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.

+1 could be describing my kids experience except he was level 3

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.

My kid is in it and always thought it was due to test scores like nnat and such, showing strong reasoning and spatial understanding. Not iready.

When my eldest was in full time AAP in 3rd, they pulled level ii math kids into her classroom for math class everyday. That's what level ii meant for math. But then when my youngest was supposed to be in level ii for math and reading last year (3rd grade) she didn't get pulled out for math at all. So she also just got the extension worksheets.

I was told that this last year the 3rd grade AAP class in her school was going at the same pace as the Gen Ed classes for math, and they'd start acceleration next year? But she's level IV starting next year anyway.

All of which seems messy and weird to me. I get the impression it's to do with the new math curriculum, which they started using last fall. But it seems unorganized to me.

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.

In 4th, Level II just meant my child got extra worksheets labeled "extension" while their friends in AAP were already starting long division. The extension worksheets were just a different version of the same worksheets they already got, so it was just more work not advanced work.

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.

If your child is passing advanced on the SOL and scoring in the 98-99th percentile on the iReady they will do just fine on the test for advanced math. Some kids struggle with grade level math, most kids can handle it but it isn’t easy. The kids who are doing well will find the test easy.

We asked DSs teachers about AAP in second grade, they wouldn’t give any advice because they were not allowed to. His math Teacher, he was in a language immersion program so had two teachers, was very quick to say that he was a shoo in for Advanced Math at the school. The Teachers know who is a shoo in for the class, even if they won’t tell you and will cite the upcoming test. They can’t tell you your kid is in because then they will get the question from other families who will not be happy if they are told they need to wait for the test.

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: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.

My kid got in to it in 5th grade. As far as I know they didn’t use any iReady scores. For us, our kid first took the 4th grade math test at the beginning of 5th grade, and whatever kids did well on that one would be pulled to take the 5th grade math test at the start of 5th grade. If they knew a certain amount of material, they would be invited into Advanced Math. This test is also available in 6th grade. And, if you want your child to take Algebra in 7th grade, they have to get a pass advance on the SOL in 6th grade. My child took the Iowa, but she was the last year that they required getting 91st percentile on the IOWA to get into Algebra. There is no more IOWA. As of the advance math test, no need to prepare. We didn’t even know it was a thing until she took it. May be different for other schools, but that’s how ours was done.

Our school used fall iReady or last spring's SOL.

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 then 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.

We were told that there's a test at the beginning of the year for placement into advanced math - does anyone know what the test is?