Benefits of taking Algebra 1 in 6th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any color admissions benefit to take algebra 1 in 6th grade? Will that be upto
Differential equations in grade 12? Is that course useful for college?
Trying to understand what’s the rush?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any color admissions benefit to take algebra 1 in 6th grade? Will that be upto
Differential equations in grade 12? Is that course useful for college?
Trying to understand what’s the rush?

FCPS only requires Algebra 2 by 12th grade. If that’s the plan, the rest may feel rushed. My barber thinks it's crazy to go beyond that for any high school.

[Anonymous]

You can attend college with three years of math or four years and not calculus. There are plenty of schools in the US that don’t require or want calculus. People on this board don’t like to discuss them or look down on those colleges because they prioritize programs like AAP, TJ, and top 20 schools. There are smart kids who struggle with math or on’t like math that finish without Calculus and get into top 50 programs. They have AP classes in the humanities and sciences and they do fine in college admissions.

Most kids are accepted to even the top 20 schools with Calculus AB as their highest level math. Most of the country doesn’t allow Algebra 1 until 8th grade so Calculus is the highest level math a kid can take. Do a quick Google search, 15% of Americans take Calculus in HS, link below. 15%

Many schools will not count the DE Linear Algebra and Multivariate Calculus classes as completed college courses. There are two kids on my street that had to retake it at different colleges. It wasn’t a big deal for them, the classes were easier because they had been exposed to the material but DE classes are not automatically accepted.

https://maa.org/math-values/the-decline-in-high-school-calculus/

I understand that there are kids ready for Algebra in 6th grade but that number is not in the thousands. There is no good reason to rush kids into A1H. The few kids that are ready should be able to take it at every school in FCPS, not just the 20 or so that were willing to work with parents so the kid could take it. We know from A1H in 7th grade that some of the kids, more then people think, that tested into the class struggled. Kids dropped to M7H, kids got C’s and retook the class. Opening A1H to every kid in Advanced Math or AAP who passes the SOL is stupid.

[Anonymous]

Clearly hundreds of AAP students have welcomed A1H in 6th grade option. Those that were admitted into A1H but later find it too difficult, are they still forced to do it or can they request to switch back to something lighter?

[Anonymous]

What is the rush? I say this as a professor in mathematics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly hundreds of AAP students have welcomed A1H in 6th grade option. Those that were admitted into A1H but later find it too difficult, are they still forced to do it or can they request to switch back to something lighter?

Once you start the acceleration, you cannot easily stop it.

If you select 6th grade A1H you can drop back to AAP math. THere is no regular Algebra class, that is not an option. You can chose to complete the year, expunge the grade and retake the class. Dropping down and retaking the class can be detrimental to a child who is used to being good at math and now has struggled. Parents can try and mitigate that but the likelihood of success is dependent on your kids personality. I know good kids who having loving parents who see the B hey got in A1H in 7th grade as being a bad grade and think they are not good at math.

If you select A1H in 7th grade you can drop back to M7H, there is no regular Algebra class for 7th graders. Or you can complete the class and expunge the grade to retake it.

Once you complete A1H and move to the next class in 6th or 7th grade you are on the honors path through Algebra 2, if you took A1H in 6th grade, or Geometry, if you took A1H in 7th grade. I believe that you can take Algebra 2 as a 9th grader.

If you are taking Algebra 2 as a 9th grader, then you probably take AP Precalc AB in 10th, Calc AB in 11th and can select AP stats in 12th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly hundreds of AAP students have welcomed A1H in 6th grade option. Those that were admitted into A1H but later find it too difficult, are they still forced to do it or can they request to switch back to something lighter?

There are kids who are ready but not 700 kids. I would love to know how many kids dropped out of the pilot and how many kids are going to be retaking A1H in 7th grade. I doubt FCPS will release that information. The option should be available and the kids selected using a better process. Kids who want to try for A1H in 6th should take the IAAT and have to pass at the 91rst percentile, like you used ot have to do for A1H in 7th grade. They should have to have a minimum score on the MAP, and pass the SOL advanced.

FCPS has enough striver parents who see all forms acceleration as a good thing that there was not way this program wasn't going to explode when offered. The COunty has provided weak guardrails and there are going to be kids who suffer for it. Sith and Seventh graders going to regular tutoring so that they can be hyper accelerated in math is not good for the kid and we all know that there are kids in exactly that situation.

[Anonymous]

My kid is auto enrolled in Algebra I for 7th and I think will do just fine, the concepts are very concrete. It's early taking of Algebra II that I worry about more as the concepts are more abstract and sometimes even the brightest math students' brains are not ready to think that way....