Algebra in private schools

[Anonymous]

OP here, well this really went off the rails! I was just wondering what grade is typical for Algebra. I am not trying to accelerate my child nor do I think they are particularly gifted in math...just wondering if their school is offering the "typical" DC path in math. Their school offers Algebra in 8th.

I realize MCPS is different and does a lot of acceleration generally. I am more wondering about DC privates (hence the posting in this forum vs. public school)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, well this really went off the rails! I was just wondering what grade is typical for Algebra. I am not trying to accelerate my child nor do I think they are particularly gifted in math...just wondering if their school is offering the "typical" DC path in math. Their school offers Algebra in 8th.

I realize MCPS is different and does a lot of acceleration generally. I am more wondering about DC privates (hence the posting in this forum vs. public school)

Nationwide, generally, Algebra is taught in 9th grade.
In this area, generally, most kids take Algebra in 8th grade. (1 year ahead of the national average.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The evidence is piling up that more and more kids who took math classes too early have to do remedial work later in high school.

Must be the exact same evidence piling up that early reading, writing, language study, running, swimming, and computer programming is bad for you and will require remedial athletic or academic work later on.

It's amazing the number of fools out there with no ability to think critically but push espoused talking point crap.

While I wouldn't say that early reading creates the need for remedial work later, I do think there is too strong of a push to get kids reading early when the early years are best spent developing creativity and problem solving through play. I have two teens. One was an early reader, self taught. My other teen learned to read on the late side, very end of 1st grade, and is a star student and beautiful writer. Definitely the more creative thinker of the two.

I think the point on early math is a bit different. Its very seductive -- you can move a bright kid through the hoops through the math stages and they may do very well pursuing the step by step grind. I think you can do this with almost any child with above average intelligence. But what you lose in the process is developing the ability to think mathematically. And you also sacrifice retention. This isn't true for every child obviously, but it is a very real risk. And once you have a child doing calculus you aren't going to go back and get them to think in more depth about algebra or geometry. Thats why the skills won't be retained and will be very superficial.

Your sons’ reading experience does not constitute a scientific sample. So, who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, well this really went off the rails! I was just wondering what grade is typical for Algebra. I am not trying to accelerate my child nor do I think they are particularly gifted in math...just wondering if their school is offering the "typical" DC path in math. Their school offers Algebra in 8th.

I realize MCPS is different and does a lot of acceleration generally. I am more wondering about DC privates (hence the posting in this forum vs. public school)

Nationwide, generally, Algebra is taught in 9th grade.
In this area, generally, most kids take Algebra in 8th grade. (1 year ahead of the national average.)

Really? 25 years ago when I went to junior high in a small, rural town in Pennsylvania, Track 1 students (not necessarily gifted mind you. Just the college track kids) took Algebra in 8th Grade, Algebra II in 9th Grade and Geometry in 10th grade. I'm surprised that most people think taking Algebra I in 8th grade is ahead of the national average when my podunk school system was doing it this way years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, well this really went off the rails! I was just wondering what grade is typical for Algebra. I am not trying to accelerate my child nor do I think they are particularly gifted in math...just wondering if their school is offering the "typical" DC path in math. Their school offers Algebra in 8th.

I realize MCPS is different and does a lot of acceleration generally. I am more wondering about DC privates (hence the posting in this forum vs. public school)

Nationwide, generally, Algebra is taught in 9th grade.
In this area, generally, most kids take Algebra in 8th grade. (1 year ahead of the national average.)

Really? 25 years ago when I went to junior high in a small, rural town in Pennsylvania, Track 1 students (not necessarily gifted mind you. Just the college track kids) took Algebra in 8th Grade, Algebra II in 9th Grade and Geometry in 10th grade. I'm surprised that most people think taking Algebra I in 8th grade is ahead of the national average when my podunk school system was doing it this way years ago.

So you are above average and you never knew it.

You can google Algebra in 8th grade and get a gazillion different articles on it.

Here is just one... the 1st one that came up. It points to studies if you real care that much.

http://www.edpubs.gov/document/ed005137p.pdf

Eighth-grade algebra enrollment in the United States has been on the rise. While approximately 16 percent of all U.S. 13-year-olds (the age at which many students are in eighth grade) were enrolled in algebra in 1986, this figure rose to 22 percent in 1999 and to 29 percent in 2004 (Perie, Moran, and Lutkus 2005). This trend affects the average level of mathematics course attainment students have achieved by graduation. An example of this trend is provided by Dalton et al. (2007), who compared course-taking information from high school transcripts gathered from three nationally representative studies: the High School and Beyond (HS&B) Longitudinal Study, the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002). They found an increase between 1982 and 2004 in the number of high school graduates taking advanced mathematics courses and a concurrent drop in the percentage of students finishing high school having completed only lower level mathematics courses (e.g., algebra I and plane geometry).
Here is another one.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2013/03/18-eighth-grade-math-loveless

[Anonymous]

OP here, well this really went off the rails! I was just wondering what grade is typical for Algebra. I am not trying to accelerate my child nor do I think they are particularly gifted in math...just wondering if their school is offering the "typical" DC path in math. Their school offers Algebra in 8th.

I realize MCPS is different and does a lot of acceleration generally. I am more wondering about DC privates (hence the posting in this forum vs. public school)

The response to your question becomes rather easy then. It depends on your child, where he goes to school (honors, magnet, junior IB, gifted program, private, regular, homeschool, charter, dual enrollment and/or public), and your childs prior background in math, performance, accomplishments and achievement.

In other words there will be children in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades taking Algebra 1 across the nation.

[Anonymous]

The bigger your sample of the Algebra 1 studying population the more bell shaped the curve may look about grades 5-10...perhaps skewed to the left somewhat.

[Anonymous]

A typical course load at a selective DC private high school means taking 4 years of math culminating in a calculus, even if your child is clearly a humanities type. Working backwards, that means he/she takes algebra in 8th grade. The vast majority of students at the big 3 follow this progression. Students at some schools take summer classes to accelerate the progression, while others generally discourage summer classes to jump the sequence. No college will look askance at an applicant who does not go beyond calc BC in high school because so few high schools in the country offer advanced math. But, the selective privates, the magnets and many of the better DC area suburban high schools do offer post-calculus classes and admission odds are going to be different for a STEM student who takes advanced math than the classmate with the same GPA/scores who doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Any one who suspects the US high school math standards and rates of mastery should and will remain constant from 1950 to 2000 and to 2050 (e.g., Algebra 1 in 9th grade) will miss the proverbial boat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any one who suspects the US high school math standards and rates of mastery should and will remain constant from 1950 to 2000 and to 2050 (e.g., Algebra 1 in 9th grade) will miss the proverbial boat!

"All aboard!" cries Charon.

[Anonymous]

We transferred out of a DC private that only offered Algebra for 8th graders into another private school (outside of DC this time) that tracks for math and offers classes beyond calculus. I don't have a problem with 8th grade algebra as long as it is challenging but our first small DC private did not have very strong math instruction in the lower grades either.
In general, I think that the privates could do a much better job of math instruction, particularly in the lower grades.

[Anonymous]

We transferred out of a DC private that only offered Algebra for 8th graders into another private school (outside of DC this time) that tracks for math and offers classes beyond calculus. I don't have a problem with 8th grade algebra as long as it is challenging but our first small DC private did not have very strong math instruction in the lower grades either.
In general, I think that the privates could do a much better job of math instruction, particularly in the lower grades.

I see you're not about to miss the boat.

I began my formal study of algebra and geometry at the age of 10 in school in the bushes of an undeveloped country last century. In that system one took algebra, geometry (simultaneously) and higher maths during each year of secondary school for up to 5 years [0 levels -- the British system)]. Of course, when I came to this country as a teenager I was light years ahead of my classmates in math in the public and later private systems.

By these normal standards, many decades ago, a 13 and 14-year today, just beginning the study of Algebra, will be at a global disadvantage in mathematics education.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing the previous posters putting down the American education system used to be TAs frustrated by teaching math to college students who complain about their accents!

Seriously, linear algebra and calculus based statistics are pretty much all the math required for any undergraduate degree outside the math and physics department. No one needs to take them all in high school!

Unless you know your DC is absolutely going to be a mathematician or physicist at age 13 or 14, what in the world is the rush? Let your kid take the time to learn the subject at a pace that allows for their developmental readiness.

You might be able to grind a smart math-oriented kid through advanced college math in high school but you wouldn't leave enough social time to be a normal well-adjusted American teenager. And leadership and social skills are at least as important as technical skills in reaching the top of any org chart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The response to your question becomes rather easy then. It depends on your child, where he goes to school (honors, magnet, junior IB, gifted program, private, regular, homeschool, charter, dual enrollment and/or public), and your childs prior background in math, performance, accomplishments and achievement.
In other words there will be children in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades taking Algebra 1 across the nation.

As I originally asked, I am wondering about DC private schools (where my child attends). I am not interested in nationwide trends, or other types of schools.n And I understand that there will always be an outlier taking Algebra in 6th or 11th grade. I will refine my question...when do GDS, Sidwell, STA, NCS, Maret, WIS, Field and Burke offer algebra to the majority of their students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The response to your question becomes rather easy then. It depends on your child, where he goes to school (honors, magnet, junior IB, gifted program, private, regular, homeschool, charter, dual enrollment and/or public), and your childs prior background in math, performance, accomplishments and achievement.
In other words there will be children in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades taking Algebra 1 across the nation.

As I originally asked, I am wondering about DC private schools (where my child attends). I am not interested in nationwide trends, or other types of schools.n And I understand that there will always be an outlier taking Algebra in 6th or 11th grade. I will refine my question...when do GDS, Sidwell, STA, NCS, Maret, WIS, Field and Burke offer algebra to the majority of their students?

The typical high school math sequence for a large majority of students at those schools begins with algebra in 8th grade.