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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is utterly exhausting.

So, the expectation now is I need to privately enroll my child in a class BEFORE they take the class to be successful in the class?

I was pretty against Alg. 1 in 7th grade with my 6th grader, but this whole approach is so frustrating. It all mimics my kid's experience in AAP -- the teachers expect these kids to have learned whatever concepts that were being taught for the first time "before" so class is actually just a quick review and assessment. and if they haven't, it's up to the student (i.e. their parents) to fill in the gaps.[/quote]
This is so odd.

On the one hand, we hear that teachers are opposing parents' pushes to advance their children in math, saying that parents have that keeping-up-with the Joneses attitude and consider their children failures if they don't take Algebra in 7th.

On the other hand, we now hear that parents oppose teachers' placement recommendations because they are not well-founded and based on perception rather than deep and thorough assessment and proof of mastery.

So, which one is it?

And also, the solution is pretty clear, too: only allow kids in Algebra I that can show results in a solid prealgebra course and that can master multiple assessments.  For instance, increase the IAAT threshold (91% is way too low), increase SOL thresholds (an Algebra kid should score a 600 or miss at most 1 questions on a 7th grade SOL); require mathematical writing samples, just to name some ideas that would address both problems. Parents would get a real idea of what it takes, and teachers would have something to point to when they reject parents' requests (and I think it would also recalibrate teachers' expectations).  It would also help with the quality of the Algebra courses itself and avoid them being watered down further.  Because for every kid that struggles like OPs there are 3 kids who sort-of follow along but aren't really prepared the way they should be and thus cause the class to be dragged down.

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