APS Middle School Math Pathways - 6th grade this fall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good for you, 07:23! Honestly, kids would are on the regular math path will do just fine and I can't believe some of the topics people are worried about a HS student taking! My kid will be taking pre-algebra in 7th, but if the idea of math placement was bringing him to tears, I'd think long and hard before pushing. There are going to be a lot of AP and Intensified classes in the future and I don't think we need to be stressing them out at the age of 12.

Totally agree. I do have kids that love and are good at math and the accelerated path has been good for them but are doing the W-L preferred path of Calc AB-BC in 11th-12th. I don't see them not taking post-calc math as a failure but rather that this path has given them the opportunity to take a slower approach to calculus to get a solid foundation. It also gives the opportunity to try both calculus and statistics if the student wants to without doubling up math senior year. Really, I think statistics rather than calculus should be the standard senior level class since a knowledge of statistics is a much more important in every day life, in being an informed consumer of information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the class size report...

1 class of Linear Algebra/Vector Calculus at W-L with 12 students

1 class each of Multivariable Calculus at
Wakefield - 13 students
Yorktown- 24
H-B - 21

Shit. These schools have over 2500 students and 12-24?!?!!! That tells you all you need to know only 12 out of over 600 kids.

Well, the size of the senior class is the only thing that's relevant, about 500 at W-L this year and of that 12 taking the offered post-calculus class. It seems like, regardless of how well the students are doing in 9th-10th on the accelerated pathway, the math teachers are encouraging a slower path for calculus. I was surprised when they told me their most common path is AB in 11th / BC in 12th. Even with DS getting a high A in Pre-Calc, that's what they recommended although said he could take BC if he really wanted to but definitely discouraged it.

So about 2%-3% of the students stay on track for advanced math senior year. Most of you parents (especially NA parents) are crazy...no wonder all of the Drinking and Drug use at Williamsburg/Yorktown. This really is a race to nowhere....poor Larla and Larlo.

Maybe that's more like what it should be. Or maybe it would be a little higher naturally if APS didn't push it too early on so many kids. It will be interesting to see how many seniors are still on it in 6 years - when this year's 6th graders are seniors, since they are the first class with fewer pushed into Math 678 in 6th.

I'm the PP who kept asking about going from Math 6 to pre-algebra in 7th. I still have a number of questions for APS; but after talking with my child last night, I've started leaning the other way back to staying with Math 7. I think there's something to be said when the student doesn't think they're ready despite APS' criteria indicating they are, and when a discussion about math and math options brings the student to tears. If just discussing it causes that much upset, geez! It's not worth that! Yet after our discussion, I do believe my child is more capable and better prepared than they think they are. But maybe just not ready to be pushed or to prove it to themself? Funny, the only factor NOT a part of the placement recommendation seems to be the student's perspective.

I'm curious how Yorktown and Wakefield teachers approach the math pathway in 11th-12th, knowing that W-L teachers are discouraging the fastest path (Calc BC - post calc math). The middle schools can push it down as much as they want but if the HS teachers don't want to go along with it (which it seems they don't) you will still end up with a very small group in those classes.

[Anonymous]

I suspect the numbers at YHS are very similar. I don't know if they are actively discouraging it, but I do know that only a couple of DC's friends (the truly gifted in Math) stayed on the more accelerated path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good for you, 07:23! Honestly, kids would are on the regular math path will do just fine and I can't believe some of the topics people are worried about a HS student taking! My kid will be taking pre-algebra in 7th, but if the idea of math placement was bringing him to tears, I'd think long and hard before pushing. There are going to be a lot of AP and Intensified classes in the future and I don't think we need to be stressing them out at the age of 12.

Did your child take Math 6 in 6th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect the numbers at YHS are very similar. I don't know if they are actively discouraging it, but I do know that only a couple of DC's friends (the truly gifted in Math) stayed on the more accelerated path.

It's also important to consider that staying on that path is not just about whether or not a kid is capable/wanting to keep up the fast pace in math. Math is just one of the subjects they are taking and need to have some balance in the schedule. My DS is truly gifted in math and his teacher said he definitely could handle Calc BC in 11th. But, he's not truly gifted in reading/writing/research and is also taking APUSH and AP English plus AP Comp Sci. So, he opted to take the easy (for him) Calc AB so he'd have more time to devote to the other classes.