Q1 6th grade Algebra update?
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Anonymous
You do realize that many of the kids who are accelerated in school math have been doing exactly what you are talking about. They have been in enrichment and have been exposed to the material so it is easier for them when they see it in school. DS has been taking a math competition class since 4th grade, he had been exposed to algebra and geometry since he was in 4th grade. He has not struggled with algebra or geometry in MS. He was ready for that material in 4th grade, he never struggled with the math competition class and has always scored in the 99th percentile for grade level math competitions. He would have been fine in algebra in 6th grade because of his previous exposure. The various math studios in the area have summer programs that introduce kids to the upcoming math concepts so that math is easier/less stressful/more manageable for kids during the school year. Some kids in math enrichment are a grade level ahead at their program which makes math at school easy. I don’t think that taking a class at school, getting a B and expunging it is the best approach but it really isn’t that different then what some people have been doing for a while. |
Anonymous
I don’t want my tax dollars funding that. If you want to have your 4th grader take algebra do it on your own dime. But don’t waste resources at our public schools taking a course only to expunge it and retake it the next year for an advantage. That’s bs. |
Anonymous
I doubt people are doing it intentionally but it happens regularly in 7t grade and 8th grade Algebra/geometry/foreign languages. Kids don’t do as well as their parents think they should so they expunge the grade and retake the class. I had friends who expunged 8th grade Spanish when their kid had a C. Some parents choose to expunge a B. Some parents move their kid into the next class with a C. The option is there to allow ES/MS kids challenge themselves with a degree of safety. Fewer kids would take these classes in ES/MS without the expunging option, which is not a bad thing, but it is there and people use it how they want to. |
Anonymous
If it really does give a better foundation, then why not? How is it a waste of everyone's time and resources to take one class over another? It's the same drain either way. You still haven't answered my question: If you believe that taking algebra 1 in 6th is worth it even if a student gets a B because it provides a much better foundation for 7th grade algebra than AAP 6th grade prealgebra, why aren't you supportive of 6th grade algebra 1 more widely accessible? |
Anonymous
Repeating classes is highly discouraged, there is a reason why schools across the country stopped retaining kids in ES. There are studies showing that holding kids back or retaining kids is damaging to the child and that the outcome is rarely better for the child. A child with a grade they don’t like in a HS class retakes the class in summer school, they rarely retake the class the following year. I would argue that a B is a good grade in A1H and shouldn’t be expunged. If you expunge a B, you are telling your child that the only acceptable grade in a High School class is an A. That is a lot of pressure and not a good signal for most kids. Pre-Algebra is meant to prepare your child for Algebra. Math 7, which is what AAP kids are taking, teaches most of that pre-Algebra material. Skipping Pre-Algebra, to take Algebra 1 H and then retaking Algebra 1 H is not a great path. You are telling your child that the grade that they earned was not good and having them retake the class. That is damaging to most kids self-confidence. On top of that, you are setting them up to be bored stiff because they will have seen all the material before but know that they didn’t score well enough to make their parents happy. Never-mind the fact that the class next year is still not going to cover the material that was skipped and is probably why your child might earn a B. If you think you are going to be expunging the grade, drop back to regular 6th grade AAP and let your child follow the already accelerated path into Algebra 1 H in 7th grade. It is easier to say that this is a HS class and that they are doing well but you can see that they missed an entire grades worth of material so it is hard for them to learn the material in this class. You want them to have a strong foundation in math so you think they need to take the class that the school allowed them to skip to really understand the material. Blame yourself, you thought the new program would cover the pre-Algebra material in the first quarter and then start the Algebra but that was not what happened. |
Anonymous
Those studies are about retaining kids who failed grade level maths, not kids who got a B in triple accelerated math. The negative social impacts are from kids losing their peer group due to repeating a grade while everyone else graduates, which is not relevant here. Expunging a B doesn't necessarily mean that only As are acceptable, but rather that you expect a weighted GPA of 3.8 or higher (that's what is required for expunging to not decrease the overall weighted GPA). That is a perfectly reasonable weighted GPA standard - indeed, even a 4.0 weighted GPA is fairly easy to get. If the child, as you suggest, got a B due to missed prealgebra material, than that is an issue that will fix itself over time as FCPS learns from this experiment and adds/emphasizes those crucial topics in AAP 5th grade math. Even if they don't, a child repeating the class will have more time to remediate the missing material due to being more familiar with some topics. As for being bored... well if your child is bored in 7th grade algebra that's a pretty good problem to have, all things considered. |
Anonymous
| Why on earth are 6th graders taking a high school class that counts on high school transcripts? Like algebra is not dumbed down for 11 year olds! Absurd! |
Anonymous
It's not at all absurd for kids who have mastered all of the pre-algebra content to take Algebra, regardless of the kid's grade level. FCPS is absurd, though, for hastily throwing together a program and insufficiently testing pre-algebra mastery. If nothing else, they should have administered a M7H final exam as a diagnostic, so kids could see whether they already know everything that would be taught in M7H, or whether they still have gaps. |
Anonymous
I am the quoted poster and I have zero intention of expunging a B. It's a B+ right now with B's on tests and As on homework/quizzes, and my guess is as the class smooths out over the year it will go up vs. down. If I'm wrong, I can re-evaluate, but expunging/repeating would be a nightmare for my sensitive kid emotionally, and I honestly think he has a really strong understanding of first quarter algebra. We have done zero enrichment math beyond number sense games at red lights when he was younger. He is learning and demonstrating that learning just fine. If we get to the end of the year and he can't get an A or B on the final exam, that will tell me he's not retaining it and I should be concerned. Right now, I'm not concerned at all. I have taught algebra 1, algebra 2, AP Calculus, AP Statistics over the years. My kid has a very solid, strong foundation based on what he has brought home that I am confident will prepare him for higher classes. The course does not at all feel "dumbed down" vs. what I taught when i taught algebra 1 honors. |
Anonymous
Why? The typical progression is M7-->Algebra 1 for AAP kids, so wouldn't it make more sense to do those standards? If so, they did. It was the assessment from the county given around labor day. They said a kid who scored 75+ on that test was going to be fine in algebra 1. |
Anonymous
I wish this was an option when my kid was in 6th grade, he would have been fine in A1H as a 6th grader. There are kids who are ready for it and the math, even advanced math, was not challenging or engaging. He used it as practice for skills he already knew. There is a difference between kids like mine, who are rare, and placing any kid with a specific test score in a pilot program that was hastily thrown together. The option for A1H in 6th grade should be an in-person class at a center school. Kids would need to move to the center school if they want to participate but that would mean that there is a full class with a teacher. There is a need for a process to place kids in A1H in 6th grade. It should be opt in, not opt out. It should be based on test scores, including the IAAT, and teacher recommendation. It should be in person. I would guess that you would end up with far fewer then 500 kids at 20 ES but more then the random 20-30 kids a year that were allowed to do it at their ES. |
Anonymous
As far as the why goes, it's because a kid who hasn't mastered the M7H standards would likely benefit from another year of prealgebra. There's no reason to accelerate kids an extra year if they aren't ready. A 75 is way too low for mastery. I do agree with the PP, though, that with better testing, they could find the 50-100 kids who belong in 6th grade Algebra, rather than the 30 kids based on a test from 2nd grade with the previous system and the 300+ kids now. |
Anonymous
I feel like having mastered 75% of the material without every having been taught it is pretty good and indicative of a kid being able to fill in any gaps pretty quickly. Despite what DCUM thinks, for much of the county math enrichment isn't a thing. In the Vienna cluster where AOPS and RSM are easily accessible it probably is, but the rest of the county doesn't want to drive through 90 minutes of rush hour traffic each way to get there. |
Anonymous
Do you want to know what the average final exam grade in my algebra 2 honors class was last year? 68%. (That's after intensive review on a fully multiple choice exam that counted for a significant grade vs a test the first week of school after a summer off.) Those kids almost all went to AP Precalc this year as sophomores. If a kid can get a 75 on a course final without ever taking a class, they'll be fine in the next class in sequence. |
Anonymous
You think it's a good thing that half your kids failed Algebra 2 and will go on to fail Precalculus? Then what? |