Reply to Why the push for accelerated math?

Forum Index » Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)

Reply to "Why the push for accelerated math?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]AAP 6th grade math teacher here. About 1/2 my class will be taking Algebra 1 next year. I knew in October who these kids would most likely be and offered Algebra 1 extensions. The other 1/2 of my class are good students and decent in math but there are major differences. My  kids who tested into Algebra for next year are retaining information from previous years and units. The other half forget concepts from 4th, 5th , 6th grade math and need constant spiraling and review. The higher kids take advantage of enrichment opportunities and want to do math for fun. With all that being said, I consistently have 100 percent pass rate on the SOL.

I think the way things are set up now is appropriate. Algebra in 7th for some. Most in 8th. A small amount in 6th. The need is not there to pilot at ES. I against the push for all to take Algebra in 8th too. Every kid in FCPS is not going into college and will need higher level math. Even going into college, it depends on what you major in. I loved math and was strong in it,  but my undergrad degree was humanities based and my minor was business. I took one Gen Ed math course and two accounting courses and that was it in college.

In our Gen Ed 6th grade classes, we gave kids who cannot compute. Even in my advanced math class, I have kids who struggle with operations. [b]I also feel with open honors classes, parents aren’t always honest with their kids abilities. We have kids who fail the SOLS sign up for honors classes. [/b]

I am all for offering kids challenges, but there should still be requirements.

[/quote]

My Gen Ed/ level 3 kid signed up for middle school honors.  We were told if kids didn't pass sol they would be dropped from honors.  I expect the school will keep their word on the requirements and it should be an engaging class ( as opposed to sitting around waiting for the kids below grade level to catch up).
There are kids at all levels who are having trouble accessing the level of engagement they need...[/quote]

They try to dissuade parents but ultimately it is the parent’s choice. Secondly, there are many kids who are in interventions all year who may pass SOL but get a low pass. 400-415. They sign up for honors classes as well. IMO for math or English honors you should have a solid pass of 450 or higher. [/quote]

My kid passed advanced, and we still had to deal with the dissuasion.  
The honors classes will be better for my kid than Gen Ed.  I wonder what my kid could have done if they had access to the full aap curriculum in areas of strength.  It's disappointing that it couldn't be done, and I think it just shows at all levels there are kids who can handle more acceleration than they are getting.[/quote]
It appears FCPS does this restriction on purpose, working in conjunction with Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, to the promote the enrichment small businesses in Fairfax.  [/quote]

This is a new one to me. Exactly how does dissuading kids from honors classes benefit the FCEDA? Enrichment activities would exist regardless of the schools advice to parents.

As I udnerstand it, FCPS wants all kids to take some honors classes in MS and some AP/IB classes in HS. There is some concern that kids are being overly stressed about grades so FCPS is trying to encourage families to find a balance and that all honors or all AP/IB classes will overwhelm kids. I don't think that the County is wrong, there are a good number of kids who don't need to be in all honors or all AP/IB classes. The problems is that the regular classes are a joke, there is 0 rigor. The MS presentation on the level of classes broke out what the differences are between the regular class, Honors class, and AAP classes.

In the regular English class, all work is completed at school and the Teacher reads the book/passages to the students in the class. 
In the Honors class, most of the work is completed at school. Kids will read the book/passages on their own or as a class. 
in the AAP class, more work will be completed at home. Kids will have reading that they have to do at home and in class.

I cannot see a good reason for most kids to take regular English. I can see the kids who are struggling with reading and reading comprehension and that is about it. But then you end up with kids who are able to read and are on grade level for comprehension in a class with kids who are further ahead and now we have to balance what type of books can be read and what type of assignments can be given because the gap is going to be large. In all honesty, this is why we choose AAP for our kid in MS because we didn't want to have to deal with that type of gap.

I can't remember the math presentation but it was along the same line.

Any parent who wants their kid to attend college or to have the option to attend college is going to aim for all honors classes. And the honors classes are going to suffer in terms of rigor because there is no reasonable class for kids who are on grade level but not academically invested.

[/quote]
Declining Standards:
=================
Previous remedial -&gt; current gen-ed
Previous gen-ed  -&gt; current AAP
Previous honors -&gt; current outside enrichment [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics