Fighting aps math recommendation

[Anonymous]

My daughter was assigned a lower math and I wanted her to take Algebra in 8th. I think she was right at the cutoff as well. APS switched her into Algebra (this was at Swanson), but recommended that she also take "Math Strategies" so she basically had two math classes. Frankly, it provided a lot of reinforcement of Algebra concepts so served her well in the end. It did use up space for an elective though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op update— heard back from his counselor and they moved him no problem. The person to contact is your child’s counselor. Didn’t hear anything back from the principal or the math office. The counselor responded right away though.
Aps policy is that the recommendation is just that — a recommendation— so you the parent have final say. I think if I had been pushing something more of a stretch it may have been different, but since my son was right at the cutoff it wasn’t an issue at all.

Has anyone else had success with reaching counselors? I emailed my daughter’s and got an out of office until August 19 response. No response from the math department, either.

No but I had the same experience-- counselor on vacation all summer, math person email says to give her a week to respond. I didn't know parents have the final say so I'm not going to worry about it.

[Anonymous]

The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Well, that’s your opinion. But a couple of test scores don’t always tell the whole story, and APS seems to constantly adjust the benchmarks, change what tests are taken, etc. We “fought” the recommendation for my kid in 7th grade, and kid is now going into 10th & has done very well in math each year. It was the right call in his case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Well, that’s your opinion. But a couple of test scores don’t always tell the whole story, and APS seems to constantly adjust the benchmarks, change what tests are taken, etc. We “fought” the recommendation for my kid in 7th grade, and kid is now going into 10th & has done very well in math each year. It was the right call in his case.

Also when a cohort is missing 50% of the tests because they didn’t take the cogat due to the pandemic I think it becomes even murkier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Well, that’s your opinion. But a couple of test scores don’t always tell the whole story, and APS seems to constantly adjust the benchmarks, change what tests are taken, etc. We “fought” the recommendation for my kid in 7th grade, and kid is now going into 10th & has done very well in math each year. It was the right call in his case.

Also when a cohort is missing 50% of the tests because they didn’t take the cogat due to the pandemic I think it becomes even murkier.

APS also didn't consider teacher input this year. We were told by my kid's teacher at the spring conference that they should be placed in X class and we intend to follow that recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These recommendations are entirely computer generated based on scoring cutoffs. We are debating whether we push for our rising 6th grader to be placed in pre algebra. Scored a 268 on MAP which is over 30 points over cutoff. But got a 546 on SOL—three points below cutoff.

If we do push, I think we will take the approach of telling them and citing the APS policy on it. I’m not going to ask when the policy is I get final say.

I would absolutely push on it. The Math 6 teachers at DHMS are great, but they can only do so much to teach to an entire class of learners, some of whom are very, very below grade level.

Math 6 has no tracking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These recommendations are entirely computer generated based on scoring cutoffs. We are debating whether we push for our rising 6th grader to be placed in pre algebra. Scored a 268 on MAP which is over 30 points over cutoff. But got a 546 on SOL—three points below cutoff.

If we do push, I think we will take the approach of telling them and citing the APS policy on it. I’m not going to ask when the policy is I get final say.

I would absolutely push on it. The Math 6 teachers at DHMS are great, but they can only do so much to teach to an entire class of learners, some of whom are very, very below grade level.

Isn’t there pre-alg for 6th graders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did the math office head at Hamm leave? I also noticed her name wasn’t on the letter (I’m guessing OP is a Hamm parent as well)

Op here— yes we are at hamm— and I think she did leave. Her linked in profile says she is looking to leave education, shame because she was actually really great.

Yeah math and science teachers, especially young ones, have way better options on tech related fields so impossible to retain or hire

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These recommendations are entirely computer generated based on scoring cutoffs. We are debating whether we push for our rising 6th grader to be placed in pre algebra. Scored a 268 on MAP which is over 30 points over cutoff. But got a 546 on SOL—three points below cutoff.

If we do push, I think we will take the approach of telling them and citing the APS policy on it. I’m not going to ask when the policy is I get final say.

I would absolutely push on it. The Math 6 teachers at DHMS are great, but they can only do so much to teach to an entire class of learners, some of whom are very, very below grade level.

Math 6 has no tracking?

No. There's a minimal amount of tracking across APS through middle school. The standard grouping of some kids w/less needs with some kids w/more needs. But nothing more. Differentiation for gifted or whatever we call it now isn't really meaningful in middle. My child's class did not move past 5th grade math review until months into the year. Math 6 is like gen ed, if that's something you had in your youth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Fought"? You simply email the counselor. It's not a big deal.

But likely his prior teacher recommended Math 7 due to something they see going on in the class.

Likely not. They only have so many classes of pre algebra. My kid scored over the limit to take it in 6th, but wasn't recommended. They only have so many spots and can't have 50 kids in a class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These recommendations are entirely computer generated based on scoring cutoffs. We are debating whether we push for our rising 6th grader to be placed in pre algebra. Scored a 268 on MAP which is over 30 points over cutoff. But got a 546 on SOL—three points below cutoff.

If we do push, I think we will take the approach of telling them and citing the APS policy on it. I’m not going to ask when the policy is I get final say.

I would absolutely push on it. The Math 6 teachers at DHMS are great, but they can only do so much to teach to an entire class of learners, some of whom are very, very below grade level.

Isn’t there pre-alg for 6th graders?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Well, that’s your opinion. But a couple of test scores don’t always tell the whole story, and APS seems to constantly adjust the benchmarks, change what tests are taken, etc. We “fought” the recommendation for my kid in 7th grade, and kid is now going into 10th & has done very well in math each year. It was the right call in his case.

Also when a cohort is missing 50% of the tests because they didn’t take the cogat due to the pandemic I think it becomes even murkier.

APS also didn't consider teacher input this year. We were told by my kid's teacher at the spring conference that they should be placed in X class and we intend to follow that recommendation.

Seems they did at WMS. My 7th grade kid got below a 500 on the 8th grade SOL and was still recommended for Algebra I, intensified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Well, that’s your opinion. But a couple of test scores don’t always tell the whole story, and APS seems to constantly adjust the benchmarks, change what tests are taken, etc. We “fought” the recommendation for my kid in 7th grade, and kid is now going into 10th & has done very well in math each year. It was the right call in his case.

Same. DD had no notice that the placement test was just that and didn't really try hard. We overrode the recommendation, and she has thrived in math in high school. I did not override my other DD's recommendation and felt it was appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Fought"? You simply email the counselor. It's not a big deal.

But likely his prior teacher recommended Math 7 due to something they see going on in the class.

Likely not. They only have so many classes of pre algebra. My kid scored over the limit to take it in 6th, but wasn't recommended. They only have so many spots and can't have 50 kids in a class.

I know people that fought to have their kid in 6th grade pre-algebra, and I know people whose children got in the class and had perfect SOL scores. These kids were clearly not at the same level, but some parents just can’t handle that idea.