Your experience with Algebra 2.0 this year
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Anonymous
I decided to pull DC out of MCPS in part (not wholly) due to concerns about acceleration, 2.0 Algebra roll-out & impact of having a 12-year-old's Algebra grades on HS transcript. Just ridiculous! DC had to take a placement test at private (not a Big 3, but well regarded private with exmissions to Big 3). DC will need to repeat "IM" even though DC received an A in IM in our "W/BCC" feeder school. The math is a concern, but story is even worse with English. "Advanced English" was equivalent to 4th grade English at the private. |
Anonymous
I wonder if saying a prospective student is behind is a private school tactic to get parents to commit to thousands of dollars in tuition. |
Anonymous
Placement tests are usually administered after you are accepted, paid a deposit and signed a contract. So, they are about placing your child in the appropriate class. |
Anonymous
| I am surprised the admissions process does not weed out children with low skills (which might be all MCPS students?). Will you need to do intensive English tutorng to make up the years that your child is behind? It is one thing to repeat a math year with a change in schools but I am guessing your child is a rising 8th grader so that is a big gap. Did they say this is typical for all children coming from MCPS? |
Anonymous
There are levels of "Advanced English" classes at mcps middle schools based upon MSA performance. Maybe your child was in a basic class. And isn't IM math a class for kids who didn't do very well in math 7 and need more instruction before moving on to algebra? |
Anonymous
| No..IM is actually for advanced kids. Struggling kids do not take it. |
Anonymous
| Though I think they are getting rid of it (or maybe it was Math7) under 2.0.. |
Anonymous
Looks like they're all still there, but whether or not you take them depends on what pathway you're on: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/math/ |
Anonymous
No, this is the PP. It's not a tactic. I figured out DC was behind by looking at other grade-level examples online, by having testing done, and by meeting with an educational consultant who used to work in MCPS. Consultant said that MCPS objective is to get kids to grade level, not above. The discrepancy between the private schools' focus on excellence versus MCPS focus on "good enough" was very disturbing to me. It was certainly not what I expected given the reputation of MCPS schools, particularly the Bethesda area schools. |
Anonymous
My 6th grader's math 7 teacher said if my child did not do well enough on algebra sections of math 7 he would be recommended for IM instead of algebra, and that IM was a holding place for kids that weren't ready for algebra. |
Anonymous
| But there is also a track to go from 6th grade math/7th grade math in 5th grade into IM in 6th and algebra in 7th. |
Anonymous
In all instances you are placed in IM because you are not ready for algebra. |
Anonymous
| I think it's more like a prealgebra course than a holding place/remedial course. |
Anonymous
+1 This is what I was told by my child's 5th grade teacher in the HGC a couple of years ago. Of the entire Math 7 class (in 5th grade), she only recommended one (out of roughly two dozen kids) go straight to Algebra. the other kids were recommended for IM. |
Anonymous
| My child took Math 7 in 5th grade (HGC) and IM this year in 6th. Her teacher called the class honors pre-algebra at back to school night. It is not remedial in my MS. |