Math placement for rising 7th graders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

Math 7 leads to pre-algebra not algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

Our school told us placement letters would be posted and would factor in SOL and MI scores in addition to the class grade. We know we can all always decide what option is best for our child, but I really want to know what the school thinks. If my child had a B+, is that enough for Algebra instead of taking Pre Algebra instead? What about a B? Or an A but not stellar SOLs?

At the end of the day it is our choice, but getting actual feedback would be nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

Math 7 leads to pre-algebra not algebra.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/MS-Pathways-SY21.pdf

Math 7 can lead to regular Algebra in 8th. If you aren’t recommended for it you can parent preference into it.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else get a report card that only has art/music/PE populated?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get a report card that only has art/music/PE populated?!

No- everything was populated, but no teacher comments. I assume that’s normal in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

Math 7 leads to pre-algebra not algebra.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/MS-Pathways-SY21.pdf

Math 7 can lead to regular Algebra in 8th. If you aren’t recommended for it you can parent preference into it.

Sure parents can place their kids into anything but most don’t and just follow where the school places their child. For good reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get a report card that only has art/music/PE populated?!

No- everything was populated, but no teacher comments. I assume that’s normal in middle school.

That post clearly isn’t about middle school given the classes mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get a report card that only has art/music/PE populated?!

Contact the school ITC, this happened to me one quarter and it was an error. The itc can re-run the report card and fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get a report card that only has art/music/PE populated?!

No- everything was populated, but no teacher comments. I assume that’s normal in middle school.

That post clearly isn’t about middle school given the classes mentioned.

APS middle schools all offer art, music, and PE classes. So no, not clear given that this is a thread about middle school courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

This is not true anymore in APS. Of the kids who take the advanced math class in 6th grade, even if they got an A, they may be recommended for pre-algebra or algebra in 7th, based on SOL & MI scores. And you can’t really parent place if you disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

This is not true anymore in APS. Of the kids who take the advanced math class in 6th grade, even if they got an A, they may be recommended for pre-algebra or algebra in 7th, based on SOL & MI scores. And you can’t really parent place if you disagree.

The advanced math class in 6th is pre algebra. Although a kid may be recommended to repeat pre algebra in 7th, and should if that’s the recommendation, it wouldn’t be the pathway that most kids take. I doubt there would be many, if any, kids who make an A in 6th grade pre algebra who are then placed in 7th grade pre algebra. That would be strange, and an indication that something was wrong with either the grading or the 7th grade placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

This is not true anymore in APS. Of the kids who take the advanced math class in 6th grade, even if they got an A, they may be recommended for pre-algebra or algebra in 7th, based on SOL & MI scores. And you can’t really parent place if you disagree.

The advanced math class in 6th is pre algebra. Although a kid may be recommended to repeat pre algebra in 7th, and should if that’s the recommendation, it wouldn’t be the pathway that most kids take. I doubt there would be many, if any, kids who make an A in 6th grade pre algebra who are then placed in 7th grade pre algebra. That would be strange, and an indication that something was wrong with either the grading or the 7th grade placement.

This just isn’t true any longer. Last year, they greatly increased the MI scores needed to take algebra in 7th grade. So lots of kids who did well in “math 6 extended” (that’s what they called the advanced math option) took pre-algebra in 7th. Almost all of them, in fact. There were not enough 7th graders in algebra to make one class at my kid’s APS middle school. Just a handful who took it with the 8th graders. This is a recent change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

This is not true anymore in APS. Of the kids who take the advanced math class in 6th grade, even if they got an A, they may be recommended for pre-algebra or algebra in 7th, based on SOL & MI scores. And you can’t really parent place if you disagree.

The advanced math class in 6th is pre algebra. Although a kid may be recommended to repeat pre algebra in 7th, and should if that’s the recommendation, it wouldn’t be the pathway that most kids take. I doubt there would be many, if any, kids who make an A in 6th grade pre algebra who are then placed in 7th grade pre algebra. That would be strange, and an indication that something was wrong with either the grading or the 7th grade placement.

This just isn’t true any longer. Last year, they greatly increased the MI scores needed to take algebra in 7th grade. So lots of kids who did well in “math 6 extended” (that’s what they called the advanced math option) took pre-algebra in 7th. Almost all of them, in fact. There were not enough 7th graders in algebra to make one class at my kid’s APS middle school. Just a handful who took it with the 8th graders. This is a recent change.

In all fairness, last year was weird because APS was trying to cut back on how many 7th graders would take Algebra but they also had the Covid issue and disrupted learning to factor in as well. I'm one of the PPs who is waiting to see the recommendation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

This is not true anymore in APS. Of the kids who take the advanced math class in 6th grade, even if they got an A, they may be recommended for pre-algebra or algebra in 7th, based on SOL & MI scores. And you can’t really parent place if you disagree.

The advanced math class in 6th is pre algebra. Although a kid may be recommended to repeat pre algebra in 7th, and should if that’s the recommendation, it wouldn’t be the pathway that most kids take. I doubt there would be many, if any, kids who make an A in 6th grade pre algebra who are then placed in 7th grade pre algebra. That would be strange, and an indication that something was wrong with either the grading or the 7th grade placement.

This just isn’t true any longer. Last year, they greatly increased the MI scores needed to take algebra in 7th grade. So lots of kids who did well in “math 6 extended” (that’s what they called the advanced math option) took pre-algebra in 7th. Almost all of them, in fact. There were not enough 7th graders in algebra to make one class at my kid’s APS middle school. Just a handful who took it with the 8th graders. This is a recent change.

In all fairness, last year was weird because APS was trying to cut back on how many 7th graders would take Algebra but they also had the Covid issue and disrupted learning to factor in as well. I'm one of the PPs who is waiting to see the recommendation

I was also told that APS now realizes that pushing the math so fast early for too many kids ends up blowing up in many of the kids/families faces later on. Meaning, they haven't truly mastered the concepts and were seeing the consequences later on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does it matter? If you did pre-algebra in 6th and did well, you’ll be in Int algebra. If you did math 6, you will go to math 7 or pre-Alg for 7th. Either of those puts you in 8th grade Alg and you can do Intensified if you want them to in 8th for parent choice.

This is not true anymore in APS. Of the kids who take the advanced math class in 6th grade, even if they got an A, they may be recommended for pre-algebra or algebra in 7th, based on SOL & MI scores. And you can’t really parent place if you disagree.

The advanced math class in 6th is pre algebra. Although a kid may be recommended to repeat pre algebra in 7th, and should if that’s the recommendation, it wouldn’t be the pathway that most kids take. I doubt there would be many, if any, kids who make an A in 6th grade pre algebra who are then placed in 7th grade pre algebra. That would be strange, and an indication that something was wrong with either the grading or the 7th grade placement.

This just isn’t true any longer. Last year, they greatly increased the MI scores needed to take algebra in 7th grade. So lots of kids who did well in “math 6 extended” (that’s what they called the advanced math option) took pre-algebra in 7th. Almost all of them, in fact. There were not enough 7th graders in algebra to make one class at my kid’s APS middle school. Just a handful who took it with the 8th graders. This is a recent change.

In all fairness, last year was weird because APS was trying to cut back on how many 7th graders would take Algebra but they also had the Covid issue and disrupted learning to factor in as well. I'm one of the PPs who is waiting to see the recommendation

I was also told that APS now realizes that pushing the math so fast early for too many kids ends up blowing up in many of the kids/families faces later on. Meaning, they haven't truly mastered the concepts and were seeing the consequences later on.

Perhaps. Other area counties routinely had 6th graders taking algebra. That seems to be ending, but it doesn’t mean everyone isn’t ready until 8th grade. The thing is, you can always drop back or even repeat a math class. But you can’t really skip ahead later on.