Reply to APS 6th grade pre algebra

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Shouldn't be too hard to look back over many years of acceleration and see the results for these students, broken down by the performance on entrance tests to this pathway, SOL, MAP, COGAT, grades, etc.[/quote]
SOL data is public. The 7th grade accelerated cohort has much stronger SOL performance in Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 than the 8th or 9th grade Algebra 1 cohorts. [/quote]

Obviously, there are many kids who should be accelerated 2 years and comparing the average test scores of those three populations would reflect that. The question is teasing out which kids (at the bottom of that cohort) would have been better served with just 1 year acceleration.

What % of those kids struggling is acceptable? How much would they benefit by getting another year of foundation skills?

The objective of raising the bar for placement is to improve outcomes for the kids on the cusp, which should theoretically increase SOL performance for two of the groups (7th & 8th Algebra 1).  
[/quote] There's also the issue of teasing out which 8th grade algebra 1 students (at the top of the distribution) would have been better served with 2 years of acceleration, and which 7th grade algebra 1 students (at the middle to top of the distribution) would have been better served with 3 or more years of acceleration.[/quote]
3 + years should be the rare exception.

[/quote]Why? Given how much better 7th grade algebra 1 students do than 9th or 8th grade algebra 1 students, it's clear that many of them likely would have been at least as successful as 9th or 8th grade algebra 1 students had they taken algebra 1 in 6th instead.[/quote]

Aside from the true math prodigies there is very little benefit. Race to nowhere. [/quote]
What's a "true math prodigy"? If you acknowledge there's at least a little benefit (which I think is false given the significant differences in achievement between accelerated and non-accelerated students), why do you use the phrase "race to nowhere" which falsely implies there being no benefit?[/quote]

The Young Sheldons. (Shout out to Arlington native, Iain Armitage!)

It’s a race to nowhere for 99% of the kids.

Ideally, we want to maximize the pass rate for kids. Pushing some kids to a 3rd year of acceleration would bring down the pass rate for the 3x and 2x acceleration cohorts. And there is no real benefit for 3x acceleration for 99% of the kids. 
[/quote]
If you really wanted to maximize the pass rate, you would force all students to repeat algebra 1 throughout high school (or even repeat first grade math through all 12 years of school). This would give a much higher pass rate. Obviously, the pass rate is not the most important metric.[/quote]

I think the goal for these “accelerated kids” should be the number of 5s on the AP BC Calc exam. [/quote]Then force everyone to take it senior or junior year, and delay graduation for as long as legally possible (20 years old in VA) forcing them to repeat BC each year and only taking the exam the last year. Once again, this is not done because that is not the goal.[/quote]

Yikes, hyperbole much?

The question is how do we figure out which kids to accelerate in 6th grade.   I believe we are accelerating too many kids.  I suspect those accelerated kids—despite being excellent math students—are not performing “excellently” on Junior year BC calculus.  I suspect if we gave them another year, they’d do much better.  We’d be preparing them better for college.   I think we need to examine how well the accelerated kids perform years later when we harm them by accelerating them.  [/quote] Seniors taking BC calc would also do better if given an extra year. The question is whether that is useful in the long run. This has been studied extensively, and the research is overwhelmingly in favor of acceleration. (Read A nation empowered) [/quote]

Except there are almost no practical advantages of taking BC calc in jr year vs sr year. It’s a race to nowhere. 
[/quote]

Why does there have to be an advantage? Some kids are good at math and appreciate being challenged. The acceleration is supposed ot be for those kids. There are kids who enjoy math competitions and the like. Kids can choose to take Calc A/B if they want. Plenty of kids don't take Calculus at all. There is nothing wrong with providing courses for kids who are really good at the subject or want to move faster.

FCPS ends up with a small percentage of kids in Algebra 1 in 7th grade.  [/quote]
The downside is that the math is being taken out of sync with the corresponding science or engineering course work that applies that math.[/quote]

As I understand it, many engineering schools require students retake the calculus they took in high school to make sure that all of the students have a strong foundation. The benefit to the high school student, now college students, is that they have seen the material before so it should be a less stressful environment in college. It also reinforces the material which I see a plus for anyone entering into a job that requires hard sciences.

The purposed of accelerated math is to engage kids who need to be engaged. The regular math curriculum is too easy for them and they are bored. By providing the kids with deeper material or moving at a faster pace, the kids are challenged and more engaged. They are less likely to find math boring and develop lazy habits because the math in school is too easy for them. That should help them do better in math as they move into MS and HS.

[/quote]I'm supportive through Calc BC, but seriously question the high schools that are offering higher level math classes.  Those are better taken in college.

If kids are bored, they should diversify and learn an instrument, second language, more advanced science, etc.  Don't double down on math just to go faster.[/quote]

What's your evidence for your belief that the line should be drawn at calc BC in highschool and anything beyond is better studied in college? What about statistics?[/quote]

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