6th Grade Math Options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 6th grade math placement work? My 4th grader is, for lack of a better way to put it, a total math whiz and bored in his compacted math class. The curriculum site lists Algebra 1 as an "other option" for 6th grade. Is that something a kid could test into, or what?

If you have a 4th grader now, you should advocate for them to do pre-algebra (AIM) next year, which will set them up for Algebra in 6th. Don't wait another year, start now.

Why? The kid has to take math every year so what math classes would they take in grades 7-12 if they did Algebra in 6th grade? That Algebra grade will get factored into HS GPA. Do you really want to put all that pressure on your kid the first year they are in Middle School?

Assuming the child is really good ath math, this would work:

6th - Algebra
7th - Geometry
8th - Algebra II (either at home school or HS)
9th - Pre-Calculus
10th - AP Calculus
11th - AP Statistics or M/V Calculus
12th - Whichever one of the above the child didn't take in 11th

There are even more advanced options, but this is a solid set of classes and not wildly accelerated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does 6th grade math placement work? My 4th grader is, for lack of a better way to put it, a total math whiz and bored in his compacted math class. The curriculum site lists Algebra 1 as an "other option" for 6th grade. Is that something a kid could test into, or what?

To answer your first question, the office of accelerated and enriched instruction conducts a universal review of 5th graders to determine who is eligible to be considered for middle school magnets. The last few years they have changed the criteria of what they look at in terms of tests and grades, so it’s hard to know what data they will use to evaluate your child because it will possibly be different next year. Once your child is evaluated, if he meets whatever criteria threshold, he is automatically placed into AIM for 6th grade (and may or may not gain access to the magnet). Around this time of year, 5th grade teachers are also asked to recommend what math pathway they feel is the appropriate placement for each student. Some middle schools use these recommendations as a starting point for the articulation placements. Other middle schools receive info on which students the office of accelerated and enriched instruction identified in that earlier universal review and just auto-enroll kids based on that criteria, leaving leeway to be flexible if a student is near the cut off or teacher recs/winter data support a different placement decision. It is also my understanding that the AEI office also sends middle schools data on incoming students based on local norms, meaning MAP percentiles are recalculated based on the students in that particular incoming school’s population. So the answer is, it depends on your middle school and how they approach the process. You can contact the middle school counseling team to ask how your particular school places kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When do we find out the recommended class for our current 5th graders?

They may be in ParentVue on the Course Request page.

It is not there that i can see.

It depends on the teacher...some haven't entered their recommendations yet.

Also some middle schools don’t use synergy for registration. You can ask the 5th grade teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 6th grade math placement work? My 4th grader is, for lack of a better way to put it, a total math whiz and bored in his compacted math class. The curriculum site lists Algebra 1 as an "other option" for 6th grade. Is that something a kid could test into, or what?

If you have a 4th grader now, you should advocate for them to do pre-algebra (AIM) next year, which will set them up for Algebra in 6th. Don't wait another year, start now.

Oh wow, I had no idea this would be an option, our principal has been less than helpful when we've asked about options beyond compacted math. How could a 5th grader take AIM though? Would he have to be bussed over to a middle school for one period or something?

This is not actually an "option." A very small number of children do this at a very small number of schools that allow it. If you're not at one of those schools you're out of luck and it does not matter how high the scores are or how advanced your child is. Every year my child's school has many parents like you talking about how advanced their child is and how bored they are. MCPS is already accelerating kids much more than other districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 6th grade math placement work? My 4th grader is, for lack of a better way to put it, a total math whiz and bored in his compacted math class. The curriculum site lists Algebra 1 as an "other option" for 6th grade. Is that something a kid could test into, or what?

If you have a 4th grader now, you should advocate for them to do pre-algebra (AIM) next year, which will set them up for Algebra in 6th. Don't wait another year, start now.

Oh wow, I had no idea this would be an option, our principal has been less than helpful when we've asked about options beyond compacted math. How could a 5th grader take AIM though? Would he have to be bussed over to a middle school for one period or something?

This is not actually an "option." A very small number of children do this at a very small number of schools that allow it. If you're not at one of those schools you're out of luck and it does not matter how high the scores are or how advanced your child is. Every year my child's school has many parents like you talking about how advanced their child is and how bored they are. MCPS is already accelerating kids much more than other districts.

PP with the math whiz here. Literally just here for information that I have so far been unable to get anywhere else, so it's both helpful to know it's in theory possible and also to know not to get our hopes up. It's less helpful to be sniped at about "parents like me", I could have gone into a lot more braggy detail about the whole situation but I restrained myself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
PP with the math whiz here. Literally just here for information that I have so far been unable to get anywhere else, so it's both helpful to know it's in theory possible and also to know not to get our hopes up. It's less helpful to be sniped at about "parents like me", I could have gone into a lot more braggy detail about the whole situation but I restrained myself

Do you mind sharing the MAP-M score? I can give you more suggestions based on the score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PP with the math whiz here. Literally just here for information that I have so far been unable to get anywhere else, so it's both helpful to know it's in theory possible and also to know not to get our hopes up. It's less helpful to be sniped at about "parents like me", I could have gone into a lot more braggy detail about the whole situation but I restrained myself

Do you mind sharing the MAP-M score? I can give you more suggestions based on the score.

It's 240...something. I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 6th grade math placement work? My 4th grader is, for lack of a better way to put it, a total math whiz and bored in his compacted math class. The curriculum site lists Algebra 1 as an "other option" for 6th grade. Is that something a kid could test into, or what?

If you have a 4th grader now, you should advocate for them to do pre-algebra (AIM) next year, which will set them up for Algebra in 6th. Don't wait another year, start now.

Oh wow, I had no idea this would be an option, our principal has been less than helpful when we've asked about options beyond compacted math. How could a 5th grader take AIM though? Would he have to be bussed over to a middle school for one period or something?

This is not actually an "option." A very small number of children do this at a very small number of schools that allow it. If you're not at one of those schools you're out of luck and it does not matter how high the scores are or how advanced your child is. Every year my child's school has many parents like you talking about how advanced their child is and how bored they are. MCPS is already accelerating kids much more than other districts.

PP with the math whiz here. Literally just here for information that I have so far been unable to get anywhere else, so it's both helpful to know it's in theory possible and also to know not to get our hopes up. It's less helpful to be sniped at about "parents like me", I could have gone into a lot more braggy detail about the whole situation but I restrained myself

I don't think that post was negative in any way. It was providing information that you're not the only one to think your child is very advanced. Your child may well be an outlier but all those other parents think their child is too so it's just fair warning that the parents I know who have done this have gotten eyerolls from the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PP with the math whiz here. Literally just here for information that I have so far been unable to get anywhere else, so it's both helpful to know it's in theory possible and also to know not to get our hopes up. It's less helpful to be sniped at about "parents like me", I could have gone into a lot more braggy detail about the whole situation but I restrained myself

Do you mind sharing the MAP-M score? I can give you more suggestions based on the score.

It's 240...something. I think.

That is a good score but just for reference only, my child had a 254 in 3rd grade and did not take Algebra until 7th grade. There were other kids at the Magnet scoring even higher. It will be fine. Plenty of challenge awaits in High school. Trust me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PP with the math whiz here. Literally just here for information that I have so far been unable to get anywhere else, so it's both helpful to know it's in theory possible and also to know not to get our hopes up. It's less helpful to be sniped at about "parents like me", I could have gone into a lot more braggy detail about the whole situation but I restrained myself

Do you mind sharing the MAP-M score? I can give you more suggestions based on the score.

It's 240...something. I think.

That is a good score but just for reference only, my child had a 254 in 3rd grade and did not take Algebra until 7th grade. There were other kids at the Magnet scoring even higher. It will be fine. Plenty of challenge awaits in High school. Trust me.

Another thought - I went to the magnet in the 90s and while we didn't use MAPs back then to get in, we did still use a battery of tests to assess aptitude (cogat, sats, etc.). There's just a wide variety of outcomes based on these tests and they are inherently imperfect. I don't actually believe that someone with a 250 map score is inherently better at math (or bound for a stem field) than someone who got a 240. It just represents your ability on a certain type of test, at a certain point in time. It's not like anyone has done a longitudinal study to assess the difference in outcomes between a 240-M scorer and a 250-M scorer. I'd hazard a guess that there's no statistical difference. Maps and standardized tests are given far, far too much credence (and I say this as someone both in a math field, and as a parent now with kids with 'crazy high' MAP-M). Anyway, some of the really high scorers in our magnet class ended up as Phds at Caltech/MIT; some also dropped out of college for drug use (yes, it happens!) and working clerical jobs. And others who scored *low* comparatively (and were on the "slower" track) were crazy-good at programming and are working in NASA and running start-ups that are worth huge amounts of money.

I guess my point is if your kid is motivated to work hard (far more important than ability), he will be fine either in AIM or in Algebra I, magnet or non-magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does 6th grade math placement work? My 4th grader is, for lack of a better way to put it, a total math whiz and bored in his compacted math class. The curriculum site lists Algebra 1 as an "other option" for 6th grade. Is that something a kid could test into, or what?

If you have a 4th grader now, you should advocate for them to do pre-algebra (AIM) next year, which will set them up for Algebra in 6th. Don't wait another year, start now.

Oh wow, I had no idea this would be an option, our principal has been less than helpful when we've asked about options beyond compacted math. How could a 5th grader take AIM though? Would he have to be bussed over to a middle school for one period or something?

This is very school dependent. What is the middle school that your kid will be heading for? Not all principals will put 6th graders in algebra.

[Anonymous]

Well, the more information the post the more nervous I get about accidentally IDing him, but he has been taking higher level math classes outside of school and doing well, which is both good for him (it's challenging, keeps him humble, and teaches him how to work) and contributing to the boredom problem at school big time. He's slated for Lakelands.

[Anonymous]

DC is at a middle school where they don't offer acceleration and many kids take outside math. It's great you're doing that for your child and any enrichment you provide will be better than having him jump math levels. Algebra will be just as uninspiring to him as AIM in 6th grade the way they teach it in MCPS. It will still be lectures and online math assignments/worksheets that teach the mechanics of it but they don't go into theory or pull it all together.

Try for a magnet next year for your child instead. Nearly all the magnet kids are in the regular track with Algebra in 7th but they just take more in depth math courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is at a middle school where they don't offer acceleration and many kids take outside math. It's great you're doing that for your child and any enrichment you provide will be better than having him jump math levels. Algebra will be just as uninspiring to him as AIM in 6th grade the way they teach it in MCPS. It will still be lectures and online math assignments/worksheets that teach the mechanics of it but they don't go into theory or pull it all together.

Try for a magnet next year for your child instead. Nearly all the magnet kids are in the regular track with Algebra in 7th but they just take more in depth math courses.

Disturbing if there is no AIM or AMP6+/7+ (the standard acceleration options) available at an MCPS MS for 6th graders. Please let us know which one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, the more information the post the more nervous I get about accidentally IDing him, but he has been taking higher level math classes outside of school and doing well, which is both good for him (it's challenging, keeps him humble, and teaches him how to work) and contributing to the boredom problem at school big time. He's slated for Lakelands.

I’m sorry. So you are sending him to an outside math school that exposes him to untaught content and then bragging about a map score that reflects access to advanced/untaught content? And that you say is directly contributing to his boredom in school? It is not a race to skip foundational levels of math at age 9. It’s fine if he enjoys the outside math but I think it’s a stretch to say his map score indicates he’s an extreme outlier especially since he’s being tutored in the content outside of school.