Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's school-dependent, but at our school, the ART teacher explained that placement is based on four main factors: the school-wide math test given at the beginning of the year, i-Ready scores, SOL scores, and teacher recommendation.

The beginning-of-year math test is extremely rigorous. To qualify, a student must demonstrate mastery of 75% of the next grade’s standards. My child has a 99% IQ and has consistently scored above the 99th percentile on i-Ready math assessments. However, they only scored 50% on the school math placement test—not because of a lack of ability, but because we don’t do any enrichment or teach ahead at home.

I’m sharing this because the system isn’t really about intelligence, it's about exposure to and familiarity with math specific standards for the next grade. I even know a family who taught their child an entire grade’s worth of math over the summer just so they could pass the placement test.

At our high ESE center, out of more than 75 non-AAP students in 5th grade, only 3 were placed into advanced math with the AAP group. I know this because my child is in AAP and saw who joined. When I asked the ART teacher if this was a form of gatekeeping, she said no, but did mention that space is a factor in placement.

The whole system feels like a black hole, and I wish there were consistent standards across all schools.

I bet 75% of the students in the AAP classroom would fail the test.

75? More like 95%. Every child I know in AAP has a math tutor. Every. single. one. I know of two groups of three kids that share a math tutor who is just an AAP teacher at a different FCPS school. My guess is that these teachers have a network and tutor each other's kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's school-dependent, but at our school, the ART teacher explained that placement is based on four main factors: the school-wide math test given at the beginning of the year, i-Ready scores, SOL scores, and teacher recommendation.

The beginning-of-year math test is extremely rigorous. To qualify, a student must demonstrate mastery of 75% of the next grade’s standards. My child has a 99% IQ and has consistently scored above the 99th percentile on i-Ready math assessments. However, they only scored 50% on the school math placement test—not because of a lack of ability, but because we don’t do any enrichment or teach ahead at home.

I’m sharing this because the system isn’t really about intelligence, it's about exposure to and familiarity with math specific standards for the next grade. I even know a family who taught their child an entire grade’s worth of math over the summer just so they could pass the placement test.

At our high ESE center, out of more than 75 non-AAP students in 5th grade, only 3 were placed into advanced math with the AAP group. I know this because my child is in AAP and saw who joined. When I asked the ART teacher if this was a form of gatekeeping, she said no, but did mention that space is a factor in placement.

The whole system feels like a black hole, and I wish there were consistent standards across all schools.

I bet 75% of the students in the AAP classroom would fail the test.

Anonymous wrote:It's school-dependent, but at our school, the ART teacher explained that placement is based on four main factors: the school-wide math test given at the beginning of the year, i-Ready scores, SOL scores, and teacher recommendation.

The beginning-of-year math test is extremely rigorous. To qualify, a student must demonstrate mastery of 75% of the next grade’s standards. My child has a 99% IQ and has consistently scored above the 99th percentile on i-Ready math assessments. However, they only scored 50% on the school math placement test—not because of a lack of ability, but because we don’t do any enrichment or teach ahead at home.

I’m sharing this because the system isn’t really about intelligence, it's about exposure to and familiarity with math specific standards for the next grade. I even know a family who taught their child an entire grade’s worth of math over the summer just so they could pass the placement test.

At our high ESE center, out of more than 75 non-AAP students in 5th grade, only 3 were placed into advanced math with the AAP group. I know this because my child is in AAP and saw who joined. When I asked the ART teacher if this was a form of gatekeeping, she said no, but did mention that space is a factor in placement.

The whole system feels like a black hole, and I wish there were consistent standards across all schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Just let your kid take it. If they have scored well in the iReady and did well in their math classes, they will probably do fine on the test and be placed in Advanced Math. About 1/3 of my kids' grade was in Advanced Math, they are not trying to keep kids out of the program. If anything, there is more pressure to get kids into it now because there is pressure to get kids into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and 8th grade. I would be more worried about kids being pushed ahead in math who are not ready than them missing a kid who is ready. DS class also had a couple of kids who would crawl under their desk and cry during math class. The kids were super anxious, and the pace of the class and material covered triggered reactions.

My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

Level II should mean your kid is in advanced math, and getting pulled into the AAP classroom for it, though. If you're in one of the schools where they have pushed the acceleration until 5th grade, then possibly that's why the pullouts didn't start this year. But level II in math means advanced math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Just let your kid take it. If they have scored well in the iReady and did well in their math classes, they will probably do fine on the test and be placed in Advanced Math. About 1/3 of my kids' grade was in Advanced Math, they are not trying to keep kids out of the program. If anything, there is more pressure to get kids into it now because there is pressure to get kids into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and 8th grade. I would be more worried about kids being pushed ahead in math who are not ready than them missing a kid who is ready. DS class also had a couple of kids who would crawl under their desk and cry during math class. The kids were super anxious, and the pace of the class and material covered triggered reactions.

My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

Anonymous wrote:
My child got pass advanced on the math SOL, consistently gets 98-99% on the iReady, but their school says they are only Level II. When I asked about it, the school said kids have to test in at the beginning of the year, but refused to say what the test was or what any other thresholds are. So I disagree. This is a well behaved kid who does well in all their subjects and tells me all the time how much they enjoy math and wish they could do more (I mean, my kid is doing a math workbook this summer without complaining), so I don't really understand what is going on with our school.

Anonymous wrote:No. Just let your kid take it. If they have scored well in the iReady and did well in their math classes, they will probably do fine on the test and be placed in Advanced Math. About 1/3 of my kids' grade was in Advanced Math, they are not trying to keep kids out of the program. If anything, there is more pressure to get kids into it now because there is pressure to get kids into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and 8th grade. I would be more worried about kids being pushed ahead in math who are not ready than them missing a kid who is ready. DS class also had a couple of kids who would crawl under their desk and cry during math class. The kids were super anxious, and the pace of the class and material covered triggered reactions.