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]Because of parent placement, none of the accelerated math in Arlington middle school is in fact challenging for actually gifted math students.  If you are even thinking of extra tutoring, though, sounds like your kid may not actually be so gifted.  [/quote]

This wasn’t our experience, but okay. Maybe your kid is super gifted. My kid did well in intensified algebra & geometry in MS, but it was a lot of work, and there were definitely smart kids who struggled/needed extra help.

1046 on the MI to take PRE-algebra is ridiculous. It used to be a 1030 to take algebra I. There has been a concerted effort to allow fewer & fewer kids to take the accelerated math track. This is not a secret.  [/quote]

Yup. I think it's great they are raising the bar. 
[/quote]
If they required calculus skills as a prerequisite for 6th grade pre-algebra, would that be raising the bar too? Or would it indicate that they were setting a higher than needed threshold in order to scale back the number of students taking the course?[/quote]

You can debate what would be the appropriate “bar”, but it is being raised. [/quote]
But the appropriate level of the bar is the issue. If APS has set the bar above the skill level needed to succeed in 6th grade pre-algebra, then it is unwarrantably excluding kids who would otherwise do well in accelerated math. In that case, raising the bar is not a good thing, just as raising the bar to the level of calculus would not be a good thing.[/quote]

From what I heard from the math dept too many kids were being pushed into it too early. And that’s why they needed to raise the bar.

I can see this anecdotally with my older kids’ peers in HS. The ones who really should have waited a year now hate math and haven’t been doing well.

The bar certainly is very far from “calculus”.  :roll: [/quote]
It's just such a hard call.  Lots of advanced kids are beyond bored in 5th grade math and their only option is to be bored again in 6th grade math or stretch for pre algebra.  There's no in-between option.  And many of these kids have literally never been challenged so it's completely unknown if they'd rise to the occasion. I'm sure some do and others struggle.  I also strongly suspect that some kids who make the APS cutoffs also struggle because they got there by being forced fed math and not because they have true ability or interest.[/quote]

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