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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]I believe algebra 1 in grade 6 is to make the parents happy.[/b] 
I don’t think most of the kids enjoy doing homework and math, instead of reading, sports or playing with friends or watching tv.

Very very few kids are really passionate about math and enjoy high school level math when they are 11-12 years old. If half of the AAP classes are taking it then it’s only because parents are forcing it on their kids. [/quote]

Kind of like bragging rights. Also, this Superintendent seems to make decisions without listening to her content experts within FCPS - who have stated that this is t a good idea. [/quote]
Parents were never really short on bragging rights anyway, with reading levels, year-round travel team, music achievements, contest wins, and all that. just add alg1 to that list. who cares...

[b]Superintendent is making decisions after listening to parents of advanced kids.  We asked for it, and we got it[/b]. A few gen-ed loving parents that dont like it, can just Opt Out.  Six hundred kids like the program, and that's what matters.  [/quote]

I’m an AAP parent who sees this as nothing more than a race to nowhere. What I’m trying to understand is why these advanced AAP 6th graders couldn’t make the cut under the old standards? Why did you have to petition to remove all prerequisites to get your kid access? [/quote]

DP.  The old standards that produced 30 Algebra I 6th graders was very flawed and denied access to quite a lot of capable kids.  In the old system, AAP 5th graders were skipped up into AAP 6th grade math during 5th grade.  This is great, because rather than effectively skipping both math 7 and 8, they skipped math 6, took AAP 6th grade math which at many large centers is designed to prepare kids for algebra the next year, and then skipped math 8.  But, the down side is that the logistics of skipping a bunch of kids into a higher grade level class meant that a lot of principals didn't want to offer it at all.  Quite a lot of kids met all of the benchmarks and were ready for Algebra I in 6th, but the principal didn't offer it at their school, so they were out of luck.

The qualification standards in the old system were also really dumb.  One of the requirements was a 145+ on the CogAT Q test from 2nd grade.  Using a test from the fall of 2nd grade for 5th grade math placement is idiotic.  A lot of kids who didn't qualify almost certainly could have with an updated test or more relevant qualification metrics.

I would imagine that part of the change is that when they started offering the MAP, they found that quite a lot of kids were above the threshold score indicating readiness for algebra.  It makes a lot of sense to offer algebra to the kids who have demonstrated that they're ready.

I have no idea why they removed any MAP thresholds for algebra.  Since they already have the testing data, they should know which kids are likely to struggle.  At the very least, parents should be informed as to what their child's score was relative to the 'readiness' threshold, and what that likely means for their child should they enroll in Algebra.[/quote]

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