Algebra in 6th grade?

[Anonymous]

17:00 poster here. My child in in 4th grade now. I have not asked about more acceleration since I did not know it was a possibility.

I am curious just for comparisons sake how my child's scores compare to OPs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the PP with the child with a perfect CoGat- is your child going to a MS Magnet next year? Surely they can provide Algebra in 6th. If not, then I don't understand how some non magnet middle schools are offering Algebra in 6th.

Magnets do not offer 6th grade algebra. They track exactly the same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the PP with the child with a perfect CoGat- is your child going to a MS Magnet next year? Surely they can provide Algebra in 6th. If not, then I don't understand how some non magnet middle schools are offering Algebra in 6th.

Magnets do not offer 6th grade algebra. They track exactly the same

Perhaps things have changed but last year at Eastern there was an Algebra class for sixth graders.
FWIW, I was told that most kids at the Takoma magnet take IM in sixth grade - this is pre C2.0. I don't have any personal experience with the school so I can't confirm this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the PP with the child with a perfect CoGat- is your child going to a MS Magnet next year? Surely they can provide Algebra in 6th. If not, then I don't understand how some non magnet middle schools are offering Algebra in 6th.

You do realize that not all the top math students are at magnets. It's a big county with lots of middle schools and lots of students.

[Anonymous]

Schools may not offer a 6th grade algebra class, but they have the option to place 6th graders in a 7th grade algebra class. In most cases, that would mean IM was taken in 5th. Very rare otherwise.

[Anonymous]

My DC is completing 6th grade at the moment, and is in the regular old boring 6th grade math. Not advanced at all. And yet, she is currently doing algebra. It is relatively simple algebra -- things like solving

6x + 2 = 3y

But you know, when I was a child back in the dark ages, that counted as algebra. I was in the most accelerated math courses that were available in my town, and I didn't see anything like that until 8th grade. I realize that things have changed a lot since then, buy my point is that there is significant algebra content in the regular 6th grade offering, and I suspect there is even more in the more advanced 6th grade offerings.

[Anonymous]

I am curious for kids on this track when they started? Were there accelerated prior to compact 4/5.

According to the administration and every single teacher my children have ever had, our ES offers zero acceleration for anyone prior to compacted 4/5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the PP with the child with a perfect CoGat- is your child going to a MS Magnet next year? Surely they can provide Algebra in 6th. If not, then I don't understand how some non magnet middle schools are offering Algebra in 6th.

You do realize that not all the top math students are at magnets. It's a big county with lots of middle schools and lots of students.

I didn't assume. That is why I asked.

But a student with those kind of math scores would probably enjoy a magnet where she or he would have more peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools may not offer a 6th grade algebra class, but they have the option to place 6th graders in a 7th grade algebra class. In most cases, that would mean IM was taken in 5th. Very rare otherwise.

It's my understanding that IM is now required before placement in algebra. I have an HGC kid who was in Math 6 in 5th grade, and was placed into Math 7 for 6th grade. The pathway last year showed that both Math 7 and Math IM went to algebra, but the curriculum got rearranged this year to make Math IM a prerequisite for algebra. The upshot was that my child would have had to take Math IM in 7th, thus falling back a year to grade level for no reason other than curriculum shuffle. I requested to transfer my child from Math 7 to IM mid-year to avoid what looked like a complete repeat of curriculum in 7th grade, which was approved. Also, to be able to take advantage of all the honors science classes in HS, I think algebra in 7th is pretty much required (honors biology in MS is not an option unless a student is taking honors geometry in 8th grade). So far, Math IM covers much the same ground as Math 7, but in different ways. It will require catch-up work to prepare for the finals, but it's do-able. My understanding is that Math IM next year will be a whole new class, so this transfer probably wouldn't have been possible next year. Anyway, while I'm happy with the way it worked out for my child, it was frustrating to try to navigate these pathways because they are changing while our kids are mid-stream in these classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My DC is completing 6th grade at the moment, and is in the regular old boring 6th grade math. Not advanced at all. And yet, she is currently doing algebra. It is relatively simple algebra -- things like solving

6x + 2 = 3y

But you know, when I was a child back in the dark ages, that counted as algebra. I was in the most accelerated math courses that were available in my town, and I didn't see anything like that until 8th grade. I realize that things have changed a lot since then, buy my point is that there is significant algebra content in the regular 6th grade offering, and I suspect there is even more in the more advanced 6th grade offerings.

Yep. My HGC kid is seeing this in compacted Math 4/5. I was also one of the most accelerated kids in my school district, and I didn't do algebra until 8th grade (but to do that, I went to the local university and doubled up classes each year: algebra/geometry in 8th, trig and math analysis (pre-calc) in 9th and calculus in 10th). The normal path finished with pre-calc in 12th, and the honors track finished with calc in 12th.

[Anonymous]

Just curious why you did that? What did you take for math in 11 and 12?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious why you did that? What did you take for math in 11 and 12?

I did it because I could. There was a test/search to identify kids who might benefit from intense acceleration, and I was one of a couple dozen from the metro area to qualify. It was a little like getting into the Blair magnet --there was prestige to it. I could have stayed in the program in 11th and 12th and taken calc II etc., but in truth I was only "pretty OK" in math, and not really a true math geek, so I stopped after calc. There was no requirement that I actually take 4 years of math in HS, so I ended up with two free periods in HS. I audited calculus in 12th to keep things fresh and did some tutoring, but that was it. I don't regret doing it, but I am also glad I quit after one year of calc.