Algebra in 6th grade - new selection process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

Yeah, they will make a note that the applicant is strong in math because they took algebra before high school.

Most kids will take algebra before high school.

Probably 80% of FCPS will have Algebra 1 before entering 9th grade. It is a small percentage of kids who take the class in 9th grade these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

Yeah, they will make a note that the applicant is strong in math because they took algebra before high school.

Most kids will take algebra before high school.

which is why the algebra grade is not nearly as important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

DP. It's cute that you think so. You're obviously an ES parent. .
So, in your world, a kid with very high grades across the board, including As in Calc and post-calc DE classes will have trouble getting into UVA or VT engineering due to a missing Algebra I grade from 6th grade? That's completely absurd, especially since there are any number of benign reasons that a kid might not have a grade recorded on their transcript for classes taken before high school.

One of the reasons many colleges omit 9th grade classes when they recompute an applicant's GPA is that kids mature a lot during 9th grade. The grades from later years are much more indicative of how well the kid will do in college and how solid their academic foundations are. This is doubly true for classes taken in *6th grade.*

There are *a lot* of reasons to be worried about this pilot, but kids expunging and having a "missing" Algebra I grade from 6th grade on their high school transcript is not really one of them. I have no idea why you're so obsessed with the "missing grade" issue. The real problem is that any kids who earn poor grades in 6th grade Algebra, as well as a good chunk of the kids who get As will have bad math foundations and will get poor grades in the later classes. Colleges will certainly care about the kid's grades in the pre-calc, AP Calc, and DE classes they take in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But they won't know if you took it it first time
In 6th grade if you then take it in 7th again if it is expunged. They don't see elementary school transcripts.

You're not understanding what the poster is noting. You WILL NOT be allowed to "take it again" in 7th grade unless they make an exception to their current requirement of needing a 7th grade SOL score on file. Whether you take it in 6th grade or 7th grade or even 8th grade, the grade will matter for colleges. The issue the poster is pointing out is that if you decide to take it again in 7th grade becasue you didn't like the grade or your kid felt that they need more foundation, unless FCPS changes their requirement, they will NOT be allowed to take the class in 7th grade and have to wait for 8th grade.

Common sense would dictate that kids who were permitted to take Algebra in 6th grade would be allowed to retake it in 7th. No other progression makes any sense. Of course, this is the FCPS administration we're talking about, so who knows what they'll do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

DP. It's cute that you think so. You're obviously an ES parent. .
So, in your world, a kid with very high grades across the board, including As in Calc and post-calc DE classes will have trouble getting into UVA or VT engineering due to a missing Algebra I grade from 6th grade? That's completely absurd, especially since there are any number of benign reasons that a kid might not have a grade recorded on their transcript for classes taken before high school.

One of the reasons many colleges omit 9th grade classes when they recompute an applicant's GPA is that kids mature a lot during 9th grade. The grades from later years are much more indicative of how well the kid will do in college and how solid their academic foundations are. This is doubly true for classes taken in *6th grade.*

There are *a lot* of reasons to be worried about this pilot, but kids expunging and having a "missing" Algebra I grade from 6th grade on their high school transcript is not really one of them. I have no idea why you're so obsessed with the "missing grade" issue. The real problem is that any kids who earn poor grades in 6th grade Algebra, as well as a good chunk of the kids who get As will have bad math foundations and will get poor grades in the later classes. Colleges will certainly care about the kid's grades in the pre-calc, AP Calc, and DE classes they take in high school.

The type of kid who could even qualify for algebra in 6th grade is the kind who has been teaching him/herself math for a long time and who likely has a lot of academic support in the home in the form of parents with strong math backgrounds. This is enough to make the quality of teaching much less important than in the case of average of weak students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Common sense would dictate that kids who were permitted to take Algebra in 6th grade would be allowed to retake it in 7th. No other progression makes any sense. Of course, this is the FCPS administration we're talking about, so who knows what they'll do.

I totally agree. Historically FCPS has not publicized but allowed placement into Algebra in 7th by parent request even when test scores don't support it. If kids are struggling in 6th grade Algebra they likely will offer other SOL options to them besides Algebra anyway though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

DP. It's cute that you think so. You're obviously an ES parent. .
So, in your world, a kid with very high grades across the board, including As in Calc and post-calc DE classes will have trouble getting into UVA or VT engineering due to a missing Algebra I grade from 6th grade? That's completely absurd, especially since there are any number of benign reasons that a kid might not have a grade recorded on their transcript for classes taken before high school.

One of the reasons many colleges omit 9th grade classes when they recompute an applicant's GPA is that kids mature a lot during 9th grade. The grades from later years are much more indicative of how well the kid will do in college and how solid their academic foundations are. This is doubly true for classes taken in *6th grade.*

There are *a lot* of reasons to be worried about this pilot, but kids expunging and having a "missing" Algebra I grade from 6th grade on their high school transcript is not really one of them. I have no idea why you're so obsessed with the "missing grade" issue. The real problem is that any kids who earn poor grades in 6th grade Algebra, as well as a good chunk of the kids who get As will have bad math foundations and will get poor grades in the later classes. Colleges will certainly care about the kid's grades in the pre-calc, AP Calc, and DE classes they take in high school.

I am rather cute actually, but not just an ES parent and have a perspective I’m sure you don’t have when it comes to college admissions. You don’t have to take my advice though. But why would a college admit a kid with an expunged grade over a kid with an A in that class. It’s literally a point system they employ and an expunged grade results in less points. They don’t like to see shady things. End of story. Good luck navigating this crazy space!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

DP. It's cute that you think so. You're obviously an ES parent. .
So, in your world, a kid with very high grades across the board, including As in Calc and post-calc DE classes will have trouble getting into UVA or VT engineering due to a missing Algebra I grade from 6th grade? That's completely absurd, especially since there are any number of benign reasons that a kid might not have a grade recorded on their transcript for classes taken before high school.

One of the reasons many colleges omit 9th grade classes when they recompute an applicant's GPA is that kids mature a lot during 9th grade. The grades from later years are much more indicative of how well the kid will do in college and how solid their academic foundations are. This is doubly true for classes taken in *6th grade.*

There are *a lot* of reasons to be worried about this pilot, but kids expunging and having a "missing" Algebra I grade from 6th grade on their high school transcript is not really one of them. I have no idea why you're so obsessed with the "missing grade" issue. The real problem is that any kids who earn poor grades in 6th grade Algebra, as well as a good chunk of the kids who get As will have bad math foundations and will get poor grades in the later classes. Colleges will certainly care about the kid's grades in the pre-calc, AP Calc, and DE classes they take in high school.

I am rather cute actually, but not just an ES parent and have a perspective I’m sure you don’t have when it comes to college admissions. You don’t have to take my advice though. But why would a college admit a kid with an expunged grade over a kid with an A in that class. It’s literally a point system they employ and an expunged grade results in less points. They don’t like to see shady things. End of story. Good luck navigating this crazy space!

Ah. So in your "expert" opinion, a colleges prefer the kid with As recorded in Algebra I, Geo, Algebra II, Pre-Calc, and Calc over the kid with As recorded in Geometry, Algebra II, PreCalc, Calc, Multivariable, Linear, and Diff Eq, but no Algebra I? Kid #2 somehow looks "shady" to you and will be rejected by colleges, even though there really are some benign reasons why the ES course wouldn't appear on a high school transcript (like, kid switched school districts or switched from private to public for 9th grade). If having a "missing" class were such a huge red flag, FCPS wouldn't let people expunge grades without requiring a retake of the class.

I will again reiterate that you're ridiculous, and grades or the lack thereof for classes taken in *6th grade* will not even slightly impact a kid's ability to be admitted to UVA, VT, or even HYPSM. They do not care in the slightest about any grades, awards, or anything your kid did as a 11-12 year old when deciding whether to admit your now 17-18 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

DP. It's cute that you think so. You're obviously an ES parent. .
So, in your world, a kid with very high grades across the board, including As in Calc and post-calc DE classes will have trouble getting into UVA or VT engineering due to a missing Algebra I grade from 6th grade? That's completely absurd, especially since there are any number of benign reasons that a kid might not have a grade recorded on their transcript for classes taken before high school.

One of the reasons many colleges omit 9th grade classes when they recompute an applicant's GPA is that kids mature a lot during 9th grade. The grades from later years are much more indicative of how well the kid will do in college and how solid their academic foundations are. This is doubly true for classes taken in *6th grade.*

There are *a lot* of reasons to be worried about this pilot, but kids expunging and having a "missing" Algebra I grade from 6th grade on their high school transcript is not really one of them. I have no idea why you're so obsessed with the "missing grade" issue. The real problem is that any kids who earn poor grades in 6th grade Algebra, as well as a good chunk of the kids who get As will have bad math foundations and will get poor grades in the later classes. Colleges will certainly care about the kid's grades in the pre-calc, AP Calc, and DE classes they take in high school.

I am rather cute actually, but not just an ES parent and have a perspective I’m sure you don’t have when it comes to college admissions. You don’t have to take my advice though. But why would a college admit a kid with an expunged grade over a kid with an A in that class. It’s literally a point system they employ and an expunged grade results in less points. They don’t like to see shady things. End of story. Good luck navigating this crazy space!

Ah. So in your "expert" opinion, a colleges prefer the kid with As recorded in Algebra I, Geo, Algebra II, Pre-Calc, and Calc over the kid with As recorded in Geometry, Algebra II, PreCalc, Calc, Multivariable, Linear, and Diff Eq, but no Algebra I? Kid #2 somehow looks "shady" to you and will be rejected by colleges, even though there really are some benign reasons why the ES course wouldn't appear on a high school transcript (like, kid switched school districts or switched from private to public for 9th grade). If having a "missing" class were such a huge red flag, FCPS wouldn't let people expunge grades without requiring a retake of the class.

I will again reiterate that you're ridiculous, and grades or the lack thereof for classes taken in *6th grade* will not even slightly impact a kid's ability to be admitted to UVA, VT, or even HYPSM. They do not care in the slightest about any grades, awards, or anything your kid did as a 11-12 year old when deciding whether to admit your now 17-18 year old.

First, there is a more common scenario where kids have grades in Algebra 1- Multivariate Calculus/Linear Algebra which you conveniently leave out. Second, yes it is literally points based and with the rollout of AI in admissions those data points will be picked up by an algorithm not a human reviewer. And guess what? No grade in algebra will likely be put in a different pile rated lower on the initial pass. Just go ask some TJ kids how much accelerated math has helped with their admissions at VT or UVA. Again you do you though.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:FYI, since this seems to be misunderstood on this thread: when you expunge a middle school grade, you do not have to retake the course. You may choose to, but you don’t have to.

So you get the credit (if you pass) but you don't get to see the grade--is this what you mean? Because you'd need the credit from the class, so just want to make sure we understand this.

Colleges will know that means it wasn’t a good grade

Colleges are not going to care about any grades from middle school. Heck, a lot of colleges discount grades from 9th grade when they recompute GPAs.

The bigger issue is that if the grade is poor enough to expunge, the kid will struggle in Algebra II or pre-calc. I'm not sure that I would place a child in FCPS 6th grade Algebra without also having the kid take Algebra through RSM or AoPS.

I agree with your second part, but I know for fact the colleges care. It is absolutely a red flag to not have a grade for a math class. They look very closely at course selection, grades for all high school courses. Expunge at your own risk.

Sorry, you’re wrong. In many places (like where I live in NJ), middle school courses/grades are not on the HS transcript at all, even if they are traditionally high-school courses. My kid’s transcript does not list algebra, geometry, or Latin I.

I think you’re probably wrong about this, and likely missed the section where those courses are listed (ie:not with the HS coursework), but this a thread about a pilot program in our FCPS schools. Here in FCPS, the high school transcripts absolutely list the high school level courses taken prior to HS — they’re listed in a separate section, but it’s there and calculated into gpa.

To add to this discussion: most parents here are focused on Virginia schools, where admissions teams look closely at courses and grades—even those taken at the middle school level. [What New Jersey does isn’t really relevant to us.]

To the parent of the 12th grader who suggested it won’t matter: I agree that colleges recalculate GPAs using their own methods and always consider an unweighted GPA. But if you expunge a grade from the transcript, you also lose the potential benefit of that grade being factored into the GPA. To say it “totally won’t matter” isn’t accurate. At schools like UVA and Virginia Tech, it’s hard to imagine it won’t matter, since they consistently emphasize that they review the courses taken, the rigor of those courses, and the grades earned.

Why would a person expunge a grade if it would benefit them to have it factored into their GPA? You expunge a grade because you don’t want it in your GPA.

I am in NJ now but my kids were in FCPS before (one through 10th grade) and I’m familiar with AAP math and the FCPS high school transcript, as well as with college admissions. I mention NJ to explain that colleges’ first thought when they don’t see on the transcript a course taken in middle school is not “oh, the kid must have done poorly in that class.” They just as likely think it’s not on the HS transcript because it’s not a course taken in HS (since many places only include on the transcript courses actually taken in HS). Even if a college knows FCPS well enough to know the course should be on the transcript, I guarantee that they do not care about a grade for a course taken in sixth or seventh grade, especially if they have four or five other, more recent math grades to look at. If that kid gets As in AP Precal and AP Calc BC, a college absolutely will not care about what they got in Algebra I in middle school. And if they do poorly in AP Precal or AP Calc, a good grade in Algebra I is not going to save them.

Proceed at your own risk then. They will absolutely make note of it. You heard it here first

DP. It's cute that you think so. You're obviously an ES parent. .
So, in your world, a kid with very high grades across the board, including As in Calc and post-calc DE classes will have trouble getting into UVA or VT engineering due to a missing Algebra I grade from 6th grade? That's completely absurd, especially since there are any number of benign reasons that a kid might not have a grade recorded on their transcript for classes taken before high school.

One of the reasons many colleges omit 9th grade classes when they recompute an applicant's GPA is that kids mature a lot during 9th grade. The grades from later years are much more indicative of how well the kid will do in college and how solid their academic foundations are. This is doubly true for classes taken in *6th grade.*

There are *a lot* of reasons to be worried about this pilot, but kids expunging and having a "missing" Algebra I grade from 6th grade on their high school transcript is not really one of them. I have no idea why you're so obsessed with the "missing grade" issue. The real problem is that any kids who earn poor grades in 6th grade Algebra, as well as a good chunk of the kids who get As will have bad math foundations and will get poor grades in the later classes. Colleges will certainly care about the kid's grades in the pre-calc, AP Calc, and DE classes they take in high school.

I am rather cute actually, but not just an ES parent and have a perspective I’m sure you don’t have when it comes to college admissions. You don’t have to take my advice though. But why would a college admit a kid with an expunged grade over a kid with an A in that class. It’s literally a point system they employ and an expunged grade results in less points. They don’t like to see shady things. End of story. Good luck navigating this crazy space!

Ah. So in your "expert" opinion, a colleges prefer the kid with As recorded in Algebra I, Geo, Algebra II, Pre-Calc, and Calc over the kid with As recorded in Geometry, Algebra II, PreCalc, Calc, Multivariable, Linear, and Diff Eq, but no Algebra I? Kid #2 somehow looks "shady" to you and will be rejected by colleges, even though there really are some benign reasons why the ES course wouldn't appear on a high school transcript (like, kid switched school districts or switched from private to public for 9th grade). If having a "missing" class were such a huge red flag, FCPS wouldn't let people expunge grades without requiring a retake of the class.

I will again reiterate that you're ridiculous, and grades or the lack thereof for classes taken in *6th grade* will not even slightly impact a kid's ability to be admitted to UVA, VT, or even HYPSM. They do not care in the slightest about any grades, awards, or anything your kid did as a 11-12 year old when deciding whether to admit your now 17-18 year old.

Said no reputable college counselor ever! High school math grades matter especially for STEM kids who are in line for two years of seriously advanced math that not too many kids have (nationally, or even in VA). It supports the narrative of a math/science spike if the student later builds on it. But whatever, I'm sure you're right and others are wrong!

[Anonymous]

We've gone off on a tangent about expunging grades and what that means for college admissions. However, I think the bigger issue is FCPS allowing the kids to retake this class in 7th should they choose to expunge. I don't think any parent would opt to expunge without a retake on file. It's really that simple. So, let's hope FCPS is transparent about that and can give parents a straightforward answer and live up to that answer. If any parent is able to find out whether the requirement of 7th grade SOL score on file will be removed for those who participate in this pilot program, please come back and let us know the answer you received.

[Anonymous]

Parents with kids were selected to Algebra 1, what scores did they get for iready and SOL? We haven’t heard anything yet from our piloting school except the class is starting after Labor Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents with kids were selected to Algebra 1, what scores did they get for iready and SOL? We haven’t heard anything yet from our piloting school except the class is starting after Labor Day.

Which pyramid are you in? We are in the same boat. My DD would be qualified and I was told from school that the email would be sent to qualified kids this week or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents with kids were selected to Algebra 1, what scores did they get for iready and SOL? We haven’t heard anything yet from our piloting school except the class is starting after Labor Day.

After Labor Day?! My kid took Algebra 1 HN last year in 7th grade and I'm pretty sure they started after the first orientation day. Maybe this is because they end up having more time in the class because they have math everyday? Who knows ... sounds odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents with kids were selected to Algebra 1, what scores did they get for iready and SOL? We haven’t heard anything yet from our piloting school except the class is starting after Labor Day.

After Labor Day?! My kid took Algebra 1 HN last year in 7th grade and I'm pretty sure they started after the first orientation day. Maybe this is because they end up having more time in the class because they have math everyday? Who knows ... sounds odd.

From what I heard from school admins, it sounded like the school was not ready. Our school will also start after Labor Day and has not sent emails yet.