Is FCPS ending advance math for students who are not in AAP?

[Anonymous]

I don't understand this push. I took Geometry in 9th, Algebra in 10th, Precalc in 11th, and Calculus in 12th. How is math so different now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Opposed to Algebra readiness for 8th grade so kids can take Calculus by senior year to be eligible for STEM careers? The only people who are opposed to this are people drinking the Boaler Kool-aid.

HS Math teacher. Not interested in the Boaler Kool-aid and I'm opposed to Algebra in 8th grade for all, as are many of my colleagues.
The reality is that a few kids are ready in 6th grade, some are ready by 8th and many should take an extra year to beef up their arithmetic skills and number sense and start Algebra I in high school. Instead, they're being pushed into Algebra too early and getting increasingly dismal grades. The acceleration doesn't do any good when they end up failing courses and trying to make it through Algebra II by 11th or 12th grade--we're seeing increasing numbers of students in this situation.

Our local middle school puts everyone in Algebra for 8th grade. It's fine for the Honors kids and most of the kids who are in Gen Ed and able to keep up with the pace. It's not great for everyone else. The feeder high school has a lot of students taking AFDA in 10th grade after they earn Ds or Fs in Geometry as freshmen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this push. I took Geometry in 9th, Algebra in 10th, Precalc in 11th, and Calculus in 12th. How is math so different now?

When I was in MS/HS in the early 2000s, the only way to get to Calc as a senior was Algebra I in 8th grade. Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra II, pre-calc, AP calc. I don’t believe we had regular calc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this push. I took Geometry in 9th, Algebra in 10th, Precalc in 11th, and Calculus in 12th. How is math so different now?

When I was in MS/HS in the early 2000s, the only way to get to Calc as a senior was Algebra I in 8th grade. Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra II, pre-calc, AP calc. I don’t believe we had regular calc.

This is the regular math track in fcps for any student not behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take this with a huge grain of salt because it hasn’t even fully started yet, I’m relying on the word of a 3rd grade boy, and my DS has a student teacher through December (along with the regular classroom teacher) so this may allow for things to be done differently than in the past. But there is advanced math at his LLIV school this year, we got the official email from the registrar that he was selected and we have a certain amount of time to opt out. His classroom teacher is the advanced math teacher. DS said that around ~10 kids, maybe a little less, leave for math - presumably these are the on grade level math kids - and that they would be getting additional students from other classes just for math.

No clue how other schools are doing it especially centers or if you have a well established LLIV program. Our school has a pretty new LLIV and not too many families elect to go to the center as it’s a much longer bus commute.

This is pretty typical for smaller FCPS elementary schools.

I’m interested to know what happens at larger and more established LLIV schools and centers. I’ve seen what they’re doing in regular 3rd grade math so far and woof. It’s basically just counting using graphs. But not every kid needs the full AAP experience, plenty of kids need just advanced math. But it seems like at other schools only the full time AAP kids would get it.

[Anonymous]

So kids who aren't in advanced math in elementary will never be able to take Calculus in high school? That's insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So kids who aren't in advanced math in elementary will never be able to take Calculus in high school? That's insane.

No, advanced math in ES if you stick with it on the advanced path, prepares a kid for Algebra I in 7th, Calc as a junior, and a more advanced class past that. The current regular path is for Algebra for everyone in 8th and Calc as a senior. That is the goal, at any rate - there’s a big push for Calc in HS for everyone, which has both good and bad sides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take this with a huge grain of salt because it hasn’t even fully started yet, I’m relying on the word of a 3rd grade boy, and my DS has a student teacher through December (along with the regular classroom teacher) so this may allow for things to be done differently than in the past. But there is advanced math at his LLIV school this year, we got the official email from the registrar that he was selected and we have a certain amount of time to opt out. His classroom teacher is the advanced math teacher. DS said that around ~10 kids, maybe a little less, leave for math - presumably these are the on grade level math kids - and that they would be getting additional students from other classes just for math.

No clue how other schools are doing it especially centers or if you have a well established LLIV program. Our school has a pretty new LLIV and not too many families elect to go to the center as it’s a much longer bus commute.

This is pretty typical for smaller FCPS elementary schools.

I’m interested to know what happens at larger and more established LLIV schools and centers. I’ve seen what they’re doing in regular 3rd grade math so far and woof. It’s basically just counting using graphs. But not every kid needs the full AAP experience, plenty of kids need just advanced math. But it seems like at other schools only the full time AAP kids would get it.

My child is at a smaller center. There are typically two AAP classes. One is a class of only level IV kids, and the other is a class of level IV, filled out with advanced math and/or level III kids from the base school essentially principal placed into the class based on the math placement exam taken spring of 2nd grade, plus other test scores. My child is in the second class, there have been no pull outs or push ins in the class so far according to them, though it's possible that sort of thing hasn't started up yet.

The homework my child has brought home is also graphing but instead of counting one by one, each ice cream cone represents 2,3,4, or 5 etc and then they have to do basic multiplication to figure out how many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So kids who aren't in advanced math in elementary will never be able to take Calculus in high school? That's insane.

No, kids not in Advanced Math in ES can take Algebra 1 H or regular in 8th grade, which would allow them to take Calculus in 12th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kids who aren't in advanced math in elementary will never be able to take Calculus in high school? That's insane.

No, advanced math in ES if you stick with it on the advanced path, prepares a kid for Algebra I in 7th, Calc as a junior, and a more advanced class past that. The current regular path is for Algebra for everyone in 8th and Calc as a senior. That is the goal, at any rate - there’s a big push for Calc in HS for everyone, which has both good and bad sides.

It allows every child to take Calculus if they want to. It is not required, there are other math paths available to include applied math and statistics.

[Anonymous]

My kid’s school is a center school. She in 5th grade and is in advance math. She goes to the AAP class for 1 hour everyday for math. There is no talking of stopping advance math at her school.

[Anonymous]

Isn’t the SAT testing only algebra and geometry? If so, wouldn’t most kids do better on SAT if take those classes in HS so that math is in their heads more at time take SAT?

[Anonymous]

If some of the posts on here are correct they substantially changed elementary school advanced math for everyone (AAP and push in advanced math students) across the pacing guide this year:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/1226968.page#28322529

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kids who aren't in advanced math in elementary will never be able to take Calculus in high school? That's insane.

No, advanced math in ES if you stick with it on the advanced path, prepares a kid for Algebra I in 7th, Calc as a junior, and a more advanced class past that. The current regular path is for Algebra for everyone in 8th and Calc as a senior. That is the goal, at any rate - there’s a big push for Calc in HS for everyone, which has both good and bad sides.

I don't think this is true. Isn't the "general" path Math 7 in 7th, Math 8 in 8th, Algebra 1 in 9th, Geometry in 10th, Algebra 2 in 11th, Precalc in 12th?

If you want to be in Math 7 Honors in 7th (equivalent of Math 8), which then leads to Algebra 1 in 8th, etc., you are essentially skipping the standard 7th grade math curriculum and going to the 8th grade math curriculum (Math 8) in 7th grade. So this is the natural path for a student who has been in advanced math.

Students in elementary school advanced math who take Algebra 1 Honors in 7th grade, skip Math 8 as well. They only get to skip this year if they score well on the 7th grade math SOL as a 6th grader and also get above a 90% on the IOWA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this push. I took Geometry in 9th, Algebra in 10th, Precalc in 11th, and Calculus in 12th. How is math so different now?

When I was in MS/HS in the early 2000s, the only way to get to Calc as a senior was Algebra I in 8th grade. Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra II, pre-calc, AP calc. I don’t believe we had regular calc.

This is the regular math track in fcps for any student not behind.

I believe it. I was above average in junior high and took algebra in the 8th grade.
The advanced students took algebra in 7th.
If FCPS is overall high performance (or was until fairly recently) it makes sense that the standard is algebra in the 8th grade.😁