Reply to Why the push for accelerated math?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I feel like I'm taking crazy pills and I'm not sure if I'm just caught up in the Northern Virginia mindset.

Our child scored well on both the Iowa and the SOL and their teacher recommends they take out for one next year in seventh grade.   I'm sitting here wondering why?

I completely understand why it's beneficial for some maybe even the majority of kids to take calculus in their senior year.  But how many kids are really going to benefit from taking 2 years of calculus?

So I guess my question is what's the point?   Aside for taking an extra year of college math in high school, why do it?

So far I come up with it. Might look better on college applications, make college classes either easier or something you can get credit for while in HS.

I have this underlying fear that they are going to push anyone who scores well into algebra 1, so there are less kids in 7th grade honors. That allows for smaller classes and helps with the goal of Algebra for all by grade 8[/quote]Yes, it’s the race to no where.  Many students take Calculus 1 at universities—it’s still taught there.  [/quote]

IMO, anything beyond 1 year of acceleration (AKA algebra in 8th) should have a high bar of entry. 
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It did. You used to ahve to pass the SOL advanced and be in the 91st percentile on the IAAT to be considered for Algebra in 7th grade. This year they lowered the bar to passing advanced on the SOL only. That said, that still leaves a little more than 2,100 students eligible for Algebra in 7th grade, based on the last three school years SOL results. That is under half of the kids taking Advanced Math or in AAP. So about 10% of the 7th grade class is eligible to take Algebra. Given that the kids who do take Algebra in 7th grade all pass the SOL with a high percentage passing advanced, I would say that they have found a reasonable bar for entry.

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Still way too many kids. It should be extremely rare. Or not offered at all. 
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Why are you so invested in holding back other people’s kids?   So many kids thrive on the calculus in 11th or even in 20th grade path.  [/quote]

I’m not “invested”; we are all just throwing out opinions here.

Children would benefit from cutting off the  arms race of math acceleration. Pick a reasonable amount of math to take before college and offer that. Otherwise we end up with the race to nowhere.

I’d say 1 year of calculus in HS is a good breaking point. Maybe 2 for truly exceptional kids. 
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Would children benefit from having their reading materials restricted to 2 years above grade level?   If not, then why restrict math advancement?  Why is math an “arms race,” when no one views English, music, and sports advancement as problematic?

One of my kids took AP Calc BC in 11th.  One took it in 9th.  Neither had any problems.  Both were in exactly the correct level for them.  Why should my kids be bored for a year or more just to make other kids look better?[/quote]

Kids aren’t accelerating in English, science, etc by 2+ years. 
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Of course they are. AP Lang and Lit. AP Chem, Physics, and Bio.
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:roll:

So one year of "acceleration". That's reasonable. 
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AP classes are supposed to be intro level College classes, that is more than one year of acceleration. And there are multiple AP classes in each field, meaning that many kids are knocking out freshman year of college while in HS. What is the difference between a kid taking AP US History and AP world History and a kid taking AP Calc BS and Multivariate Calculus? Both are college level math classes, one is taught as DE.

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Kids take AP World History instead of regular HS-level world history. [b]They aren't really jumping ahead at all; they are swapping out one class for more advanced material. [/b]

Some amount of acceleration is great, but it has turned into a race to nowhere. Kids are racing through material without deep understanding. We should push for more challenging content and offer more enrichment activities instead of racing through concepts. Deeper instead of faster. 
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More advanced material is the definition of jumping ahead.[/quote]

Taking AP World History isn't jumping ahead in course scheduling. HSs aren't offering increasingly accelerated history classes. 
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9th graders can take AP Human Geo, how is that not a 9th grader taking a class 4 years ahead?  9th graders can also take AP Computer Science A, how is that not a 9th grader taking a class 4 years ahead?[/quote]

Because those are overpriced high school classes, not university level classes. [/quote]

I taught at three different Universities, AP classes are not that much different then an Intro class in the Social Sciences. I won't pretend I have a clue about the hard sciences because I did not take any of those in college. The English Lit class I took as a freshman included a series of books and short stories I had read in my HS AP English class. I remember my professor passing out "A Modest Proposal" to the class and sitting back to watch my classmates' reactions as they read it. My Prof asked me when I read it and I told him the two different classes I had read it in HS. No one else in teh class had read it before. It was fun to watch. I was even more surprised that most of the class had never read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

My point? AP classes, when properly taught, are the equivalent of an Intro class at most colleges. Kids should be accelerated when it is appropriate for where they are in their education. Not stopped because some people think that one Calculus class is fine.

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