Summer Math Acceleration Program at Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a kid who went through this program, while simultaneously participating in a summer intensive of their extracurricular - sports, dance, etc?

Is anyone having summer sports this summer?

My question was looking a couple of years ahead for a kid who is still too young.

We did the program a few years ago. It is typically delivered through July. I would think that a child in a summer intensive for their sport/activity would have a difficult time doing both. If I had a child who was talented in math, step one is that they will take 7th grade math while in 6th grade. At the end of 7th grade, you will need to decide if you want to do SMAC and be 2 years ahead. If the answer is yes, (and I would only do this if your child has high math aptitude - not just works really hard) I would get a tutor and spread the curriculum out over the entire summer instead of doing SMAC. Another option is self study through a program like Khan academy math. In the fall, you are allowed to take a placement test and see if you can test into the next grade level without taking the specific program.

Thanks for your comments. We are going to have our kid do self paced Khan. He fits into the "works really hard" category and distance learning has already been a challenge. As long as he keeps doing some math over the summer we are fine with it.

Are they allowing that this year? I think I read something that because this is all online this will be the only option. I would just check with the school before assuming this remain an option. My older DC did the Khan academy/test way and my younger DC is doing SMAC this summer.

What do you mean? My kid will do Khan, then he will do BOY testing. If he ends up in Alegebra I fine, if he ends up in Math 8, fine. Why would I check with the school if my kid can do Khan online?

This is what the email that stated my child passed the test and could take SMAC this summer stated:

"We will not be offering an online self-paced Khan Academy account this year, because we are offering SMAC online. Please enroll your student with DCPS, then click here to enroll your child for SMAC by Friday, May 29th, 2020. "

I personally do not know what it means and my child is taking SMAC. I was just sharing as it implied to me that they may not be doing that test in the fall, but maybe I am reading too much into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a kid who went through this program, while simultaneously participating in a summer intensive of their extracurricular - sports, dance, etc?

Is anyone having summer sports this summer?

My question was looking a couple of years ahead for a kid who is still too young.

We did the program a few years ago. It is typically delivered through July. I would think that a child in a summer intensive for their sport/activity would have a difficult time doing both. If I had a child who was talented in math, step one is that they will take 7th grade math while in 6th grade. At the end of 7th grade, you will need to decide if you want to do SMAC and be 2 years ahead. If the answer is yes, (and I would only do this if your child has high math aptitude - not just works really hard) I would get a tutor and spread the curriculum out over the entire summer instead of doing SMAC. Another option is self study through a program like Khan academy math. In the fall, you are allowed to take a placement test and see if you can test into the next grade level without taking the specific program.

Thanks for your comments. We are going to have our kid do self paced Khan. He fits into the "works really hard" category and distance learning has already been a challenge. As long as he keeps doing some math over the summer we are fine with it.

Are they allowing that this year? I think I read something that because this is all online this will be the only option. I would just check with the school before assuming this remain an option. My older DC did the Khan academy/test way and my younger DC is doing SMAC this summer.

What do you mean? My kid will do Khan, then he will do BOY testing. If he ends up in Alegebra I fine, if he ends up in Math 8, fine. Why would I check with the school if my kid can do Khan online?

This is what the email that stated my child passed the test and could take SMAC this summer stated:

"We will not be offering an online self-paced Khan Academy account this year, because we are offering SMAC online. Please enroll your student with DCPS, then click here to enroll your child for SMAC by Friday, May 29th, 2020. "

I personally do not know what it means and my child is taking SMAC. I was just sharing as it implied to me that they may not be doing that test in the fall, but maybe I am reading too much into it.

Yes, you are reading too much into it. I can promise you 100% that after this mess the pandemic brought, the school building closing, the year ending early, the disaster that remote learning was for a lot of children that the school will absolutely do placement BOY testing to assess the best learning plan/schedule for each child. All this email says is that the school is not overseeing Khan in any capacity over the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a kid who went through this program, while simultaneously participating in a summer intensive of their extracurricular - sports, dance, etc?

Is anyone having summer sports this summer?

My question was looking a couple of years ahead for a kid who is still too young.

We did the program a few years ago. It is typically delivered through July. I would think that a child in a summer intensive for their sport/activity would have a difficult time doing both. If I had a child who was talented in math, step one is that they will take 7th grade math while in 6th grade. At the end of 7th grade, you will need to decide if you want to do SMAC and be 2 years ahead. If the answer is yes, (and I would only do this if your child has high math aptitude - not just works really hard) I would get a tutor and spread the curriculum out over the entire summer instead of doing SMAC. Another option is self study through a program like Khan academy math. In the fall, you are allowed to take a placement test and see if you can test into the next grade level without taking the specific program.

Thanks for your comments. We are going to have our kid do self paced Khan. He fits into the "works really hard" category and distance learning has already been a challenge. As long as he keeps doing some math over the summer we are fine with it.

Are they allowing that this year? I think I read something that because this is all online this will be the only option. I would just check with the school before assuming this remain an option. My older DC did the Khan academy/test way and my younger DC is doing SMAC this summer.

What do you mean? My kid will do Khan, then he will do BOY testing. If he ends up in Alegebra I fine, if he ends up in Math 8, fine. Why would I check with the school if my kid can do Khan online?

This is what the email that stated my child passed the test and could take SMAC this summer stated:

"We will not be offering an online self-paced Khan Academy account this year, because we are offering SMAC online. Please enroll your student with DCPS, then click here to enroll your child for SMAC by Friday, May 29th, 2020. "

I personally do not know what it means and my child is taking SMAC. I was just sharing as it implied to me that they may not be doing that test in the fall, but maybe I am reading too much into it.

Yes, you are reading too much into it. I can promise you 100% that after this mess the pandemic brought, the school building closing, the year ending early, the disaster that remote learning was for a lot of children that the school will absolutely do placement BOY testing to assess the best learning plan/schedule for each child. All this email says is that the school is not overseeing Khan in any capacity over the summer.

I actually think the opposite is true. I think the school will probably hold the hard line on taking the summer class. There is no reason for kids not to take it because it is online and kids have nothing else to do. The school has allowed Khan in the past becuase it has allowed kids to cover the in-person material from out of the DC area AND they have regulated the Khan material.

If anything, I think school wants to make sure that kids skipping to Algebra have covered the material prior to Algebra MORE than in other years because this spring is already a wildcard--some kids did not the lessons, some did not.
Doing fall math placement based on just a test in the beginning of fall is pretty haphazard--a kid could just get lucky. Or unlucky. Ensuring that they sat in the lectures and did all the quizzes, tests and homework all summer long is far
better at ensuring that the kids who they let pass into Algebra actually know all the material then whether or not they can answer 80% of a 50 questions correctly in the fall.

I would totally bet based on this email that they will not allow kids who haven't taken the summer course to just test into the Algebra into the fall. And I totally support them in this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they trying to put the smart kids in the Deal program and the rest in some knock-off program run by dcps for all kids?

Huh? Are you referring to SMAC? This has been going on at Deal for years

I think the question is from someone who read my question halfway up this thread about whether a similar program is available in other middle schools. I got crickets in response, other that this worried question back. I hope there will be enough demand at Hardy to have one by the time my oldest goes there if there isn't already.

They do it at Hardy. Waiting to hear plans for this summer for my rising Hardy 7th grader who's is slotted for Algebra 1 in fall They do have kids sign into Kahn Academy over the summer with a specific curriculum as well ( or instead?) with a specific code. Believe that allows the school to see how your kid is progressing by end of summer. So, that would be a reason to check in with school to find out the suggested prep work.

[Anonymous]

Can any DCPS student take the SMAC course since it is online?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a kid who went through this program, while simultaneously participating in a summer intensive of their extracurricular - sports, dance, etc?

Is anyone having summer sports this summer?

My question was looking a couple of years ahead for a kid who is still too young.

We did the program a few years ago. It is typically delivered through July. I would think that a child in a summer intensive for their sport/activity would have a difficult time doing both. If I had a child who was talented in math, step one is that they will take 7th grade math while in 6th grade. At the end of 7th grade, you will need to decide if you want to do SMAC and be 2 years ahead. If the answer is yes, (and I would only do this if your child has high math aptitude - not just works really hard) I would get a tutor and spread the curriculum out over the entire summer instead of doing SMAC. Another option is self study through a program like Khan academy math. In the fall, you are allowed to take a placement test and see if you can test into the next grade level without taking the specific program.

Thanks for your comments. We are going to have our kid do self paced Khan. He fits into the "works really hard" category and distance learning has already been a challenge. As long as he keeps doing some math over the summer we are fine with it.

Are they allowing that this year? I think I read something that because this is all online this will be the only option. I would just check with the school before assuming this remain an option. My older DC did the Khan academy/test way and my younger DC is doing SMAC this summer.

What do you mean? My kid will do Khan, then he will do BOY testing. If he ends up in Alegebra I fine, if he ends up in Math 8, fine. Why would I check with the school if my kid can do Khan online?

This is what the email that stated my child passed the test and could take SMAC this summer stated:

"We will not be offering an online self-paced Khan Academy account this year, because we are offering SMAC online. Please enroll your student with DCPS, then click here to enroll your child for SMAC by Friday, May 29th, 2020. "

I personally do not know what it means and my child is taking SMAC. I was just sharing as it implied to me that they may not be doing that test in the fall, but maybe I am reading too much into it.

Yes, you are reading too much into it. I can promise you 100% that after this mess the pandemic brought, the school building closing, the year ending early, the disaster that remote learning was for a lot of children that the school will absolutely do placement BOY testing to assess the best learning plan/schedule for each child. All this email says is that the school is not overseeing Khan in any capacity over the summer.

I actually think the opposite is true. I think the school will probably hold the hard line on taking the summer class. There is no reason for kids not to take it because it is online and kids have nothing else to do. The school has allowed Khan in the past becuase it has allowed kids to cover the in-person material from out of the DC area AND they have regulated the Khan material.

If anything, I think school wants to make sure that kids skipping to Algebra have covered the material prior to Algebra MORE than in other years because this spring is already a wildcard--some kids did not the lessons, some did not.
Doing fall math placement based on just a test in the beginning of fall is pretty haphazard--a kid could just get lucky. Or unlucky. Ensuring that they sat in the lectures and did all the quizzes, tests and homework all summer long is far
better at ensuring that the kids who they let pass into Algebra actually know all the material then whether or not they can answer 80% of a 50 questions correctly in the fall.

I would totally bet based on this email that they will not allow kids who haven't taken the summer course to just test into the Algebra into the fall. And I totally support them in this.

We declined our invitation for SMAC because the change in dates made it unworkable given our prior plans for late June. Also my kid did not want to go - I brought it up several times and got adamant (and admirable) pushback that, after staring at a screen for two months, my kid wants a fun summer. When we called to let the school know this, they said that they would still make Khan Academy an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can any DCPS student take the SMAC course since it is online?

I don't think so because it's a live class with grades, office hours, etc. Teachers are paid extra to teach the summer math.

[Anonymous]

Got it. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Following up on an earlier question on the Deal summer math acceleration camp dates -- in March it was advertised as July 6 - July 30. Then two weeks ago it was changed to June 15 - July 9. Then this past weekend, the principal announced the dates might change again. Has anyone heard what the final dates are?

My kid is registered for SMAC, and we have not heard anything to suggest that the dates could change from June 15-July 9. I was not on the call last weekend, but there was nothing in the last newsletter suggesting a date change is in the works.

Email from Deal this morning:

SUBJ: New SMAC Date

Good afternoon Families,

Hopefully, this email finds you well.

Last week, DCPS has informed us that all teachers must participate in two weeks of professional development beginning June 15th. As a result, we are forced to reset our SMAC date to our initial date.

SMAC will begin on July 6th and end on July 30th.

If this date works for you, you do not need to do anything. However, if this date does not work for you, please send us an email requesting that we withdraw your student from the program. We are very sorry for any inconvenience and confusion this may cause.

We will be sending lesson materials for students to complete throughout June to keep them abreast with pre - requisite knowledge, as well as brief introduction to topics that they will be learning in July.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks for your understanding and partnership.

Best regards,

Deal Math Coaches

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a kid who went through this program, while simultaneously participating in a summer intensive of their extracurricular - sports, dance, etc?

Is anyone having summer sports this summer?

My question was looking a couple of years ahead for a kid who is still too young.

We did the program a few years ago. It is typically delivered through July. I would think that a child in a summer intensive for their sport/activity would have a difficult time doing both. If I had a child who was talented in math, step one is that they will take 7th grade math while in 6th grade. At the end of 7th grade, you will need to decide if you want to do SMAC and be 2 years ahead. If the answer is yes, (and I would only do this if your child has high math aptitude - not just works really hard) I would get a tutor and spread the curriculum out over the entire summer instead of doing SMAC. Another option is self study through a program like Khan academy math. In the fall, you are allowed to take a placement test and see if you can test into the next grade level without taking the specific program.

Thanks for your comments. We are going to have our kid do self paced Khan. He fits into the "works really hard" category and distance learning has already been a challenge. As long as he keeps doing some math over the summer we are fine with it.

Are they allowing that this year? I think I read something that because this is all online this will be the only option. I would just check with the school before assuming this remain an option. My older DC did the Khan academy/test way and my younger DC is doing SMAC this summer.

What do you mean? My kid will do Khan, then he will do BOY testing. If he ends up in Alegebra I fine, if he ends up in Math 8, fine. Why would I check with the school if my kid can do Khan online?

This is what the email that stated my child passed the test and could take SMAC this summer stated:

"We will not be offering an online self-paced Khan Academy account this year, because we are offering SMAC online. Please enroll your student with DCPS, then click here to enroll your child for SMAC by Friday, May 29th, 2020. "

I personally do not know what it means and my child is taking SMAC. I was just sharing as it implied to me that they may not be doing that test in the fall, but maybe I am reading too much into it.

Yes, you are reading too much into it. I can promise you 100% that after this mess the pandemic brought, the school building closing, the year ending early, the disaster that remote learning was for a lot of children that the school will absolutely do placement BOY testing to assess the best learning plan/schedule for each child. All this email says is that the school is not overseeing Khan in any capacity over the summer.

I actually think the opposite is true. I think the school will probably hold the hard line on taking the summer class. There is no reason for kids not to take it because it is online and kids have nothing else to do. The school has allowed Khan in the past becuase it has allowed kids to cover the in-person material from out of the DC area AND they have regulated the Khan material.

If anything, I think school wants to make sure that kids skipping to Algebra have covered the material prior to Algebra MORE than in other years because this spring is already a wildcard--some kids did not the lessons, some did not.
Doing fall math placement based on just a test in the beginning of fall is pretty haphazard--a kid could just get lucky. Or unlucky. Ensuring that they sat in the lectures and did all the quizzes, tests and homework all summer long is far
better at ensuring that the kids who they let pass into Algebra actually know all the material then whether or not they can answer 80% of a 50 questions correctly in the fall.

I would totally bet based on this email that they will not allow kids who haven't taken the summer course to just test into the Algebra into the fall. And I totally support them in this.

Just resuscitating this thread to point out that Deal is administering BOY testing this week for 7th graders who did not go through SMAC to test into Algebra 1 in the fall.