DS struggling in 8th grade Algebra 1 Honors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You shouldn't be worried about the grades, you should be worried that he isn't getting the foundation for math that he needs.

Also, this will take a toll on his self esteem and mental health. He is not meant to be in this class. He should drop down stat.

They go hand in hand though. Low grade = poor foundation. I agree to drop down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for your replies. He has another test next week so will see how does then reach out to the counselor/teacher again.

How did it go? Any decisions, Op?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid and a ton of his friends are really struggling this year in Algebra 1 Honors. As far as I know, tons of Cs and below and a lot of retakes on the Unit 1 test, which had lower scores than the original.

We have heard things around the Curriculum in Math 7 Honors not being as robust as in the past and therefore the kids not being as ready as possible for Algebra 1 Honors.

Hang in there. We're in a bad spot, too. Tough to see your kid struggling, but I agree with the PPs to start with the teacher and the counselor to determine their POV.

DP. Math 7H was very easy for my DS (probably easier than 6th grade AAP math) and then Algebra 1H was much harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid and a ton of his friends are really struggling this year in Algebra 1 Honors. As far as I know, tons of Cs and below and a lot of retakes on the Unit 1 test, which had lower scores than the original.

We have heard things around the Curriculum in Math 7 Honors not being as robust as in the past and therefore the kids not being as ready as possible for Algebra 1 Honors.

Hang in there. We're in a bad spot, too. Tough to see your kid struggling, but I agree with the PPs to start with the teacher and the counselor to determine their POV.

DP. Math 7H was very easy for my DS (probably easier than 6th grade AAP math) and then Algebra 1H was much harder.

Math 7H is literally a repeat of 6th grade AAP math so that’s why it seemed easy. I would go by how your child did in 6th AAP math. My child needed a lot of support in 6th AAP math - I had to do a lot to reteaching. I knew from that that they probably should do regular Algebra 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid and a ton of his friends are really struggling this year in Algebra 1 Honors. As far as I know, tons of Cs and below and a lot of retakes on the Unit 1 test, which had lower scores than the original.

We have heard things around the Curriculum in Math 7 Honors not being as robust as in the past and therefore the kids not being as ready as possible for Algebra 1 Honors.

Hang in there. We're in a bad spot, too. Tough to see your kid struggling, but I agree with the PPs to start with the teacher and the counselor to determine their POV.

DP. Math 7H was very easy for my DS (probably easier than 6th grade AAP math) and then Algebra 1H was much harder.

Math 7H is literally a repeat of 6th grade AAP math so that’s why it seemed easy. I would go by how your child did in 6th AAP math. My child needed a lot of support in 6th AAP math - I had to do a lot to reteaching. I knew from that that they probably should do regular Algebra 1.

If 7H is a repeat of 6 AAP, did your kid "repeat" 6th by moving to 7H? How did that prepare him for 8th grade algebra 1 Honors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid and a ton of his friends are really struggling this year in Algebra 1 Honors. As far as I know, tons of Cs and below and a lot of retakes on the Unit 1 test, which had lower scores than the original.

We have heard things around the Curriculum in Math 7 Honors not being as robust as in the past and therefore the kids not being as ready as possible for Algebra 1 Honors.

Hang in there. We're in a bad spot, too. Tough to see your kid struggling, but I agree with the PPs to start with the teacher and the counselor to determine their POV.

DP. Math 7H was very easy for my DS (probably easier than 6th grade AAP math) and then Algebra 1H was much harder.

Math 7H is literally a repeat of 6th grade AAP math so that’s why it seemed easy. I would go by how your child did in 6th AAP math. My child needed a lot of support in 6th AAP math - I had to do a lot to reteaching. I knew from that that they probably should do regular Algebra 1.

If 7H is a repeat of 6 AAP, did your kid "repeat" 6th by moving to 7H? How did that prepare him for 8th grade algebra 1 Honors?

DP, 7H in FCPS is essentially the Math 8 SOLs. There is some repetition of standards, but it’s not the same curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid and a ton of his friends are really struggling this year in Algebra 1 Honors. As far as I know, tons of Cs and below and a lot of retakes on the Unit 1 test, which had lower scores than the original.

We have heard things around the Curriculum in Math 7 Honors not being as robust as in the past and therefore the kids not being as ready as possible for Algebra 1 Honors.

Hang in there. We're in a bad spot, too. Tough to see your kid struggling, but I agree with the PPs to start with the teacher and the counselor to determine their POV.

DP. Math 7H was very easy for my DS (probably easier than 6th grade AAP math) and then Algebra 1H was much harder.

Math 7H is literally a repeat of 6th grade AAP math so that’s why it seemed easy. I would go by how your child did in 6th AAP math. My child needed a lot of support in 6th AAP math - I had to do a lot to reteaching. I knew from that that they probably should do regular Algebra 1.

If 7H is a repeat of 6 AAP, did your kid "repeat" 6th by moving to 7H? How did that prepare him for 8th grade algebra 1 Honors?

Math 7H is essentially pre algebra. It’s the course before Algebra 1. Math 6 AAP is also basically pre algebra. The curriculums are nearly identical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid and a ton of his friends are really struggling this year in Algebra 1 Honors. As far as I know, tons of Cs and below and a lot of retakes on the Unit 1 test, which had lower scores than the original.

We have heard things around the Curriculum in Math 7 Honors not being as robust as in the past and therefore the kids not being as ready as possible for Algebra 1 Honors.

Hang in there. We're in a bad spot, too. Tough to see your kid struggling, but I agree with the PPs to start with the teacher and the counselor to determine their POV.

+1. NP. We are in the same spot. I am wondering if we are all at the same middle school. When I reached out to the counselor, she said she had met with several students from the same class, all of whom had struggled with the test and the retake.

What did you decide to do, OP? Somewhat different from your student, my DC had straight As, including an A in 7H math, up until this Algebra class. We are coming down to the wire with deciding whether to drop to regular Algebra or continue on and possibly expunge. The teacher and counselor were well-meaning but not much help in deciding what to do. The teacher said my kid was a pleasure to have in class, and the counselor said said my kid was such a strong student, so was surprised this was happening. They weren't really sure of the deadlines. Does the decision have to be made before 10/31? Or can it be made after 10/31 but before report cards are distributed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid and a ton of his friends are really struggling this year in Algebra 1 Honors. As far as I know, tons of Cs and below and a lot of retakes on the Unit 1 test, which had lower scores than the original.

We have heard things around the Curriculum in Math 7 Honors not being as robust as in the past and therefore the kids not being as ready as possible for Algebra 1 Honors.

Hang in there. We're in a bad spot, too. Tough to see your kid struggling, but I agree with the PPs to start with the teacher and the counselor to determine their POV.

+1. NP. We are in the same spot. I am wondering if we are all at the same middle school. When I reached out to the counselor, she said she had met with several students from the same class, all of whom had struggled with the test and the retake.

What did you decide to do, OP? Somewhat different from your student, my DC had straight As, including an A in 7H math, up until this Algebra class. We are coming down to the wire with deciding whether to drop to regular Algebra or continue on and possibly expunge. The teacher and counselor were well-meaning but not much help in deciding what to do. The teacher said my kid was a pleasure to have in class, and the counselor said said my kid was such a strong student, so was surprised this was happening. They weren't really sure of the deadlines. Does the decision have to be made before 10/31? Or can it be made after 10/31 but before report cards are distributed?

I k ow someone who teaches math in MS and it doesn’t sound to me like this is unique to one school. My understanding is the push from higher-ups is to keep these students in higher level math courses. From the beginning of the SY teachers knew the students weren’t ready, but the schools were telling families differently and student course selections were bumped up. There are classes of 8th graders in Algebra who failed the Math 7 SOL. They are failing. Imagine struggling with Math 7 and then skipping Math 8 to take algebra.

[Anonymous]

I k ow someone who teaches math in MS and it doesn’t sound to me like this is unique to one school. My understanding is the push from higher-ups is to keep these students in higher level math courses. From the beginning of the SY teachers knew the students weren’t ready, but the schools were telling families differently and student course selections were bumped up. There are classes of 8th graders in Algebra who failed the Math 7 SOL. They are failing. Imagine struggling with Math 7 and then skipping Math 8 to take algebra.

My kid's counselor told me Reid has pushed for every 8th grader to take Algebra 1, effective this year. This would include Special Education students.

So, any kid who was in grade level math last year (Math 7) was pushed to Algebra 1 this year. Kids need to be confident in Math, especially Algebra as it lays the foundation for so many years of Math to come. If this was the plan and it was known last year, you'd think they would have worked on the curriculum so that every child in 8th was a little more prepared.

I think it's unfair to everyone, notably teachers and students, if this was the plan. I had never heard about it, and only learned of it during a conference with my kid's counselor.

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/leadership/strategic-plan/goal-3-academic-growth-and-excellence

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I k ow someone who teaches math in MS and it doesn’t sound to me like this is unique to one school. My understanding is the push from higher-ups is to keep these students in higher level math courses. From the beginning of the SY teachers knew the students weren’t ready, but the schools were telling families differently and student course selections were bumped up. There are classes of 8th graders in Algebra who failed the Math 7 SOL. They are failing. Imagine struggling with Math 7 and then skipping Math 8 to take algebra.

My kid's counselor told me Reid has pushed for every 8th grader to take Algebra 1, effective this year. This would include Special Education students.

So, any kid who was in grade level math last year (Math 7) was pushed to Algebra 1 this year. Kids need to be confident in Math, especially Algebra as it lays the foundation for so many years of Math to come. If this was the plan and it was known last year, you'd think they would have worked on the curriculum so that every child in 8th was a little more prepared.

I think it's unfair to everyone, notably teachers and students, if this was the plan. I had never heard about it, and only learned of it during a conference with my kid's counselor.

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/leadership/strategic-plan/goal-3-academic-growth-and-excellence

This was discussed on the AAP Forum, kids who were placed in Math 7H were moved into Algebra1H without their parents' consent. Parents had to opt kids out of A1H. The same thing happened with the 6th grade A1H, kids were placed into the pilot without consulting the parents.

It is pretty crazy.

[Anonymous]

Does regular algebra 1 (vs Algebra 1 Honors) exist in middle school? I always thought that they only offered the honors version in middle school because otherwise you wouldn't take it til 9th grade anyway. But I wonder with the push if they have both options now for 8th grade (or 7th for that matter).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does regular algebra 1 (vs Algebra 1 Honors) exist in middle school? I always thought that they only offered the honors version in middle school because otherwise you wouldn't take it til 9th grade anyway. But I wonder with the push if they have both options now for 8th grade (or 7th for that matter).

Yes, 8th graders at our school can take Honors Algebra 1 or non-Honors Algebra 1 (regular? not sure of the correct terminology). I am getting a little lost in the terminology. My kid had 7th grade Honors Math last year and took the 8th grade SOL (7th grade Honors Math = 8th grade Math?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does regular algebra 1 (vs Algebra 1 Honors) exist in middle school? I always thought that they only offered the honors version in middle school because otherwise you wouldn't take it til 9th grade anyway. But I wonder with the push if they have both options now for 8th grade (or 7th for that matter).

Yes, 8th graders at our school can take Honors Algebra 1 or non-Honors Algebra 1 (regular? not sure of the correct terminology). I am getting a little lost in the terminology. My kid had 7th grade Honors Math last year and took the 8th grade SOL (7th grade Honors Math = 8th grade Math?).

Everyone would be less confused if they name them something like

Math 7
Pre-Algebra (=current Math 7 Honors = Math 8)
Algebra 1 or Algebra 1 Honors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does regular algebra 1 (vs Algebra 1 Honors) exist in middle school? I always thought that they only offered the honors version in middle school because otherwise you wouldn't take it til 9th grade anyway. But I wonder with the push if they have both options now for 8th grade (or 7th for that matter).

Yes, 8th graders can take Algebra 1 or Algebra 1 H. Honors has some additional extensions that cause the class to move more quickly through the material. If a kid is struggling with Algebra 1 H in 8th grade, they can look into dropping into Algebra 1.

Seventh grade Algebra 1 students only have the honors option and then Geometry honors in eight grade.