Middle school placement in math
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Anonymous
| My 5th grader who has been in Compact Math was recently recommended by her math teacher that she be placed in math 6.0 next year instead of IM. I was quite surprised as we never heard she was struggling and shes been getting all As in her report card plus Map scores have been great. Teacher said she thinks she would be better in the regular math as IM is very fast paced. Has anyone have had a similar experience? Just want to know if this is normal (for kids to move to math 6.0 after compact math in ES). I just want to make sure she's placed in the right class. I definitely don't want her to get bored considering a lot of the things they'll be going over next yr is a repeat of this year, no? |
Anonymous
| It certainly happens that fifth graders in compacted math move to math 6 instead of IM. It also happens in the reverse that kids move from fifth grade math straight into IM in sixth. But, if your daughter is getting straights As, and has not expressed concerns about the pacing, I can’t imagine why she would not try IM. She could always drop back to math 6 if she needed to a month or so into the sixth grade year. In my kids’s experience, IM was not paced any differently than compacted math (and the middle school math teachers were stronger than the elem school compacted math teacher). |
Anonymous
It does happen and the current teacher's advice is important to consider. However, when we went to our MS parent intro meeting a few years back, the counselors there strongly suggested erring on the side of challenging kids. In our case this meant we decided to push for foreign language in 6th grade. DC's placement was moved up and he ended up completing three years of French in MS with As and no struggles. You might also check on how IM is arranged at your school. My DC was placed in IM after compacted in 5th, but at the time, DC was in a mixed class with 6th & 7th graders in IM. This actually meant the IM class moved slower than if it was entirely above grade level 6th graders. (Also, this was before the possibility of enriched IM, however that has played out, if may mean there are now three groupings of sixth graders, math 6, regular IM, enriched IM) I suspect schools have moved away from mixing 6th & 7th IM, but if not ,it's another reason to consider staying in IM. But the real point is, even though the 5th grade teachers are good at assessing current progress, they don't always know the details of the MS, so try to get info from the MS, too--either the counselor or the math content specialist. |
Anonymous
| I would call the ms counselor about that. My child went from not being in compacted math directly into IM and has gotten straight As. I can’t imagine why they’d want a straight A student to step back. |
Anonymous
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That seems strange but did you see the recent talk about grade inflation? Is it possible your child only has As because she's retaking quizzes or because the testing is so superficial? I would talk to the teacher to get more information. Don't be defensive. Be open. Maybe she noticed it takes your child longer to get concepts or that she is memorizing formulas but doesn't really understand the material?
DD is at a W feeder and her friends are all over the map in terms of how they are doing in IM. Some friends who did well in compacted 5/6 are struggling in IM but other friends think IM is not that difficult. There was some movement at the beginning of the year with a couple kids dropping down to Math 6 and one child moving up to her class. You should consider your child's anxiety level, interest in math, her work habits and other study skills before making a decision. The teacher may be wrong about IM but think of your child's long-term trajectory and whether you think she'll be happy in higher level math in HS. |
Anonymous
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^^ I think this poster gives really good advice, OP.
My kids went from compacted in 5th to IM in 6th and they are ok but there are one or two kids who really struggled in 5th and probably would have been less pressured if they'd gone into the regular class (and yes, they made up quizzes etc to improve grades). |
Anonymous
Hi OP here. Thanks for the advice from all. We have a meeting with the teacher next week to discuss but as I said I'm really baffled as how the teacher could make a determination that my child would struggle next year in IM given that there has been no signs of struggle this year. Again, all As, MAP scores are high, and most importantly, no notes or communication (from the teacher) that she's struggling and having a difficult time keeping up. If anything, math is her strongest subject. If DC had stated that she wants to slow things down, I would be all for that but she has said that she wants to continue with this track and that she wants the challenge. I just feel like it's better to give her the challenge going in and then if she truly does struggle next yr in IM, then she can move down. I'll also talk to the MS counselor to get more insight on how the classes are structured. |
Anonymous
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It’s not uncommon for MCPS to sell students short when recommending for the next level. If they cannot articulate a clear and believable reason I would push hard for the higher placement.
Some things to keep in mind * of all subjects it’s hardest to accelerate in math as the curriculum is hierarchical * IM is not a high school class, if she is struggling next fall move her to 6.0 and no harm done * the middle school not the ES makes the final determination And the big one, stereotyping in STEM placements leads to more boys than girls winding up on the upper tracks. Its unfortunate but as parents of girls we needed to advocate for them several times with respect to math placements. |
Anonymous
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Hi OP. We consistently had (female) ES teachers underestimating our DD’s math abilities because: (a) she was pretty bored and do not claim
To love math, (b) she didn’t jump at the chance to do extra enrichment work and (c) she was not a fast calculator - she hadn’t jumped on the opportunity to memorize kultiplication tables, so long fusion was painfully slow for a while!! But, she got concepts the 1st time and had high MAP-M scores. She has done fine on the advanced math track and in IM. I don’t know why people says it moves extra fast. ES teachers are notorious for underestimating firls’ sTEM capabilities (google it, there’s a NYT article). Listen to the teacher, but follow your instincts. |
Anonymous
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Aim high, drop back if needed (and be willing to admit need.)
The ability to get good recommendations from elementary to middle varies by cluster and by teacher. I think some teachers just want their kiddos to be taken care of and have an easy time, rather than rise to a challenge. I taught at a MSMC consortium school, so we got kids from everywhere and some of the placements were just awful - so many kids put in lower level classes, even though their MAP-M scores justified a higher class. One year we got almost 50 kids that should have been accelerated and weren't. The math department put together a special class (two sections) to compact Math 6 and IM so they could take Algebra in 7th, which they were ready for. |
Anonymous
| My kid did CM in 5th and is in IM and will do Algebra in 7th. She told me that some students from 5th CM did not make it to IM and went to Math 6 and these were the strugglers. She also said some new kids came to IM. Same with moving on to Algebra. She said a smaller amount of kids are moving on to Algebra. My kid loves Math and grabs concepts very quickly so she has all A's and it is not a struggle. Listen to the teacher as there are so many in my DD's class with tutors or those who cannot handle their whole load of all the Middle school courses in addition to advanced courses. |
Anonymous
| Just curious about compacted math kids who are now in 9th grade. How is Honors Algebra 2 going for them? Easy? Challenging? |
Anonymous
I don't know what algebra 2 was like before 2.0, both my DC's have had the re-written version, but it's currently a very fluffy, disorganized class and I haven't heard of it being a stumbling block for anyone. Honors pre-calc, on the other hand, was very hard for my older DC (current senior who didn't have compacted math but did have 2.0 algebra sequence). But that was a necessary correction that did ramp up the algebraic manipulation needed for calc. As of this year pre-calc, at least at our school, has been scaled back significantly. So the next question is will the lighter version of pre calc still prepare a 2.0 student for calc. |
Anonymous
OP I would ask the teacher if she has a new quota for putting kids in Math 6 because given what you say here, it wouldn't surprise me. And I also wonder if you should talk to the new school and bypass her completely, given you have the grades the MAP scores and no history of problems. I don't know where you're located, but there are schools who do good summer math programs, Landon does a pre-algebra basics for 3 weeks over the summer. My kid did this last year and it was really helpful before starting IM in 6th grade because basically IM is pre-algebra. |
Anonymous
| Hi All-OP here. Teacher came back and told us that there is a cutoff. Only students with MAP scores of 240 or up were recommended. My child was 5 points below the cutoff. Do you all have the same cutoff at your school? |