Reply to Middle School/High School Math Question

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Some kids start Algebra 1 in 6th, in which case they are bused to the high school in 8th grade for first period math, then return to their school for the rest, with the understanding that they'll need to fill in math classes with dual enrollment at the community college or take whatever optional math classes are available at their high school.[/quote]

You're only eligible for that acceleration if you're at one of the W feeders.[/quote]

What is W feeders?[/quote]

Most of the kids that take Algebra at TPMS come from Cold Spring because they get IM in 5th there.[/quote]

I don't think that many take it in TPMS from what I hear.  Only a handful or so.   Its at other schools and those kids just skip  IM.[/quote]

They're not allowed to skip IIM at TPMS. They'll only let a child take algebra and 6th if they'd already finished it in 5th. So only students whose schools like Cold spring that offer that have that option. [/quote]

Which cohort are you referring to?

Among the first two cohorts after MCPS introduced the peer cohort criterion (cohorts currently finishing ninth and eighth) there were hardly any cold spring students at TPMS. (My understanding is that it was the same with the current seventh grade cohort, but I am not sure.) Before that, (even when cold spring used to send a big group of kids to TPMS) TPMS used to have just a handful of kids every year who used to be a year (or more) ahead of others, and they were mostly from private schools. Yes, some of them were from W areas, but went private for ES or homeschooled. Getting acceleration in ES had become extremely difficult throughout the county ever since MCPS introduced curriculum 2.0.

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Yes, there are a few kids at TPMS who are bussed in from Western Moco that had IM in 5th and that's why they're allowed to take Algebra in 6th. [/quote]

Well, the question is, which cohort (and how many) are you referring to? (And, how many of those kids that were placed in algebra+ in sixth moved to MCPS from privates/other school districts?)

Few years ago, DC knew a kid whose family had moved from out of the country (IMF or World bank family) and a kid who moved from private to MCPS for MS. They were both placed one grade level above for math since MCPS evaluates kids who are new to the system at the point of admission. They both were from W areas, but one never went to school in MCPS until MS, and the other joined MCPS in fifth grade, (I think ...) when the family moved here from Asia.

It is possible something has changed within the past couple of years, but before that it did not matter which part of the county you were in. It was almost impossible to be placed in above grade level math (outside of MCPS' prescribed math pathways), if you were already in MCPS. It had been like that since the introduction of curriculum 2.0 about ten+ years ago. (A brief bit of history: When they introduced curriculum 2.0, initially they had shut down any math acceleration. After a lot of pushback, MCPS introduced compact 4/5 and 5/6 as official pathways.)

Has anything changed within the past few years? Before that, the narrative that if you are in western Moco (or, as another poster put it, if you are in cold spring) it was easy to get acceleration outside the prescribed math pathways was definitely not true. (Forget about some math acceleration, even if a kid is really gifted, MCPS used to be stubborn about *any* acceleration at one point, irrespective of where someone lived. Here is a case of a W parent fighting with MCPS to get what his highly gifted kid needed. [url]http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60/1064107.page#22845033[/url] If he had gotten what his child needed, he would not have had to fight with MCPS in such public fashion.)

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All I know is the half-dozen or so kids that take Algebra in 6th at TPMS who came from schools that had IM in 5th so they were allowed to advance to Algebra in 6th. However, there are other kids on the Math team with DC who compare scores and they're as high or higher but are in regular magnet math because they came from a DCC school which does not offer advancement beyond compacted.[/quote]

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