I agree with you. The kids graduating from TJ, Blair and the middle school public magnets despite the label of gifted and math acceleration at a young age, have holes in their math foundation (when compared to private school graduates) because they were labeled gifted and accelerated in math early.

Stick to your guns. The OP is on caffeine to even suggest that area private schools even offer pre-algebra in the 6th grade. What a blasphemous idea or notion.

With you all the way. Peace.

Anonymous wrote:

Really? Really? Chances are your children being 'accelerated' in public schools have huge holes in what they are learning. After all, they all have to take the NCLB tests in whatever state. Fact of the matter, if your kid is taking 8th grade math in 5th grade, they take a placement test for independent school math, and they end up being right where they should be for 6th grade math--accelerating that fast for kids so young is a joke and a ploy for public school parents/kids to feel like they are advanced.

Alas, I concede, you are absolutely correct in your assessment. All the math kids (most accelerated in the elementary programs) at middle school math and science public magnets and later high school magnets (e.g. TJ and Blair magnet) have gaping holes in their math background even though 30 to 40 percent of them every year are the National Merit Semi-Finalist and Finalists for the State and the highest AP scholars in the State. You have uncovered the greatest joke and ploy with math acceleration and education of these young kids who later funnel into magnet programs at the middle and high school levels. They are full of gaping holes in their math foundation and most would have been held back in our beloved private schools because private school math education is so far advanced, particularly when compared to Takoma Park Middle and Blair High school magnets, TJ and the like.

I never really considered your reasoning. I appreciate the insight.

You're more than welcome. I'm glad that the super accelerated math kids that you know are so wildly successful. I'm sure that also includes their ability to actually speak with other kids their age and not be total outcasts. It isn't just about hyper speed in 'learning' math. Kids can be accelerated, while at the same time, oh, i don't know, actually learning how to communicate with other children instead of churn out math answers. Imagine, knowing math, and being socially aware, creative, able to creatively construct a paper, have friends, smile. Yeah, fact of the matter is that no matter what public school you are in, you are still bound by the standardized tests, and you will be taught to a test, you won't have anywhere near the resources, no matter how much you try to talk yourself into thinking that accelerating children into hyper drive math 'achievement' is what should be done, it isn't. I'm wondering how many of your 40 percent of students in Finalist stages of national merit scholarships can have a conversation about anything other than their parents forcing them into advanced placement classes.

MoCo schools are a joke. Every kid is "talented and gifted" and every school has special programs geared toward kids with "special abilities" in one area of the other. Grade inflation is rampant. But I digress... To answer OP's question however - the privates attempt to differentiate as best they can. If you want a specialized education for your child I'm not sure who, outside of yourself, can provide what is necessary to meet your expectations.

Really? Really? Chances are your children being 'accelerated' in public schools have huge holes in what they are learning. After all, they all have to take the NCLB tests in whatever state. Fact of the matter, if your kid is taking 8th grade math in 5th grade, they take a placement test for independent school math, and they end up being right where they should be for 6th grade math--accelerating that fast for kids so young is a joke and a ploy for public school parents/kids to feel like they are advanced.

Alas, I concede, you are absolutely correct in your assessment. All the math kids (most accelerated in the elementary programs) at middle school math and science public magnets and later high school magnets (e.g. TJ and Blair magnet) have gaping holes in their math background even though 30 to 40 percent of them every year are the National Merit Semi-Finalist and Finalists for the State and the highest AP scholars in the State. You have uncovered the greatest joke and ploy with math acceleration and education of these young kids who later funnel into magnet programs at the middle and high school levels. They are full of gaping holes in their math foundation and most would have been held back in our beloved private schools because private school math education is so far advanced, particularly when compared to Takoma Park Middle and Blair High school magnets, TJ and the like.

I never really considered your reasoning. I appreciate the insight.

What holes are you seeing that his 8th grade teacher in middle school failed to see?

Really? Really? Chances are your children being 'accelerated' in public schools have huge holes in what they are learning. After all, they all have to take the NCLB tests in whatever state. Fact of the matter, if your kid is taking 8th grade math in 5th grade, they take a placement test for independent school math, and they end up being right where they should be for 6th grade math--accelerating that fast for kids so young is a joke and a ploy for public school parents/kids to feel like they are advanced.

The issue here is not what MoCo is pushing or not pushing. It's what do you do with a kid that passes the end of year assessment for IM 7 or Algebra 1 (or HSA Algebra exam) while still in elementary school with flying colors. It's not about pushing or not pushing. It's about doing the right thing. Face it, this circumstance does not apply to many kids. But, I speak as one who juggles the schedules of an elementary and middle school for 2 children.

By the way, Chevy Chase is not the only public elementary school in MoCo. with students of this caliber. There are several other schools with kids with similar arrangements.
My kids hang out with kids from our middle school taking their math courses at the local high school as well as kids at TP middle school taking math classes with the Blair magnet high school group (e.g., Functions). So this is not new but old news. It has happened for years and still does.

I have not received any official letters from the County or middle school now banning this pathway and asking us to go back to our elementary school because of some decree from above. I am well aware that some pushy parents and schools did inappropriately place some kids in classes they were not ready for and the County recognizes this now. I am also aware the County is rolling out a "new and improved" math curriculum the results of which remain to be seen. The discussion here is not about inappropriate placement and acceleration. We can agree that serves no one any good.

If we had opted to enter Big 3 some years back I'm pretty certain my child would be wasting away in an elementary school class with kids struggling with multiplication tables, long division, fractions, ratios, percents, proportions, and word problems. A limited mathematical toolbox would have impacted his present independent accomplishments in computer programming and sciences. With the benefit of hindsight we made the right move for this particular child. At the time, we were certainly worried about turning down gracious offers.

MCPS is moving away from pushing lots of kids onto the accelerated track. I do know current high schoolers who took alg 1 in 6th, geo in 7th and then went to the HS in 8th for alg 2. They are in BC calc as 10th graders this year. I really don't think there were any 9th graders in BC calc last year so I am surprised to hear about elementary school students taking alg 1. Unless maybe it was Chevy chase where 6th is still elementary?

The private schools don't tend to push math as fast. It is normal to do alg 1 in 8th grade. Schools like Georgetown Prep have a lot taking alg 1 in 9th grade because they say that a lot of kids didn't learn it well enough in 8th.

Thanks for the info re: GDS and other privates. In the local public system it is possible as there are a few elementary schol students attending the neighboring middle school and currently taking Algera 1. So the option is available for the very few capable and desirous of doing so. Parents have to get the kids to the middle school for the first period math class and then a bus gets them back to the elementary school opening an hour later. It has worked well for those pursuing this option.

In our experience these schools do not accelerate kids into algebra 1 before 7th grade (which is already at least one year accelerated from even ending up in calculus in 12th grade), they are simply too small to be able to figure out how to schedule one or two kids to do so, because the rest of their day is then compeltely out of synch with the rest of their grade. GDS has been known to do it in middle school (two kids were taking calculus at the high school while in middle school, but these were also kids who graduated early to go to MIT and placed highly in international math competitions, so literally one in a million kids). For most math competent and very mature kids, 7th grade is soon enough to do algebra as long as the lower school teachers give lots of extra more challenging problems to the kids who are finishing the normal work early. By 7th they all group (in this list that is, smaller schools such as Sheridan and Lowell can't easily offer even algebra in 7th). Even public schools that I know of that are huge don;t offer algebra in 6th grade at least in MoCo. For the ability to have more advanced courses in high school, need to be at TJ or Blair or a big public school in MoCo, not smaller privates that just can;'t offer beyond multivariate calculus for the kids that began algebra in 7th.

Does Math grouping mean a capable child in the 6th grade can be grouped with others doing Algebra 1 or even geometry at these schools?

Here's what Sidwell's website says ...

A part of every student’s day in fifth and sixth grade is Math. The Middle School utilizes grouping in all four grades. However, the school remains committed to the goal of flexibility as students move from one year of Math to the next, and parents who are anxious about their child’s placement in a Math group should be assured that choices remain open to students throughout the four-year program. Grouping, after all, is a tool for best serving the needs of individual students.

I'd guess all these schools do math grouping.

Anonymous wrote:Pre-algebra offered in 6th Grade?

Sounds like a low bar offering in my opinion. My kid is taking Algebra 1 for high school credit in the 5th Grade.

Do any of these schools allow a very capable 6th Grader the option of taking Algebra 1 or Honors Geometry?

My kid is taking BC Calculus in Kindergarten.

Pre-algebra offered in 6th Grade?

Sounds like a low bar offering in my opinion. My kid is taking Algebra 1 for high school credit in the 5th Grade.

Do any of these schools allow a very capable 6th Grader the option of taking Algebra 1 or Honors Geometry?

Do Holton, NCS, Maret, Sidwell, Potomac, etc. offer pre-algebra to some students in 6th grade? Or do all kids take the same maths?