 7 is a sizable group maybe 1/4 class not just a few outliers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCI: When you enter, you can take 6th grade or 7th grade math (IB curriculum), depending on MAP testing (and maybe other components--I'm not sure). They've also allowed a few kids to skip ahead two grades in math, I'm not sure when in middle school this can happen.

Not at DCI yet but child will be attending in the fall. Per what I understand from open house and principal.

6th grade 2 track - grade level and 1 year ahead

7th grade 3 tracks - grade level, 1 year ahead, 2 year ahead. The highest track leads to AP Calculus in 10th.

He also said that kids coming up the chain are getting stronger and stronger in math and they need to expand their advance optiins.

IMO if you have a mathy kid who excels, I would look at schools with actual tracking and enough of a high performing cohort where they have actual classes. Differentiation in class at the middle school level and up is rare and does not work well.