Reply to Algebra in 6th grade - new selection process?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a slightly different take with all of this.  What about course prerequisites (for HS courses).  I thought that a student had to complete Mathematics 7 before taking Algebra 1.  Is that not the case now?  I believe Advanced Math 5 is just grade 6 math.  What about students who are in Grade 6 math now, will they be able to take Algebra 1 in grade 7?

Also, why is all this acceleration only with mathematics.  Why can't students/parents request to take let's say the high school course of Biology in grade 6 if a student's passion is Science?  What about Chemistry in grade 7?  What about World History in grade 6 if a student has a passion for Social Studies?

My point is - where does all the crazy stop?[/quote]

There are kids who are taking HS classes in ES, they are few and far between, but they are out there. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few in FCPS every year.

Algebra 1H has been available to 6th graders at about 20 ES in the county for a while. When you look at the SOL numbers, there were between 20-30 students each year and no school had more than 9 kids taking the class.

Math is different than many subjects because it is more skills based then other subjects. Sciences require a certain level of reading skill and comprehension to grasp. Not many 6th graders will have the reading ability and comprehension to read a bilogy textbook and grasp the material well enough to take biology. The same is going to be true for the other sciences, history, and LA. All of those classes require a constellation of skill sets to be able to succeed in the classes.

Math requires the ability to understand mathematical concepts and have the foundational math skills. Those are more specialized skills that are less reliant on reading comprehension and retention. Some kids pick up mathematical concepts and can apply them properly far faster than other kids. If the student can demonstrate that they understand the skill and how to apply it, why hold them back from moving to the next set of skills? Make sure that the student understand the material and can apply it. Honors classes should be doing that because the problems they are giving the students should be multi step and demonstrate an understanding of application. Why not offer classes that challenge students when they are ready for them instead of delaying them to be offered at a specific grade level?

The pilot program is a crazy response to what was a basic question, what metrics are used to select kids for Algebra 1H in 6th grade and can we please apply those metrics across the county. The metrics should be known, and parents should be given the option when exists. Instead, FCPS decided to change the metrics and open the class up to a far larger number of kids based on more lenient metrics. We will see how it works out. I hope that the selected students are ready for the material and do well but I am concerned that the selection process was haphazard. It sounds like it was scoring in the 99th percentile on the iReady and passing advanced on the Grade 6 SOL.

I am not excited that they dropped the IAAT for 7th grade A1H, I think it was a good tool. I think it should be used for 6th grade A1H. I understand that they want more students in A1 by 8th grade, I am not sure why increasing the acceleration of kids in 6th and 7th grade has been targeted, but it has been. The 6th graders in A1H today would have been in A1H in 7th grade. The effort should have been on providing services to kids struggling with math so that they could be ready for A1 in 8th grade.

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Exactly if the goal was to increase the number of students taking Algebra 1 in 8th grade, why are they pushing AAP students who are already on the path to take Algebra 1 in 7th grade? Or was the goal to increase the number of students taking Algebra 2 in 8th grade. Then this approach would make sense.

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