Reply to 91 percentile for IAAT

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I spoke to a teacher who teaches Algebra i in middle school and she said only consider Algebra I in 7th IF your kid is interested in Math AND scores in the 95th percentile or higher on the IAAT. She said in her opinion 91th percentile is too low of a threshold. The class uses high school level books, moves fast, lots of homework, and will count on the high school transcript. Kids who are not ready will also struggle in Algebra II because the won't have the foundation. [/quote]

MoCo was the same way when I was there, but they opened algebra to far more students. It's insane how much FCPS builds up algebra as a difficult class when it really isn't [/quote]

The bigger issue is if you sit in algebra for a year in 7th grade and are over your head, you have no way to recover.  You can't go back down.  It's a big leap for a borderline kid.

Suppose you take algebra in 7th but really struggle.  You expunge the grade to save your high school transcript.  Then what?  Retake the course and still struggle because you're missing foundations?  Move down to prealgebra (going from 2 years advanced to on level?)  Suppose you take algebra again in 8th.  You muddle through and get a B, then move on.  You will never be taught how to solve an equation with variables on both sides.  This is covered for weeks in math 7 honors, covered for a day in algebra 1 as review, and then utilized for the rest of your high school career.

It's not a hard class at all for a kid with solid foundations.  It moves exceedingly quickly though compared to all prior math classes, so a kid who struggles needing time to process will struggle without solid foundations or outside help.

I've taught 8th grade algebra for years and years at one of those schools that lets in kids with below a 91.  They almost all, with the exception of 1 really unique kid, have struggled immensely that first quarter.  I think they would have been fine in gen ed algebra, but the honors course throws in quite a few extensions from algebra 2 if taught fully, and it's just too much for a kid who is lacking math fluency and quick applications.[/quote]
Curious what the algebra 2 extensions are that are included in honors algebra 1.[/quote]

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