Just pulled DC out of Advanced Math....did I make a mistake?

[Anonymous]

To the PP, my kid doesn't "need" a tutor's help--it's just something we elect to do. It started as a summer thing to make sure that there was no math knowledge lost over the summer and we just kept it up during the school year as a safeguard. Frankly, a whole lot of kids could benefit from supplementation. I don't expect or assume that the school will teach my child everything. I assume we will need to supplement. I'd teach DC myself but don't know math well enough to do it, therefore I use a tutor. Plus it cuts down on fights--a lot of kids will take instruction from a tutor but not their own parent. In answer to the question of how the school decided to put DC in Adv Math, DC was invited to participate in Advanced Math based on FCPS objective criteria: grades in math from previous school year, performance on an end-of-year math test in previous year, performance on a beginning of current year math test, Advanced Pass on previous year's SOL, and teacher recommendation. Then, once they're in the class, they get tested periodically to make sure they should still be in the class. After every test, a few kids are sent back to Gen Ed math and a smaller number move up to Advanced Math from Gen Ed. My kid made all the cuts. A "3" in Advanced Math is quite good as they are supposedly working a year ahead. DC had 4s in Gen Ed math in past years.

[Anonymous]

I would strongly doubt that math is taught in any more depth in a non-advance Math. However, I would have acted similarly if my kid was struggling and/or unhappy. With the push to accelerate math education, your kid is going to get a strong, college equivalent curriculum (e.g., taking algebra in 8th grade) even on the "regular" track.