What Are the Pros and Cons Of Taking Algebra I in Sixth Grade?
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Anonymous
Yes, I'd say so. |
Anonymous
Sorry, but these math options are not offered at every school. Poolesville and Blair will definitely have them. I've heard that Wheaton (also home of a magnet) offers Multivariable Calc. Einstein offers AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, and several IB math offerings. I can't speak about the other schools. Also, be aware that not every MCPS school offers calculus-based AP Physics. |
Anonymous
Wheaton is not "true" magnet right? Only PHS/RMIB/ and Blair SMAC/CAP are. |
Anonymous
I believe Wheaton and CAP are only open to DCC students so only kids from those high schools can apply |
Anonymous
| Wheaton is a magnet, in the sense that there is a test to get in and not everybody gets in. But I think it is not as competitive as CAP. Blair CAP is open to those who went to a DCC middle school -- because the middle school magnets at Eastern and TPMS are within the DCC, that means lots of out of bounds middle school magnet kids compete for and get into Blair CAP. I assume that same rule applies to Wheaton, but I don't know for sure. |
Anonymous
Thank you. Your cons are some of the things that I'm concerned about. I don't know how many students in Howard are accelerated. My family just relocated to Howard from another state last year. Howard's accelerated program is broken up in two categories. There are accelerated students like my child who will take Algebra I in the sixth grade. However, for the students who are exceptionally gifted and I'm not sure what course they will take for 6th grade. I only know one student who happens to be a neighbor of mine whose kid is exceptionally gifted. Other than that, until I attend this orientation I don't know the percentage of students who are accelerated in Howard. Howard uses the SCAT and CogAT tests to determine placement for GT Math in middle school. |
Anonymous
Great point because it will be helpful to discuss with parents whose children had experiences with an accelerated math program or those whose child is currently in one. I posted here because I thought more parents in Maryland will be able to give me some feedback. I will search some of the older threads on the AAP Forum to read first. I'm going to leave this forum and hop over there. Thanks for the suggestion! By the way, why doesn't MCPS almost never allow students to be accelerated? I thought there were quite a few test in programs in MCPS. |
Anonymous
I'm a scientist, never particularly good at math, but this looks eminently sane. He's not going to be doing string theory by the end of high school, so, no worries. Transportation to a different school, however, IS a concern. I'd be worried the bus might make the kids late for the next lesson, or that they might actually have to skip another lesson. |
Anonymous
| Is your son a logical thinker who can deal in the abstract already? That is what you need to know to make the decision...is he good at chess, able to think several moves ahead? If you give him a simple alegebra type problem can he solve it? If so and if your son is excited I would go for it -- especially if he's a STEM kid. |
Anonymous
There's a long history to this. Not too too long ago, MCPS used to let lots of kids accelerate but it got very much out of hand. There were some schools where 70% of the kids were one year accelerated and 20% two years accelerated. But when they got to MS and HS the teachers complained the kids could not do basic math. The district did dismally in Algebra proficiency and other testing from the state. The kids had been moved along too fast. It was embarrassing for the administrators so they pulled back severely and created only two tracks. One goes faster and the other one goes at the "regular" pace. The accelerated track puts a kid at Calculus in 11th, which is fast for many districts, so they really stopped letting kids go ahead beyond that. There are always a handful of really exceptional kids in any district, especially in a district our size which is 160,000, so you always hear ever so often that a child so and so heard of a child three schools down from your school that has been allowed to go beyond that. Someone posted once that when these kids meet up in MS or HS magnets they are surprised to find you can count the number of kids in this situation on one hand. |
Anonymous
The gifted test in programs aren't considered "acceleration." Those kids in 7th grade are taking algebra, just like the highest level in the Non-magnets (and actually, all those kids are one- year accelerated, as on-grade level has you taking algebra in 8th). But the magnet classes are much more in depth and challenging, even though they have the same name. But posters here generally are using accelerated to mean something beyond the norm - a 6th grader taking algebra, whether in a magnet class or not.. that is what is hard to do in MCPS now. |
Anonymous
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OP, in case you're curious you can find out more about the MCPS math track here
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/math/ The advanced math track, second row in the chart, is an "accelerated" track that has kids taking Algebra in 7th as PP pointed out. There are tons of kids in this track. The MS and HS science & math magnet programs that are test-in also follow this track with Algebra in 7th, Geometry in 8th but their courses are taught at a much deeper level. So there's a lot of advanced math in MCPS. The thing that's different is that they don't let you "skip" to the next grade math. So even the best math students in the whole county in 5th usually have to wait to take Algebra in 7th. |
Anonymous
Yes, Wheaton is a true magnet--it's test-in for the Engineering and Biomedical programs. It's only open to DCC residents or those attending a DCC magnet. They do have Multivariable Calculus as well as AP Calc AB, BC, and Stats...and AP Physics + AP Physics C in the Engineering program. |
Anonymous
| In ES and MS it wasn't a big deal to be advanced. But in HS, it was a bit hard. My DS was in classes that were typically at least 2 years ahead. It was hard to make friends because she had no same age peers in class. In HS kids were not into befriending those younger. She was not bullied but I think she was lonely. Things improved when she joined a school sports team that mixed ages/grades. |
Anonymous
| I am currently a fifth-grader moving on to sixth grade this fall at Watts Middle School in Ohio, and I have received much praise from all of my teachers regarding my higher level of intelligence and maturity (especially in my writing where this year I served as Editor-In-Cheif of my school's newspaper), and obviously my MAP and other cognitive state tests scores were beyond higher than my fellow classmates. However, with all of the confusion going on with the coronavirus, I wonder if I will be enrolled in Algebra I class (my teachers have mentioned the possibility to me multiple times), so if anybody knows the requirements for that, a brief but informative reply is all I need. Thank you for your time. |