Algebra in 6th grade - new selection process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I asked the AART a couple of years ago about criteria for advanced math and received the following response. Kid got in on appeal so it didn't end up mattering, but it's clearly been used as a screener for years. It's also a data point listed for AAP admissions.

"Good afternoon. We look at multiple data points when thinking about advanced math placement. We use the Cogat, teacher feedback, and IReady scores as well as the assessment."

Similar to comments we received at the middle of 5th grade. We were told that there would be opportunity for six graders to take A1H in middle school, and our kid was identified as a potential candidate. In order to eventually recommended by the elementary school to the district, kids need to get (almost) perfect score in SOL, 99% Iready for 9th grade level, and teachers evaluation. Then the procedure was to take two rounds of tests monitored by the district in the summer between 5 to 6. I do know that there are some kids who didn't pass the first round. But this was a while ago.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one upsetting our school is not doing the pilot??? My kid would qualify and take an algebra 1 if it’s offered in our school. Our school is AAP center school but not doing it. Not happy about this!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one upsetting our school is not doing the pilot??? My kid would qualify and take an algebra 1 if it’s offered in our school. Our school is AAP center school but not doing it. Not happy about this!!

Did you confirm that with your school? Apparently our school has been selected to do the pilot (confirmed with the principal) but no one got the email yet. My kid has a near perfect SOL score and 570+ iready so she should be qualified. The central office did not even notify this to everyone qualified at the same time. My friends in Mclean got the notification last week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one upsetting our school is not doing the pilot??? My kid would qualify and take an algebra 1 if it’s offered in our school. Our school is AAP center school but not doing it. Not happy about this!!

Did you confirm that with your school? Apparently our school has been selected to do the pilot (confirmed with the principal) but no one got the email yet. My kid has a near perfect SOL score and 570+ iready so she should be qualified. The central office did not even notify this to everyone qualified at the same time. My friends in Mclean got the notification last week.

Yes. Our principal said that she expressed the interest but did not hear anything from the county yet. I emailed the county but no reply yet. My kids has closed to perfect SOL and 600 iready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Navy offer Algebra 1 for 6th grade?

Yes and they just took the best teacher from other students for it.

Why can’t he teach both classes?? Makes no sense. Really poor decision by the admin.

Yes. Navy should have him teach both classes. The teacher last year did not teach the kids, just gave ST math and videos. I don't think the new principal cares about the pre Algebra class. The parents now have to teach their kids since the new teacher will not jsut like last year.

The 5th grade teacher (now 6th) made it very clear she did not like any of the students. She was cruel and very mean. I pray for our kids getting her again.

ST Math was used both before and is still used after COVID.
The new teacher is using ST math and didn't teach one thing at all. That is a useless computer program that was only used during COVID and she used it ALL last year. The kids spend hours and hours trying to finish ST math and gain nothing at all. This is completely failure of teaching. The new principal at Navy has failed the AAP pre algebra students by assigning this terrible teacher. She failed our kids last year and is now going to throw useless bad computer programs instead of teaching them. These students should have been give the good proven teacher or had a option of algebra. They are all smart enough to do it.

[Anonymous]

The whole pilot is nonsense. Not even MIT cares if you end up taking differential equations in 12th grade which is all this sets a kid up for LOL. It’s just a way for principals to act like they did something impactful for their schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole pilot is nonsense. Not even MIT cares if you end up taking differential equations in 12th grade which is all this sets a kid up for LOL. It’s just a way for principals to act like they did something impactful for their schools

+100 This pilot is nonsense and principals shouldn’t have ruined existing programs for it!

[Anonymous]

OP here.

I feel lucky that I didn’t listen to my DC’s 5th grade teacher. In addition to providing poor instruction, she kept insisting that students who didn’t finish math iReady in the first sitting, should hurry up and finish iReady fast, since the test does not matter any way.

DC was sick when the test was originally administered, and like with all other tests, I advised my kid to work at a sensible speed and do their best like on all other tests. Extra time needed to complete math iReady ended up being a big deal with the said teacher. I am now glad my DC took their time and did well.

Regardless of our story, I think that the quality and attitude of some of the FCPS math teachers leaves a lot to be desired. Lack of transparency and understanding of the importance of tests administered by FCPS is yet another story.

[Anonymous]

IReady scores have been included on AAP application data sheets (compiled by the schools when your kid applied) for several years now... if you request your file, you will see their scores on there.

And our school has always used it when considering who to push in for advanced math. I agree teachers disparage the test, but it is considered by many schools and fwiw my kids other testing has generally tracked their Iready performance, for better or worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole pilot is nonsense. Not even MIT cares if you end up taking differential equations in 12th grade which is all this sets a kid up for LOL. It’s just a way for principals to act like they did something impactful for their schools

+100 This pilot is nonsense and principals shouldn’t have ruined existing programs for it!

There are more schools participating in the pilot then had allowed kids to take A1H in 6th grade. The old program was not available to everyone, which was a huge flaw.

The pilot has been poorly planned and executed but that doesn’t mean that the old program was better. It wasn’t available to over 100 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole pilot is nonsense. Not even MIT cares if you end up taking differential equations in 12th grade which is all this sets a kid up for LOL. It’s just a way for principals to act like they did something impactful for their schools

+100 This pilot is nonsense and principals shouldn’t have ruined existing programs for it!

There are more schools participating in the pilot then had allowed kids to take A1H in 6th grade. The old program was not available to everyone, which was a huge flaw.

The pilot has been poorly planned and executed but that doesn’t mean that the old program was better. It wasn’t available to over 100 schools.

Dropping this on parents a week before school starts is a bad idea. Poorly executed does not even begin to describe this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole pilot is nonsense. Not even MIT cares if you end up taking differential equations in 12th grade which is all this sets a kid up for LOL. It’s just a way for principals to act like they did something impactful for their schools

+100 This pilot is nonsense and principals shouldn’t have ruined existing programs for it!

There are more schools participating in the pilot then had allowed kids to take A1H in 6th grade. The old program was not available to everyone, which was a huge flaw.

The pilot has been poorly planned and executed but that doesn’t mean that the old program was better. It wasn’t available to over 100 schools.

Dropping this on parents a week before school starts is a bad idea. Poorly executed does not even begin to describe this.

Our school dropped it on us after school started.

[Anonymous]

Our school had a presentation from the county tonight, and it almost felt like they were trying to talk us all out of doing it.

Takeaways:

No materials are being provided to teachers by the county except mathspace accounts.

No data will be provided to parents on skipped standards or weak prealgebra skills until MAP data comes in a few weeks, and then they aren’t sure how much information that will provide since it hasn’t been used in elementary before.

The threshold to take algebra this year in 6th is lower than in the past. They could not explain why it was chosen, what the numbers mean, or why they think children at that threshold will be successful.

There is no plan going forward to streamline 3/4/5th grade so that future kids don’t skip 2 years of math to take algebra in 6th. The goal is to get everyone regardless of AAP on a track to algebra in 8th and just move to algebra earlier if they score high on whatever tests.

They chose to automatically opt in instead of have parents opt in because “not all parents read school communications” (our parent community was ticked at this and very much argued that going forward families should not be auto enrolled). Feedback was “county is just trying to remove all barriers to algebra 1 in 6th grade”.

I’m disheartened at how poorly this is being done.

I felt bad, the presenters clearly thought the program was unnecessary and have been handed this mandate from Reid. But at the same time…man, it’s horribly done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school had a presentation from the county tonight, and it almost felt like they were trying to talk us all out of doing it.

Takeaways:

No materials are being provided to teachers by the county except mathspace accounts.

No data will be provided to parents on skipped standards or weak prealgebra skills until MAP data comes in a few weeks, and then they aren’t sure how much information that will provide since it hasn’t been used in elementary before.

The threshold to take algebra this year in 6th is lower than in the past. They could not explain why it was chosen, what the numbers mean, or why they think children at that threshold will be successful.

There is no plan going forward to streamline 3/4/5th grade so that future kids don’t skip 2 years of math to take algebra in 6th. The goal is to get everyone regardless of AAP on a track to algebra in 8th and just move to algebra earlier if they score high on whatever tests.

They chose to automatically opt in instead of have parents opt in because “not all parents read school communications” (our parent community was ticked at this and very much argued that going forward families should not be auto enrolled). Feedback was “county is just trying to remove all barriers to algebra 1 in 6th grade”.

I’m disheartened at how poorly this is being done.

I felt bad, the presenters clearly thought the program was unnecessary and have been handed this mandate from Reid. But at the same time…man, it’s horribly done.

(Sigh)

It is like they want to sabotage the entire thing. Sorry for the teachers and families caught in this. It could work if they gave it proper time for prep. Parents should know at the end of fifth so parents have a chance to choose virtual, at base schools without enough kids to form a class, or in person, at center schools.

Removing the barrier is good but they seem to have gone the most extreme route instead of developing a thoughtful plan of action.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like another Reid fiasco.