Automatically enrolled into Algebra 1 honors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i have a current AAP 5th grader who is 99% on MAPs and perfect on SOLs and she’s still not ready. it’s crazy to auto enroll kids into algebra in 6th with no real requirement other than to pass the SOL. so many kids are going to fail. they haven’t even announced to parents this is happening

What are you using to decide she's not ready?

different poster with a 5th grader who has the same stats — I also don’t feel she is ready for A1H in 6th. Why? Because she’s relying entirely on FCPS for her math education and hasn’t taken pre-algebra yet. I don’t think it’s in her best interest to skip an entire year of foundational knowledge just to struggle in a subject she otherwise loves and excels at. Down the road, I don’t think there’s any benefit to rushing this. She’ll be plenty advanced taking A1H in 7th, like her older sibling did.

I have a 5th grader with similar stats and don't feel confident saying he is or is not ready. It’s not something Ive thought about and we don't have older kids to compare. My initial instinct is, if he is performing well and acceleration is offered, he should do it. The bar will be raised or loweres for the whole cohort, right? But I would not say he is a math prodigy who needs more acceleration. But if FCPS is offering it, I lean towards including him in it.

Just a note, the grade will be on their high school transcript. So you want your child to get a A. The grade can be erased if the class is retaken, but that might impact their self esteem.

2 years ago, students had to score 90% on the IAAT test to qualify. I recommend every parent have their child take the IAAT test and see if their child can answer 90% of the questions correctly in 40 minutes. Here is a link to a free test.

https://www.scribd.com/document/817094414/IAAT-Practice-Test-1

The threshold wasn't 90%. It was 90th (actually 91st) percentile, which is completely different. You would have to find a chart that tells you how many problems can be missed to reach a score above the 90th percentile.

[Anonymous]

Not sure about 5th grade MAP, but 6th grade MAP did just this. I wrote about it a few pages earlier here. My AAP 6th grader had a message at the end of his most recent winter MAP testing that said something along the lines of “this score indicates readiness for a higher level of math/instruction, such as Algebra”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It should not be difficult to administer a test that checks for foundational gaps and algebra readiness. If nothing else, they could have a M7H teacher write up a M7H final exam, give it to all of the AAP 5th graders under regular exam conditions, and then let the parents know how the kid did. It would give parents and teachers another data point as to whether the kid is ready for Algebra or whether they'd benefit from a year of pre-algebra.

That’s what the IAAT (Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test) used to assess. It was quite literally used to measure students’ readiness for Algebra I. I have no idea why they did away with it nor why they’ve failed to replace with any other assessment to determine readiness. I’m really not down with FCPS-bashing but my confidence in their decision-making is waning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this open to only all level 4 AAP students? How about level 3 math AAP students?

no level 3. they aren’t a year ahead in math by 5th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It should not be difficult to administer a test that checks for foundational gaps and algebra readiness. If nothing else, they could have a M7H teacher write up a M7H final exam, give it to all of the AAP 5th graders under regular exam conditions, and then let the parents know how the kid did. It would give parents and teachers another data point as to whether the kid is ready for Algebra or whether they'd benefit from a year of pre-algebra.

this is what they did last year at my kids school. you needed pass advance on 6th grade SOL, had to pass a level 7 math assessment and be 99% on the iready. the fact that you just need to regular pass is horrible. so many kids aren’t ready

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about 5th grade MAP, but 6th grade MAP did just this. I wrote about it a few pages earlier here. My AAP 6th grader had a message at the end of his most recent winter MAP testing that said something along the lines of “this score indicates readiness for a higher level of math/instruction, such as Algebra”

what was the score for the MAP? we only get basic reports from our school with a %

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i have a current AAP 5th grader who is 99% on MAPs and perfect on SOLs and she’s still not ready. it’s crazy to auto enroll kids into algebra in 6th with no real requirement other than to pass the SOL. so many kids are going to fail. they haven’t even announced to parents this is happening

What are you using to decide she's not ready?

different poster with a 5th grader who has the same stats — I also don’t feel she is ready for A1H in 6th. Why? Because she’s relying entirely on FCPS for her math education and hasn’t taken pre-algebra yet. I don’t think it’s in her best interest to skip an entire year of foundational knowledge just to struggle in a subject she otherwise loves and excels at. Down the road, I don’t think there’s any benefit to rushing this. She’ll be plenty advanced taking A1H in 7th, like her older sibling did.

I have a 5th grader with similar stats and don't feel confident saying he is or is not ready. Its not something Ive thought about and we don't have older kids to compare. My initial instinct is, if he is performing well and acceleration is offered, he should do it. The bar will be raised or loweres for the whole cohort, right? But I would not say he is a math prodigy who needs more acceleration. But if FCPS is offering it, I lean towards including him in it.

maybe the bar is lowered for the 6th grade algebra class but once you get to middle and in geometry and algebra 2 they aren’t going to grade you easier or give you a pass if you don’t know the material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i have a current AAP 5th grader who is 99% on MAPs and perfect on SOLs and she’s still not ready. it’s crazy to auto enroll kids into algebra in 6th with no real requirement other than to pass the SOL. so many kids are going to fail. they haven’t even announced to parents this is happening

What are you using to decide she's not ready?

she’s 11. there’s no real end game here. does she need to take calculus as a 10th grader or multi variable calculus as an 11th grader? i don’t want her missing a year of foundational learning. she’s incredibly smart. math comes so easy but she’s a kid. i asked her and she said she doesn’t want to do it. i work for fcps and every teacher and math specialist i talk to thinks it’s a horrible idea. especially taking away minimum score/grade/test requirements to get in. all so reid can send out an email that says look how many 6th graders are in algebra. and then she’ll leave the county before this turns into a landslide of kids who are failing math because they skipped a year of instruction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i have a current AAP 5th grader who is 99% on MAPs and perfect on SOLs and she’s still not ready. it’s crazy to auto enroll kids into algebra in 6th with no real requirement other than to pass the SOL. so many kids are going to fail. they haven’t even announced to parents this is happening

What are you using to decide she's not ready?

different poster with a 5th grader who has the same stats — I also don’t feel she is ready for A1H in 6th. Why? Because she’s relying entirely on FCPS for her math education and hasn’t taken pre-algebra yet. I don’t think it’s in her best interest to skip an entire year of foundational knowledge just to struggle in a subject she otherwise loves and excels at. Down the road, I don’t think there’s any benefit to rushing this. She’ll be plenty advanced taking A1H in 7th, like her older sibling did.

FYI, 6th grade AAP non-algebra was not pre-algebra. So taking algebra in 7th grade would still be a gap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i have a current AAP 5th grader who is 99% on MAPs and perfect on SOLs and she’s still not ready. it’s crazy to auto enroll kids into algebra in 6th with no real requirement other than to pass the SOL. so many kids are going to fail. they haven’t even announced to parents this is happening

What are you using to decide she's not ready?

different poster with a 5th grader who has the same stats — I also don’t feel she is ready for A1H in 6th. Why? Because she’s relying entirely on FCPS for her math education and hasn’t taken pre-algebra yet. I don’t think it’s in her best interest to skip an entire year of foundational knowledge just to struggle in a subject she otherwise loves and excels at. Down the road, I don’t think there’s any benefit to rushing this. She’ll be plenty advanced taking A1H in 7th, like her older sibling did.

FYI, 6th grade AAP non-algebra was not pre-algebra. So taking algebra in 7th grade would still be a gap.

My son took 6th AAP (math 7h) prior to the pilot era and the curriculum was definitely advanced pre-algebra. He was fully prepared for A1H in 7th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about 5th grade MAP, but 6th grade MAP did just this. I wrote about it a few pages earlier here. My AAP 6th grader had a message at the end of his most recent winter MAP testing that said something along the lines of “this score indicates readiness for a higher level of math/instruction, such as Algebra”

what was the score for the MAP? we only get basic reports from our school with a %

His score on winter MAP was 270.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this open to only all level 4 AAP students? How about level 3 math AAP students?

no level 3. they aren’t a year ahead in math by 5th grade

Kids in Advanced Math can take A1H in 6th grade, it is the same math done in the AAP classroom.

[Anonymous]

Is there any data regarding currently how many AAP 6th graders are taking Algebra 1?

Across all FCPS elementary schools half, less than half of the AAP kids?
What about LCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any data regarding currently how many AAP 6th graders are taking Algebra 1?

Across all FCPS elementary schools half, less than half of the AAP kids?
What about LCPS?

More than 700 started the year in the Algebra 6th pilot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any data regarding currently how many AAP 6th graders are taking Algebra 1?

Across all FCPS elementary schools half, less than half of the AAP kids?
What about LCPS?

More than 700 started the year in the Algebra 6th pilot.

Up from around 30 students who enrolled in 6th grade in previous years.