Algebra I in local schools

[Anonymous]

More and more kids in the area are doing Algebra I in 7th grade. Does anyone the Algebra I curriculum is similar across school districts? A friend from California tells me that Algebra I in MoCo would not meet California standards. Also, it seems that a higher proportion of friends' kids who are in public school seem to be doing Algebra in 7th grade than friends's kids in private schools. Is this just a chance perception or is there a reason that private schools seem to be taking things more slowly? he kids seem equally bright.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More and more kids in the area are doing Algebra I in 7th grade. Does anyone the Algebra I curriculum is similar across school districts? A friend from California tells me that Algebra I in MoCo would not meet California standards. Also, it seems that a higher proportion of friends' kids who are in public school seem to be doing Algebra in 7th grade than friends's kids in private schools. Is this just a chance perception or is there a reason that private schools seem to be taking things more slowly? he kids seem equally bright.

Our son took pre-algebra in the 6th Grade at Washington Latin Public Charter School; he also scored in the 90th percentiles on the Johns Hopkins talent search exam this year and was invited to join their CTY math/science programming. I do not believe in accelerated math that moves pedagogically beyond where children are developmentally. However, he has really been soaking up the math this year (they use Saxon Math) and will be ready, I believe, for algebra next year in 7th. He has not always been a strong math student (he slowly went from below basic to proficient by 4th while in DCPS following the Everyday Math curriculum). I don't mind this program as it provides a very experiential foundation; however, his math really has taken off with the switch to Saxon, his amazing teacher this year and his own hard work.

[Anonymous]

I've also noticed this trend - my DCs private school offers Alg 1 only in 8th grade and that seems to be consistent with many of the private schools (except somewhere like Nysmith which seems to be on a very accelerated math track). This seems to be a relatively recent phenomonon. Going way back to the dark ages when I went to one of the supposed Big 3 I took Algebra 1 in 9th grade. There were some kids who had done it in 8th but it was about 50/50. I think it can only work when there are enough kids to have multiple math tracks. I am not sure all 7th graders are ready for Algebra 1 (my first wasn't, the second is so the lack of it is a shortcoming). So that may be a disadvantage to smaller private schools since they may not be large enough to accomodate multiple math levels.