Seventh grade algebra at Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is sooooo frustrating as a parent who just put one through Deal but is starting Deal with another! Both are very strong in math. And this isn't relevant to the discussion but in my experience the problem is not that Deal does too much acceleration. If anything the opposite is true and there are some forces that are anti-acceleration even for kids who would benefit from it. So if a kid has been recommended for acceleration, odds are that acceleration is appropriate for that kid.

I think that this problem is arising for a few reasons:
- Because of its status as an IB school, Deal requires 3 years of a foreign language. Foreign languages tend to be important to UMC/Ward 3 parents.
- But 3 years of a foreign language isn't a DCPS requirement, so Deal has some discretion in excusing students from the foreign language "requirement." I believe they have done this for transfers or for kids who need to take some extra remedial classes for support.
- Art/Music/PE are required by DCPS, even though most UMC parents, if forced to choose between a language and Art/Music/PE, would choose the language.
- For some reason Deal has long had the policy that while it is ok to skip Math 6, Math 7 and Math 8 cannot be skipped. So in order to get on a path where you can take Geometry or Alg II in 8th, you need do some summer school, double block, or both.
- There isn't enough time in the day to double block unless you skip another class. Most parents would prefer that this be Art/Music/PE, but apparently now DCPS is not allowing that, so the only option is to skip the language.
- This puts parents in a bind-- both math and language are important, so which do they pick?
- I would urge Deal to consider allowing kids to skip Math 7/8, so they could take a language instead of one of those classes. I'll observe that my older child's Math 8 teacher was completely checked out. My child had 100% the entire year but did not learn one thing. And also earned a high A in Alg. 1. So obviously Math 8 was not essential, and it was rather annoying that Deal denied our request for our child to skip Math 8, only to have an absent teacher for that class anyhow.
- And Deal/DCPS does not allow "transfer credits" from outside math programs like AOPS, so that's not a solution either.

Disagree completely. Deal math is super weak. The last thing they need is to further accelerate kids.
I have 3 kids who completed Deal math. The oldest two went on to top privates (Sidwell, STA). The two oldest got through Algebra 2 at Deal with high As in every course. The private kids (and the majority of their friends) floundered in private school math after Deal (most were placement tested back in Algebra 1 in 9th). Their math foundation was terrible.
I'm sure people will come on here and say that their kid learned all sorts of math at Deal but it was not the case with my kids. We spend a lot of time and money (in tutors) in 9th grade catching them up to a reasonably competent level. We elected not to accelerate the third kid beyond geometry at Deal and have supplemented outside of Deal throughout. I am far from a tiger parent but I was shocked at how many gaps my kids had- (entire topics, especially in the algebra 2 course).

Completely disagree with you. It largely depends on the student and which Deal teacher they had. My Deal kid has done well in math and recently got a 5 on the AP stats exam. So as with everything in DCPS, YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common Core Math 8 does not have a lot of new content. If your student excelled in Math 7 and has iReady scores that show Algebra readiness, then Math 8 is not a necessary class.

+1

Everyone up in arms on this thread clearly doesn’t know how repetitive middle school math is. If your kid mastered Math 6 and 7, they could skip Math 8 and jump to Algebra I. It’s not a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Common Core Math 8 does not have a lot of new content. If your student excelled in Math 7 and has iReady scores that show Algebra readiness, then Math 8 is not a necessary class.

+1

Everyone up in arms on this thread clearly doesn’t know how repetitive middle school math is. If your kid mastered Math 6 and 7, they could skip Math 8 and jump to Algebra I. It’s not a problem.

Agreed. This is by design, though. The idea is that the students circle-back to the topics again and again, going slightly deeper each time. That's the idea, but the point that it is repetitive is accurate.

[Anonymous]

Let's please get back to the fact that it is OUTRAGEOUS to ask kids to choose between advanced math and a foreign language. Both are important for college readiness and college admissions, because they set you up for more challenging work in HS. No college is going to care whether you took Music/PE/Art in middle school, especially since the offerings in public school are far subpar to sports, music, and art that the vast majority of college-bound kids participate in outside of school anyhow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are they letting kids out of language but not out of music, art, and PE?

They let them out of music/art/pe in 8th to double up on math, so why not in 7th?

Things have changed since last year. DCPS is not allowing Deal to let kids out of PE/art/music this year. So you can get more math but the price is your foreign language for the year. People whose kids graduated more than two years ago don’t get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are they letting kids out of language but not out of music, art, and PE?

They let them out of music/art/pe in 8th to double up on math, so why not in 7th?

Things have changed since last year. DCPS is not allowing Deal to let kids out of PE/art/music this year. So you can get more math but the price is your foreign language for the year. People whose kids graduated more than two years ago don’t get it.

I know 8th graders currently at Deal who are taking Alg I and Geometry and not taking PE/art/music.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's please get back to the fact that it is OUTRAGEOUS to ask kids to choose between advanced math and a foreign language. Both are important for college readiness and college admissions, because they set you up for more challenging work in HS. No college is going to care whether you took Music/PE/Art in middle school, especially since the offerings in public school are far subpar to sports, music, and art that the vast majority of college-bound kids participate in outside of school anyhow.

I agree. I would push on this and ask for a name in DCPS to reach out to if it can’t be resolved at the school level. It’s crazy that they’re making people choose between math and foreign language. It’s also bizarre that this kid was not identified for accelerated math in 6th grade so he could take math 8 during the summer; this is what most kids taking algebra 1 in 7th do. What changed between end of 6th and beginning of 7th?

[Anonymous]

I agree. I would push on this and ask for a name in DCPS to reach out to if it can’t be resolved at the school level. It’s crazy that they’re making people choose between math and foreign language. It’s also bizarre that this kid was not identified for accelerated math in 6th grade so he could take math 8 during the summer; this is what most kids taking algebra 1 in 7th do. What changed between end of 6th and beginning of 7th?

There's supposedly a new thing (that I can't find anything about online) the DREAM initiative: DCPS Road to Equity and Achievement in Math - so scooping up kids who took math 7 in 6th grade but weren't part of summer acceleration. But sacrificing language is super crappy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I agree. I would push on this and ask for a name in DCPS to reach out to if it can’t be resolved at the school level. It’s crazy that they’re making people choose between math and foreign language. It’s also bizarre that this kid was not identified for accelerated math in 6th grade so he could take math 8 during the summer; this is what most kids taking algebra 1 in 7th do. What changed between end of 6th and beginning of 7th?

There's supposedly a new thing (that I can't find anything about online) the DREAM initiative: DCPS Road to Equity and Achievement in Math - so scooping up kids who took math 7 in 6th grade but weren't part of summer acceleration. But sacrificing language is super crappy.

DCPS and their empty acronyms. Just tax dollars down the drain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree. I would push on this and ask for a name in DCPS to reach out to if it can’t be resolved at the school level. It’s crazy that they’re making people choose between math and foreign language. It’s also bizarre that this kid was not identified for accelerated math in 6th grade so he could take math 8 during the summer; this is what most kids taking algebra 1 in 7th do. What changed between end of 6th and beginning of 7th?

There's supposedly a new thing (that I can't find anything about online) the DREAM initiative: DCPS Road to Equity and Achievement in Math - so scooping up kids who took math 7 in 6th grade but weren't part of summer acceleration. But sacrificing language is super crappy.

DCPS and their empty acronyms. Just tax dollars down the drain.

I want my tax dollars teaching kids algebra. It’s my dream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree. I would push on this and ask for a name in DCPS to reach out to if it can’t be resolved at the school level. It’s crazy that they’re making people choose between math and foreign language. It’s also bizarre that this kid was not identified for accelerated math in 6th grade so he could take math 8 during the summer; this is what most kids taking algebra 1 in 7th do. What changed between end of 6th and beginning of 7th?

There's supposedly a new thing (that I can't find anything about online) the DREAM initiative: DCPS Road to Equity and Achievement in Math - so scooping up kids who took math 7 in 6th grade but weren't part of summer acceleration. But sacrificing language is super crappy.

DCPS and their empty acronyms. Just tax dollars down the drain.

I want my tax dollars teaching kids algebra. It’s my dream.

Well good news for you is that’s apparently what the DREAM is. You get algebra, and everybody else gets algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree. I would push on this and ask for a name in DCPS to reach out to if it can’t be resolved at the school level. It’s crazy that they’re making people choose between math and foreign language. It’s also bizarre that this kid was not identified for accelerated math in 6th grade so he could take math 8 during the summer; this is what most kids taking algebra 1 in 7th do. What changed between end of 6th and beginning of 7th?

There's supposedly a new thing (that I can't find anything about online) the DREAM initiative: DCPS Road to Equity and Achievement in Math - so scooping up kids who took math 7 in 6th grade but weren't part of summer acceleration. But sacrificing language is super crappy.

DCPS and their empty acronyms. Just tax dollars down the drain.

I want my tax dollars teaching kids algebra. It’s my dream.

The dream initiative is not actually going to teach kids algebra. It’s going to make them all take it by 8th grade. Which in my opinion is not a good idea and will make some kids accelerate too fast and not learn algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is sooooo frustrating as a parent who just put one through Deal but is starting Deal with another! Both are very strong in math. And this isn't relevant to the discussion but in my experience the problem is not that Deal does too much acceleration. If anything the opposite is true and there are some forces that are anti-acceleration even for kids who would benefit from it. So if a kid has been recommended for acceleration, odds are that acceleration is appropriate for that kid.

I think that this problem is arising for a few reasons:
- Because of its status as an IB school, Deal requires 3 years of a foreign language. Foreign languages tend to be important to UMC/Ward 3 parents.
- But 3 years of a foreign language isn't a DCPS requirement, so Deal has some discretion in excusing students from the foreign language "requirement." I believe they have done this for transfers or for kids who need to take some extra remedial classes for support.
- Art/Music/PE are required by DCPS, even though most UMC parents, if forced to choose between a language and Art/Music/PE, would choose the language.
- For some reason Deal has long had the policy that while it is ok to skip Math 6, Math 7 and Math 8 cannot be skipped. So in order to get on a path where you can take Geometry or Alg II in 8th, you need do some summer school, double block, or both.
- There isn't enough time in the day to double block unless you skip another class. Most parents would prefer that this be Art/Music/PE, but apparently now DCPS is not allowing that, so the only option is to skip the language.
- This puts parents in a bind-- both math and language are important, so which do they pick?
- I would urge Deal to consider allowing kids to skip Math 7/8, so they could take a language instead of one of those classes. I'll observe that my older child's Math 8 teacher was completely checked out. My child had 100% the entire year but did not learn one thing. And also earned a high A in Alg. 1. So obviously Math 8 was not essential, and it was rather annoying that Deal denied our request for our child to skip Math 8, only to have an absent teacher for that class anyhow.
- And Deal/DCPS does not allow "transfer credits" from outside math programs like AOPS, so that's not a solution either.

Disagree completely. Deal math is super weak. The last thing they need is to further accelerate kids.
I have 3 kids who completed Deal math. The oldest two went on to top privates (Sidwell, STA). The two oldest got through Algebra 2 at Deal with high As in every course. The private kids (and the majority of their friends) floundered in private school math after Deal (most were placement tested back in Algebra 1 in 9th). Their math foundation was terrible.
I'm sure people will come on here and say that their kid learned all sorts of math at Deal but it was not the case with my kids. We spend a lot of time and money (in tutors) in 9th grade catching them up to a reasonably competent level. We elected not to accelerate the third kid beyond geometry at Deal and have supplemented outside of Deal throughout. I am far from a tiger parent but I was shocked at how many gaps my kids had- (entire topics, especially in the algebra 2 course).

Completely disagree with you. It largely depends on the student and which Deal teacher they had. My Deal kid has done well in math and recently got a 5 on the AP stats exam. So as with everything in DCPS, YMMV.

AP Stats?

Did your kid even take Calc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree. I would push on this and ask for a name in DCPS to reach out to if it can’t be resolved at the school level. It’s crazy that they’re making people choose between math and foreign language. It’s also bizarre that this kid was not identified for accelerated math in 6th grade so he could take math 8 during the summer; this is what most kids taking algebra 1 in 7th do. What changed between end of 6th and beginning of 7th?

There's supposedly a new thing (that I can't find anything about online) the DREAM initiative: DCPS Road to Equity and Achievement in Math - so scooping up kids who took math 7 in 6th grade but weren't part of summer acceleration. But sacrificing language is super crappy.

DCPS and their empty acronyms. Just tax dollars down the drain.

I want my tax dollars teaching kids algebra. It’s my dream.

The dream initiative is not actually going to teach kids algebra. It’s going to make them all take it by 8th grade. Which in my opinion is not a good idea and will make some kids accelerate too fast and not learn algebra.

Default, not all

https://dcschools.info/p/dcps-will-make-accelerated-math-the

Shout out to "useful yet horrifying DCUM'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Common Core Math 8 does not have a lot of new content. If your student excelled in Math 7 and has iReady scores that show Algebra readiness, then Math 8 is not a necessary class.

+1

Everyone up in arms on this thread clearly doesn’t know how repetitive middle school math is. If your kid mastered Math 6 and 7, they could skip Math 8 and jump to Algebra I. It’s not a problem.

DP. Can you tell me more about this? How do I learn more about the math curriculums? Currently trying to figure out if I’m going to have my kid skip Math 7 and go straight to Algebra.