Reply to Middle School/High School Math Question

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Some kids start Algebra 1 in 6th, in which case they are bused to the high school in 8th grade for first period math, then return to their school for the rest, with the understanding that they'll need to fill in math classes with dual enrollment at the community college or take whatever optional math classes are available at their high school.[/quote]

You're only eligible for that acceleration if you're at one of the W feeders.[/quote]

Not every W feeder MS has it.  Not every W feeder MS feeder ES supports acceleration beyond "compacted" math 4/5 & 5/6 for cohorts of the size needed to justify the MS offering Algebra 1 earlier than 7th grade (CM 4/5 -> CM 5/6 -> AIM - Algebra 1).

What some of those schools have is a sizeable  cohort of parents who push to ensure that their kids are exposed to more advanced material outside of school (tutoring, math camps, home study on Khan Academy or the like) and then leverage their kids' demonstrable learning to approach the school administration in large enough numbers to wrestle the accommodation out of them and advance to Algebra 1 a year earlier than the aforementioned path.  That's not counting the few super-advanced kids who are given accommodation individually, which appears to be an incredibly difficult administrative  hill to climb, especially as MCPS is pressed overly by some while others don't even have the opportunity to discover how capable their children are in the first place.

Once a school has opened up a pathway, it's easier for parents to continue to request/demand that it stay.  Having a parent population more connected/in-the-know is what seems to facilitate the original accommodation.  That's where the W schools typically have an advantage.  MCPS-based identification of advanced student ability is sorely lacking, and schools with less informed/less involved parents then tend not to see the same results.[/quote]

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