Compacted math 4/5 5/6 and issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is in 5/6 and doing fine-not-great (Bs). They would benefit, really, from slowing down in MS and beyond (not a STEM kid at all). Is that an option if the completion of 5/6 is satisfactory? In other words, can DC request something slower/lower than AIM even if grades in 5/6 are ok? I also assume that a math pullback would have no impact on eligibility for Global Humanities (which DC would love and is qualified for)--or would it?

Interestingly, this varies wildly by middle school. There isn’t an across-the-board cutoff and some middle schools offer different math pathways. At ours, kids who want to slow down for 6th after compacted take math 7, but they’re cohorted with all 6th graders, not jumbled in with grade level 7th graders who also take math 7. At other schools there is a course called AMP. It really depends on the school. Also, we’re not that far into the school year. If you think 5/6 is too much for your child, you could explore other options for this year. I don’t think Bs indicate a problem necessarily but whether the child is really struggling to get the concepts or is getting frustrated/stressed.

And no, math placement has no impact on eligibility for HIGH at all.

Definitely varies by MS. Ours actually got rid of AIM and the only 2 options for kids in 6th are AMP6+ and AMP7+. There are at least 2 classes of 6th graders in AMP7+ (and my kid's class has 30+ students!) so they're definitely not super selective. I would have preferred enrichment over just acceleration, but since we don't have an option for that, we just continue with RSM on the side (and FWIW I don't think my kid is a super genius but he usually scores above the 99th percentile on MAP tests- I know many other kids in his school/MCPS as a whole do, just wish there was a but more differentiation and more focus on enrichment besides the limited, out-of-the-way magnet options.)

[Anonymous]

Sometimes kids get placed in a class or are kept out of a class based on numbers. To keep the class size approx even, they may pull 5 extra kids in to compact even if they are not quite there. They may keep a few kids in grade level math if compact gets too big. This happened to my son. It was pre compacted math but he got put in 6th grade math in 4th. We kept him the 6th grade math in 5th despite the schools recommendation. It helped him get a better foundation. He ended up taking calc as a senior and is an engineering major now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is in 5/6 and doing fine-not-great (Bs). They would benefit, really, from slowing down in MS and beyond (not a STEM kid at all). Is that an option if the completion of 5/6 is satisfactory? In other words, can DC request something slower/lower than AIM even if grades in 5/6 are ok? I also assume that a math pullback would have no impact on eligibility for Global Humanities (which DC would love and is qualified for)--or would it?

Yes, depending on the school they can do 6+/7+/algebra 1 or math 7/math 8/algebra 1. With AIM Algebra 1 is in the 7th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, actually she skipped AIM and went straight to Algebra 1. Now in Honors Geo in 7th. Acceleration like this is made for kids who catch on quickly and don't need the same thing repeated for weeks on end. What MCPS accelerated classes do NOT do, is go more in-depth, which is a shame. You need to get lucky and snag a spot in the TPMS STEM magnet middle school for that, and continue on to the high school STEM magnets.

I've been told that's usually only an option at a few wealthy schools in the county.

NO, this myth has been debunked many times on DCUM (there was a massive thread about it just recently) and trolls still like to repeat that lie just to rile people up against wealthy school clusters.

I had to fight Westland MS in Bethesda to get my kid into Algebra 1 in 6th. Another parent upcounty in a less privileged area told me their middle school was happy to accelerate their kid to the same level, because they had less demand, and were generally more excited to see kids want to stretch themselves. Schools in the BCC cluster try hard to push back against parental pressure to accelerate their kids, I think, and sometimes that works against truly interested students who want and need that acceleration. I don't know about Whitman and Walter Johnson clusters, or Churchill, also in wealthy areas.

Please don't perpetuate damaging lies.

To answer the other question, you need to request a placement test to get into Algebra 1 in 6th. Just like if your kid is bilingual or near-bilingual in a foreign language and the school tests them to place them in the right level.

On the contrary, it was conclusive shown that only a few rich schools in Potomac consistently offer this acceleration and enrichment to their students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, actually she skipped AIM and went straight to Algebra 1. Now in Honors Geo in 7th. Acceleration like this is made for kids who catch on quickly and don't need the same thing repeated for weeks on end. What MCPS accelerated classes do NOT do, is go more in-depth, which is a shame. You need to get lucky and snag a spot in the TPMS STEM magnet middle school for that, and continue on to the high school STEM magnets.

I've been told that's usually only an option at a few wealthy schools in the county.

NO, this myth has been debunked many times on DCUM (there was a massive thread about it just recently) and trolls still like to repeat that lie just to rile people up against wealthy school clusters.

I had to fight Westland MS in Bethesda to get my kid into Algebra 1 in 6th. Another parent upcounty in a less privileged area told me their middle school was happy to accelerate their kid to the same level, because they had less demand, and were generally more excited to see kids want to stretch themselves. Schools in the BCC cluster try hard to push back against parental pressure to accelerate their kids, I think, and sometimes that works against truly interested students who want and need that acceleration. I don't know about Whitman and Walter Johnson clusters, or Churchill, also in wealthy areas.

Please don't perpetuate damaging lies.

To answer the other question, you need to request a placement test to get into Algebra 1 in 6th. Just like if your kid is bilingual or near-bilingual in a foreign language and the school tests them to place them in the right level.

On the contrary, it was conclusive shown that only a few rich schools in Potomac consistently offer this acceleration and enrichment to their students.

Here we go again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, actually she skipped AIM and went straight to Algebra 1. Now in Honors Geo in 7th. Acceleration like this is made for kids who catch on quickly and don't need the same thing repeated for weeks on end. What MCPS accelerated classes do NOT do, is go more in-depth, which is a shame. You need to get lucky and snag a spot in the TPMS STEM magnet middle school for that, and continue on to the high school STEM magnets.

I've been told that's usually only an option at a few wealthy schools in the county.

NO, this myth has been debunked many times on DCUM (there was a massive thread about it just recently) and trolls still like to repeat that lie just to rile people up against wealthy school clusters.

I had to fight Westland MS in Bethesda to get my kid into Algebra 1 in 6th. Another parent upcounty in a less privileged area told me their middle school was happy to accelerate their kid to the same level, because they had less demand, and were generally more excited to see kids want to stretch themselves. Schools in the BCC cluster try hard to push back against parental pressure to accelerate their kids, I think, and sometimes that works against truly interested students who want and need that acceleration. I don't know about Whitman and Walter Johnson clusters, or Churchill, also in wealthy areas.

Please don't perpetuate damaging lies.

To answer the other question, you need to request a placement test to get into Algebra 1 in 6th. Just like if your kid is bilingual or near-bilingual in a foreign language and the school tests them to place them in the right level.

On the contrary, it was conclusive shown that only a few rich schools in Potomac consistently offer this acceleration and enrichment to their students.

Here we go again!

If they would stop trying to spread, falsehoods it wouldn't be necessary. Sure, I get that once every decade a kid who isn't at a W feeder may have somehow gotten accelerated but 99% of the time its kids from a handful of schools.

[Anonymous]

Our kid was in 4/5 and then 5/6 and stayed on the track through middle school. Each year got progressively harder for him. He loved math back in elementary school, but now as a ninth grader says he is terrible at math and hates it. The consistent honors track has been hard for him, but he ends up with Bs and As each year taking advantage of retakes. Last year in 8th grade (Geometry) it was challenging and we asked for him to be put in non honors Algebra 2 this year. The counselors and his math teacher both said no - he is capable of honors classes and kept him in honors Algebra 2. I don't know if slowing down the math track would have kept his love for math, but the fast pace is not helpful for him, but MCPS seems to not want to let him off the track. I know we could insist, but we keep believing the teachers and keep on the honors track for the next year and then math becomes a nightly struggle. Plus, he is in for progressively more difficult math every year in high school. I wish we had stepped down in 7th grade when the trouble started, but then they just blamed everything on COVID/online learning.

[Anonymous]

My son was placed in compacted math but then I found out that the class had 30+ children I had him moved down to regular math 4 which has fewer than 20 kids. My oldest was on this tract and in 6th we asked him to be moved from math 6 to IM when it was clear that he could handle it. My middle took Algebra 1 in 6th after compacted math, the school moved him out of AIM to Algebra 1. Everyone is on their own path, there is no need to worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was placed in compacted math but then I found out that the class had 30+ children I had him moved down to regular math 4 which has fewer than 20 kids. My oldest was on this tract and in 6th we asked him to be moved from math 6 to IM when it was clear that he could handle it. My middle took Algebra 1 in 6th after compacted math, the school moved him out of AIM to Algebra 1. Everyone is on their own path, there is no need to worry.

Yeah, that’s an issue at our school. My child’s compacted class has over 30
And the regular classes are all under 15.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too man parents complained and pushed their kids into CM. This is what you get.

My 17 yr old was in CM, first class to go into the CM program. When DC was in it, the entrance criteria was high. Only a handful of kids got in.

By the time DC#2 got to CM, they relaxed the criteria, by a lot. It went from maybe 6 to 10 kids per grade to more like 2/3 of the grade. I volunteered once for CM class, and I could clearly see that some of those kids really didn't belong there. They could barely do their times table.

During parent-teacher conference I asked the teacher if they thought DC#2 should be in CM or not because DC seemed to be struggling a bit at times. Teacher said it's fine, plus if they bumped DC down to "regular" class, DC would have no peer group because that group now was for the really slow track. There was nothing in between slow and advanced. Really dumb move on MCPS part, but they capitulated to aggressive parents.

Both DCs are in advanced math track still. But, it's clear DC#1 is much stronger in math (800 on SAT, 5 AP Calc), whereas DC#2 doing well got As in math, but I know this DC won't get 800 on SAT or 5 in AP calc.

They really need an "in between" group .

Similar situation for us, DC#1 800 SAT and scored 5 in AP calc, DC #2 in 8 th grade has been struggling since 6th grade, we are trying to figure out what to do next year in HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kid was in 4/5 and then 5/6 and stayed on the track through middle school. Each year got progressively harder for him. He loved math back in elementary school, but now as a ninth grader says he is terrible at math and hates it. The consistent honors track has been hard for him, but he ends up with Bs and As each year taking advantage of retakes. Last year in 8th grade (Geometry) it was challenging and we asked for him to be put in non honors Algebra 2 this year. The counselors and his math teacher both said no - he is capable of honors classes and kept him in honors Algebra 2. I don't know if slowing down the math track would have kept his love for math, but the fast pace is not helpful for him, but MCPS seems to not want to let him off the track. I know we could insist, but we keep believing the teachers and keep on the honors track for the next year and then math becomes a nightly struggle. Plus, he is in for progressively more difficult math every year in high school. I wish we had stepped down in 7th grade when the trouble started, but then they just blamed everything on COVID/online learning.

Wait, MCPS can refuse to allow a student to move DOWN in difficulty? I thought it was only the other way--that they could refuse to let a student move up becuase they had not mastered enough material.