Middle school course options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very interesting that kids in advanced Math and AAP Math can choose the same classes in middle school but there are AAP only tracks for English, History and Science.
Most kids good at Math will also be good at Science, but may not be that interested in English/History. I wish the Science courses get treated similarly to Math.

This is honestly how they should do it in elementary schools. Kids who are good at math should get advanced math. Kids who are great readers/analytic thinkers should get advanced English/Social Studies. Everyone should get the same science, no advancements necessary in elementary school science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very interesting that kids in advanced Math and AAP Math can choose the same classes in middle school but there are AAP only tracks for English, History and Science.
Most kids good at Math will also be good at Science, but may not be that interested in English/History. I wish the Science courses get treated similarly to Math.

This is honestly how they should do it in elementary schools. Kids who are good at math should get advanced math. Kids who are great readers/analytic thinkers should get advanced English/Social Studies. Everyone should get the same science, no advancements necessary in elementary school science.

+1 but the AAP parents would never allow it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very interesting that kids in advanced Math and AAP Math can choose the same classes in middle school but there are AAP only tracks for English, History and Science.
Most kids good at Math will also be good at Science, but may not be that interested in English/History. I wish the Science courses get treated similarly to Math.

This is honestly how they should do it in elementary schools. Kids who are good at math should get advanced math. Kids who are great readers/analytic thinkers should get advanced English/Social Studies. Everyone should get the same science, no advancements necessary in elementary school science.

at our elementary there was flexible grouping for I think through 4th grade maybe where every unit the kids would take a pretest and then get advanced or regular math just for that unit. I think when they started switching classes more in 5th or 6th grade they were either in advanced or not the whole year. I do wish there was the same tracks for english or social studies units.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very interesting that kids in advanced Math and AAP Math can choose the same classes in middle school but there are AAP only tracks for English, History and Science.
Most kids good at Math will also be good at Science, but may not be that interested in English/History. I wish the Science courses get treated similarly to Math.

This is honestly how they should do it in elementary schools. Kids who are good at math should get advanced math. Kids who are great readers/analytic thinkers should get advanced English/Social Studies. Everyone should get the same science, no advancements necessary in elementary school science.

at our elementary there was flexible grouping for I think through 4th grade maybe where every unit the kids would take a pretest and then get advanced or regular math just for that unit. I think when they started switching classes more in 5th or 6th grade they were either in advanced or not the whole year. I do wish there was the same tracks for english or social studies units.

I think this is the greatest downside of AAP. It does not recognize that kids can be advanced in just one subject area. I'm fortunate that my child's school allows kids to push into AAP just for advanced math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very interesting that kids in advanced Math and AAP Math can choose the same classes in middle school but there are AAP only tracks for English, History and Science.
Most kids good at Math will also be good at Science, but may not be that interested in English/History. I wish the Science courses get treated similarly to Math.

This is honestly how they should do it in elementary schools. Kids who are good at math should get advanced math. Kids who are great readers/analytic thinkers should get advanced English/Social Studies. Everyone should get the same science, no advancements necessary in elementary school science.

+1 but the AAP parents would never allow it.

If you do research into gifted education (which is what AAP initially was called and still is used for), that isn’t best practice. Gifted kids need to be in a class with like minded peers. Constantly switching classes for each subject like you are suggesting isn’t practical. And then they are stuck in class in science with kids who can’t read? Nope. Not gonna happen.

[Anonymous]

Math 7H is gone next year (it was the same as Math 8 with extensions, depending on the school/class).

Next year, it's Pre-Algebra (for 7th or 8th graders) or Pre-Algebra Honors (only 7th graders), which will be deeper (more explanation/discovery of WHY, extensions, and pace).

The default option is Algebra H, for those currently taking 6th advanced math. Parents need to opt out to move to Pre-Algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Math 7H is gone next year (it was the same as Math 8 with extensions, depending on the school/class).

Next year, it's Pre-Algebra (for 7th or 8th graders) or Pre-Algebra Honors (only 7th graders), which will be deeper (more explanation/discovery of WHY, extensions, and pace).

The default option is Algebra H, for those currently taking 6th advanced math. Parents need to opt out to move to Pre-Algebra.

They basically just renamed Math 7H to Pre Algebra Honors. There will not be much difference in content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very interesting that kids in advanced Math and AAP Math can choose the same classes in middle school but there are AAP only tracks for English, History and Science.
Most kids good at Math will also be good at Science, but may not be that interested in English/History. I wish the Science courses get treated similarly to Math.

This is honestly how they should do it in elementary schools. Kids who are good at math should get advanced math. Kids who are great readers/analytic thinkers should get advanced English/Social Studies. Everyone should get the same science, no advancements necessary in elementary school science.

+1 but the AAP parents would never allow it.

If you do research into gifted education (which is what AAP initially was called and still is used for), that isn’t best practice. Gifted kids need to be in a class with like minded peers. Constantly switching classes for each subject like you are suggesting isn’t practical. And then they are stuck in class in science with kids who can’t read? Nope. Not gonna happen.

I would love for you to find me other examples of program sas broad as AAP (which is absolutely NOT gifted education, hahahaha). FCPS is an outlier with this mode and it's not workingl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Math 7H is gone next year (it was the same as Math 8 with extensions, depending on the school/class).

Next year, it's Pre-Algebra (for 7th or 8th graders) or Pre-Algebra Honors (only 7th graders), which will be deeper (more explanation/discovery of WHY, extensions, and pace).

The default option is Algebra H, for those currently taking 6th advanced math. Parents need to opt out to move to Pre-Algebra.

Current 7th graders are getting screwed - going straight from Math 7 to Algebra. They are skipping pre-Algebra. It's going to be rough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all, this is very helpful knowing what choices to make in 6th grade.
For those with children in Advanced Math, is Math also limited to Honors only? I’m assuming kids in MS Honors courses do just as well in the HS AP courses, but it is always reassuring to hear from parents in a similar situation.

Many schools don't have AAP specific math sections because there is so much variability in math levels in middle school. They generally only offer honors to make scheduling easier, unless there is a large mass of both AAP and non AAP (like 5+ sections of each) in a class.

There is no AAP math. AAP kids generally take Math 7 Honors, Algebra 1 Honors, or, of they took Algebra in 7th, Geometry Honors. Kids in advanced math but not AAP would be in the same boat. Non-AAP, non-advanced math kids would generally be choosing between Math 7 and Math 7 Honors. Math 7 feeds to Math 8. Math 7 Honors feeds to Algebra 1 Honors.

Some center schools have AAP only math classes. I've taught it in the past. It requires a critical mass of kids though, if there are only enough for 2-3 sections of AAP algebra 1 they won't do it. If there are 7 or 8 AAP sections, they'll have AAP only though.

Geometry almost never had enough students to make scheduling work with separate sections, but I suspect that will flip going forward since most AAP kids will take algebra 1 in 6th grade now...

That is just for scheduling convenience, not an AAP vs gen ed thing.

Asvanced math is not unique to AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math 7H is gone next year (it was the same as Math 8 with extensions, depending on the school/class).

Next year, it's Pre-Algebra (for 7th or 8th graders) or Pre-Algebra Honors (only 7th graders), which will be deeper (more explanation/discovery of WHY, extensions, and pace).

The default option is Algebra H, for those currently taking 6th advanced math. Parents need to opt out to move to Pre-Algebra.

Current 7th graders are getting screwed - going straight from Math 7 to Algebra. They are skipping pre-Algebra. It's going to be rough.

What topics of pre algebra (not covered in math 7) to know before starting algebra 1?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all, this is very helpful knowing what choices to make in 6th grade.
For those with children in Advanced Math, is Math also limited to Honors only? I’m assuming kids in MS Honors courses do just as well in the HS AP courses, but it is always reassuring to hear from parents in a similar situation.

Many schools don't have AAP specific math sections because there is so much variability in math levels in middle school. They generally only offer honors to make scheduling easier, unless there is a large mass of both AAP and non AAP (like 5+ sections of each) in a class.

There is no AAP math. AAP kids generally take Math 7 Honors, Algebra 1 Honors, or, of they took Algebra in 7th, Geometry Honors. Kids in advanced math but not AAP would be in the same boat. Non-AAP, non-advanced math kids would generally be choosing between Math 7 and Math 7 Honors. Math 7 feeds to Math 8. Math 7 Honors feeds to Algebra 1 Honors.

This is no longer accurate. The new path has Math 7 feeding into Algebra I unless otherwise noted (kids who get bad grades in Math 7 will take Math 8)

Our MS isn’t offering Math 7 next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math 7H is gone next year (it was the same as Math 8 with extensions, depending on the school/class).

Next year, it's Pre-Algebra (for 7th or 8th graders) or Pre-Algebra Honors (only 7th graders), which will be deeper (more explanation/discovery of WHY, extensions, and pace).

The default option is Algebra H, for those currently taking 6th advanced math. Parents need to opt out to move to Pre-Algebra.

Current 7th graders are getting screwed - going straight from Math 7 to Algebra. They are skipping pre-Algebra. It's going to be rough.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very interesting that kids in advanced Math and AAP Math can choose the same classes in middle school but there are AAP only tracks for English, History and Science.
Most kids good at Math will also be good at Science, but may not be that interested in English/History. I wish the Science courses get treated similarly to Math.

This is honestly how they should do it in elementary schools. Kids who are good at math should get advanced math. Kids who are great readers/analytic thinkers should get advanced English/Social Studies. Everyone should get the same science, no advancements necessary in elementary school science.

+1 but the AAP parents would never allow it.

If you do research into gifted education (which is what AAP initially was called and still is used for), that isn’t best practice. Gifted kids need to be in a class with like minded peers. Constantly switching classes for each subject like you are suggesting isn’t practical. And then they are stuck in class in science with kids who can’t read? Nope. Not gonna happen.

I would love for you to find me other examples of program sas broad as AAP (which is absolutely NOT gifted education, hahahaha). FCPS is an outlier with this mode and it's not workingl.

I am certified in gifted education from UVA so know exactly what the research shows. I don’t have the time or inclination to explain it to you. But yes, the FCPS program started out as a true gifted education program and meets the state mandated requirement for a gifted program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math 7H is gone next year (it was the same as Math 8 with extensions, depending on the school/class).

Next year, it's Pre-Algebra (for 7th or 8th graders) or Pre-Algebra Honors (only 7th graders), which will be deeper (more explanation/discovery of WHY, extensions, and pace).

The default option is Algebra H, for those currently taking 6th advanced math. Parents need to opt out to move to Pre-Algebra.

Current 7th graders are getting screwed - going straight from Math 7 to Algebra. They are skipping pre-Algebra. It's going to be rough.

I believe that they can opt out of Algebraa and take Math 8 if they want.

I know rising 7th graders can opt out of Algebra 1H in 7th for Math7H if they want.

You do have to call and opt out of Algebra