Equitable access to advanced math
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Anonymous
Mosaic is one of the schools offering 6th grade Algebra I. It's a middle SES center that feeds from several Title I schools. This isn't a high SES vs. low SES schools thing. |
Anonymous
Maybe it is more common in the MSs that start with 6th grade vs Secondary schools that start at 7th? We are not a title one zone but are a secondary school zone and it was really rare for anyone from our center to do 6th grade algebra as they would have needed to get to the secondary for that. |
Anonymous
The rigor would still have been there; the content was just shifting around a little. And a few bits were being replaced by more relevant content. The net result would have been more kids covering A1 content in MS. |
Anonymous
No, that wasn’t what was being proposed for VA. Pure fiction. 
“Equity” programs are trying to get MORE kids in advanced/accelerated classes. https://e3alliance.org/2022/08/29/call-for-advanced-math-policy-during-texas-88th-legislature/ "E3 Alliance research indicates that taking more advanced math courses in high school highly correlates with students enrolling in a higher education institution, persisting in their studies, and ultimately completing a postsecondary credential" "we believe the time is now to amplify all students across the state, scaling these tested and refined practices into state policy during the upcoming Texas 88th Legislative Session." "Our state-level policy priorities include: *Opt-Out Policy for high-performing students enrolling in accelerated math starting in 6th grade. *Math All Four Years for high school students." 
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Anonymous
A few bits? Hardly. VMPI was purportedly condensing four years of content into three, all the while adding data literacy content. There was a lot of rigorous math content chopped out to make way for making charts. The whole point of Essential Concepts was that it would only contain content that all students need to know. There is a lot of content that students not going to college don't need. Not only was rigorous content reduced, but what was left was going to be taught with an inquiry-approach which would have undermined student learning even further. More kids covering A1 in MS? They might have had a spoonful more A1 than previously but not to any meaningful extent. Most of the 8th grade course would have been 8th grade topics, same as before, which is why that year generated no high school credit. |
Anonymous
California used the same language, but the reality was of course very different. These groups have proven their dishonesty time and time again. Spoiler alert: if it was possible to magically make every middle school class more rigorous with no drawbacks, teachers would have done so already. |
Anonymous
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The schools that struggle to get kids into Algebra 1 in 8th grade need a different approach to teaching math then the schools that already are sending kids into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and 8th grade. The students at the school are coming to school with very different backgrounds and levels of preparation, and I am not discussing outside enrichment vs no outside enrichment.
We need to move past the idea that the curriculum is going to be the same at every school and every kid is going to have the same oppertunities. We already know that is not the case for HS, some schools are able to offer more AP classes then others because they have more kids prepared to take those classes. We need to approach ES and MS the same way. 1) ESOL students in ES need to be in ESOL classes in ES and not dropped into a Gen Ed class with some support. MS and HS have separate ESOL classes for a reason, why we think that ES kids can be dropped into a 4th grade classroom with no knowledge of English and thrive is beyond me. 2) Title 1 schools need to think about how they group students differently. I am not so sure that traditional grade levels make sense. Grouping kids by skill level would probably work better. Allow the kids who are ahead or on grade level to be in one grouping, kids a bit below to be another, kids 2 or more grade levels below another grouping. Have classes that are grade level mixed where the Teacher can focus on specific skills and help kids get to grade level instead of having 5 different skill levels in one class, we know that is not working. Giving the kids who are on grade level or ahead their own class starting in first grade is the best chance to identify and help poor kids who can do well in school in the future. Let them grow educationally the way that they can and need, that will increase the number of kids in Algebra in 8th grade. Give ESOL kids a classroom that meets only their unique needs and help them learn English and the skills that they might not have learned before putting them in fully English speaking classroom. Help them build the skills that they need. I would guess that most kids would move out of the ESOL classes in a few years and would be in a better place academically. But suggesting that we need a different approach to teaching poor kids and non-English speaking kids somehow means that we are saying the kids are stupid or incapable. In fact, it is saying that we see that there is an issue and we need to approach educating the kids differently that addresses the issue at hand. It is no different then saying kids with LDs or ADHD or Autism or something else happening need a different approach to education. You adjust the approach to meet the kids needs and many more kids can flourish. Or we can keep trying to force kids into an educational model that is not working for them because we are afraid that it looks bad to admit that kids coming from pverty or near poverty need different approaches to learning. |
Anonymous
| 6th grade algebra 1 is relevant to a microscopic fraction of students. People whining about wanting more 6th grade algebra 1 are the same people whining when colleges admit students who didn't take 6th grade algebra 1! |
Anonymous
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URM kids need algebra1 in 6th grade more than anyone else, ensuring URMs are more than likely to enter and succeed in engineering and science majors. There is solid proof that algebra1 in 6th ensures student takes atleast two years of calculus in high school itself.
Equity activists, especially the non-URM foxes, feel insecure letting URMs learning more math than they do. |
Anonymous
1. you need algebra by 7th to take 2 years of calculus in HS - and you could actually do it with algebra in 8th if you double up in HS. 2. you don't need 2 years of calculus in HS to enter and succeed in engineering/science majors. -engineer |
Anonymous
And this is why parents are absolutely nuts, pushing for early math that doesn't necessarily matter based on made up assumptions, and potentially at the expense of kids who might get by well enough or "mimic " the teacher's demonstrated steps, but end up lacking in higher level understanding in the more complex classes down the road. https://www.mathnasium.com/math-centers/littleton/news/algebra-too-soon-1816080540 |
Anonymous
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Algebra1 in 6th grade comes naturally to those kids that have been practicing math since elementary. An entire three billion populated countries are able to raise their children with higher levels of math than United States.
In other news, US gets highest number of Olympic medals, but struggles to count them accurately. |
Anonymous
If my kid needs more acceleration, I'm going to push for it. It's not my problem or my fault that other parents will then try to push their unqualified kids into early Algebra. It's not my kid's responsibility to be held back for the benefit of others. Math is the one subject where there's no benefit and potentially some down side to having a kid sit in a classroom where they've already mastered the material. There are a lot of diagnostics out there showing exactly which math instructional level is appropriate for any kid. It's not exactly rocket science to follow the levels given in the diagnostics. If the goal is getting more URM or economically disadvantaged kids into 7th grade Algebra, then FCPS is handling elementary school math completely wrong. In FCPS with AAP, the kids effectively are only compressing 8 years of math into 7 years, which isn't much acceleration at all. Then, they're expected to skip 8th grade math to do Algebra in 7th. It would make more sense for bright kids to skip levels or compress levels much earlier if they've already mastered the material, and then spend more time with pre-algebra. |
Anonymous
We moved from Massachusetts and Algebra1 in 6th grade is allowed for qualified students and enrollment is a straight forward process. FCPS appears to be throwing up barriers, hurts URMs the most, as others have noted. |
Anonymous
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