Reply to Gifted kid - APS, FCPS, or Nysmith?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t know about the math competitions (we don’t do those), but I’m pretty happy with Nysmith math.  My primary metrics are IOWA testing, SSAT and SCAT scores, which seem good.  Nysmith kids have to take the same TJ test as others to get in, regardless of what you call the classes they took to get there. So they should theoretically be as well prepared as everyone else for the school.  But placement tests should be done going in, kid by kid, to make sure they are placed in the right class.   Is that not done at TJ?[/quote]

TJ does placement tests in math an foreign language for freshman. But IME it was more of a suggestion for placement than a requirement and the family can overrule.  Everyone takes Research Stats first semester or summer before.  Based on your performance in that class and a placement test, you then track into TJ Math 1-6, with the sequence being numbered by semester.

Usually, based on your 8th grade mathclass, it’s:

Finish Algebra 1, you go are presumed to go into Math 1
Finish Geometry in 8th, Math 3 
Finish A2, Math 4
Finish Pre-Calc, AP AB or BC

TJ will recommend that you place down one or more semesters (A2 kids go into Math 3 for example).  And the have a couple sections of “Math 2.5” that they recommend for kids who have taken A1 and Geometry but might not be used to really rigorous, complex advanced math and would benefit from a fast review and learning how to do harder, more complex problems with outside the box thinking.  But, they will not require kids to deviate downward from the standard placement recommendation given the name of their MS math class.

So, a kid might take a class called Algebra II in MS.  But, they are told their placement testing says Math 3 is the right placement and their RS teacher agrees they aren’t ready for Math 4.  Their parents can still override TJs recommendation and insist the kid goes into Math 4 anyway. (Because their kid is a math genius, and up until TJ, the smartest kid in their math class)  And most of the time the kid either make a D or F in Math 4, or drops down into Math 3 a month into the class when it becomes apparent they are going to fail Math 4.  And TJ is fine letting kids sink or swim and having the Math 3-5 sequence serve as weed out classes.

IMO, TJ should hold firm on placement.  Most of the time it’s parents driving the (bad)  decisionmaking, but it’s the kids who have to deal with the Msth 4 tests with a class average of 58.

Now, if your 8th grade A2 student wants to go into Math 5 instead of Math 4, they have to pass a “skip test”.  And they are not easy to pass.  So, parents can’t just decide to have their kid deviate upward. But they can decide to keep them in the “right” class, even if it clearly isn’t right.

Realize that most years over 100 MSs are represented in the TJ freshmen class. And they all teach math differently. So even though everyone is “good in math,” there is a lot of variation in how well prepared they are. 
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