Advanced math in ES (not AAP)

[Anonymous]

We were told that there's a test at the beginning of the year for placement into advanced math - does anyone know what the test is?

[Anonymous]

No. Just let your kid take it. If they have scored well in the iReady and did well in their math classes, they will probably do fine on the test and be placed in Advanced Math. About 1/3 of my kids' grade was in Advanced Math, they are not trying to keep kids out of the program. If anything, there is more pressure to get kids into it now because there is pressure to get kids into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and 8th grade. I would be more worried about kids being pushed ahead in math who are not ready then them missing a kid who is ready. DS class also had a couple of kids who would crawl under their desk and cry during math class. The kids were super anxious, and the pace of the class and material covered triggered reactions.

[Anonymous]

Our school used fall iReady or last spring's SOL.

[Anonymous]

My kid got in to it in 5th grade. As far as I know they didn’t use any iReady scores. For us, our kid first took the 4th grade math test at the beginning of 5th grade, and whatever kids did well on that one would be pulled to take the 5th grade math test at the start of 5th grade. If they knew a certain amount of material, they would be invited into Advanced Math. This test is also available in 6th grade. And, if you want your child to take Algebra in 7th grade, they have to get a pass advance on the SOL in 6th grade. My child took the Iowa, but she was the last year that they required getting 91st percentile on the IOWA to get into Algebra. There is no more IOWA. As of the advance math test, no need to prepare. We didn’t even know it was a thing until she took it. May be different for other schools, but that’s how ours was done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Just let your kid take it. If they have scored well in the iReady and did well in their math classes, they will probably do fine on the test and be placed in Advanced Math. About 1/3 of my kids' grade was in Advanced Math, they are not trying to keep kids out of the program. If anything, there is more pressure to get kids into it now because there is pressure to get kids into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and 8th grade. I would be more worried about kids being pushed ahead in math who are not ready than them missing a kid who is ready. DS class also had a couple of kids who would crawl under their desk and cry during math class. The kids were super anxious, and the pace of the class and material covered triggered reactions.

My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

Level II should mean your kid is in advanced math, and getting pulled into the AAP classroom for it, though. If you're in one of the schools where they have pushed the acceleration until 5th grade, then possibly that's why the pullouts didn't start this year. But level II in math means advanced math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Just let your kid take it. If they have scored well in the iReady and did well in their math classes, they will probably do fine on the test and be placed in Advanced Math. About 1/3 of my kids' grade was in Advanced Math, they are not trying to keep kids out of the program. If anything, there is more pressure to get kids into it now because there is pressure to get kids into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and 8th grade. I would be more worried about kids being pushed ahead in math who are not ready than them missing a kid who is ready. DS class also had a couple of kids who would crawl under their desk and cry during math class. The kids were super anxious, and the pace of the class and material covered triggered reactions.

My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

If your child is passing advanced on the SOL and scoring in the 98-99th percentile on the iReady they will do just fine on the test for advanced math. Some kids struggle with grade level math, most kids can handle it but it isn’t easy. The kids who are doing well will find the test easy.

We asked DSs teachers about AAP in second grade, they wouldn’t give any advice because they were not allowed to. His math Teacher, he was in a language immersion program so had two teachers, was very quick to say that he was a shoo in for Advanced Math at the school. The Teachers know who is a shoo in for the class, even if they won’t tell you and will cite the upcoming test. They can’t tell you your kid is in because then they will get the question from other families who will not be happy if they are told they need to wait for the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

Level II should mean your kid is in advanced math, and getting pulled into the AAP classroom for it, though. If you're in one of the schools where they have pushed the acceleration until 5th grade, then possibly that's why the pullouts didn't start this year. But level II in math means advanced math.

In 4th, Level II just meant my child got extra worksheets labeled "extension" while their friends in AAP were already starting long division. The extension worksheets were just a different version of the same worksheets they already got, so it was just more work not advanced work.