Anonymous wrote:Do we know yet what the cutoff is to be allowed to continue from Math 4/5 to math 5/6? Or will that be a school specific decision?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 A lot of folks don't get it, because it is what we grew up with, but the whole system of standardized testing was designed to keep people out of elite institutions. It might seem innocuous to give analogies about sailboats, but think about it for a minute.

I think you're conflating math the language portions of standardized testing.

No, PP. Please read up on the inherent inequities of standardized testing which include all topics. As others have noted, to succeed in getting the highest scores, particularly in this year, kids supplement classroom teaching through tutoring and/or parental instruction and/or special programs to enhance their scores. In addition, there are clearly parents, who know the drill; they know to prep because they know that these tests essentially cement a track for students from which many opportunities will be determined or denied. Not all parents have this insight or are as savvy. They don’t know the system.

Kids in lower SES groups are disadvantaged in this system. And in this year, when so many kids were doing DL at home while a parent had to work simultaneously or - as many kids in my DC’s Title I elementary school - were left in the care of an older sibling, sometimes not much older than the student (middle school or high school) these kids were especially left behind. Now we have the county suddenly raising the bar mid flight for kids who given the hard work and graded they put in, are earning As but may not have done as well on the MAP because they didn’t have the advantages of a parent or other resources to fill the gaps that math 4/5 didn’t cover in class. It’s outrageous. Sure, you want to start 3rd graders with a 90th threshold, then start that next year when - hopefully - kids will have a chance to regain any lost ground. The only people who support this nonsense are those who feel superior by excluding kids; it’s an ego boost. If a kid is getting As in 4/5 and thriving, they earn a spot in a 5/6 class. Period.

I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous. Let me introduce a relevant example of situations I am familiar with.

Kid A: Parents strictly enforce screen time limits, with no screen time allowed on weekdays. Purchased Beast Academy workbooks and require kid to complete an extra problem set each week. Parents check homework every day. In compacted math.

Kid B: Parents allow kid to play Minecraft 1-2 hours a day. No one checks on completion of homework. Not in compacted math.

Kid A is Black and parents are middle class. Kid B is white and parents are wealthy. Keeping in mind that these are real people that I know, I would love for you to explain to me how Kid A’s Black parents are committing inequality against Kid B. That extra work is producing results. Particularly with math, outside of the true geniuses, the kids that put in the work get the results and the standardized tests are a measure of the work that is put in. It is not inequality.

I think it's great for whoever wants to put in extra work outside school in math. It seems like the parents have a lot to do with it; and when we generalize, which I think we have to in this situation, a lot of the kids who aren't doing the extra work aren't doing it because their parents are poor and struggling. How many kids of their own volition would rather do Khan Academy? It's mostly parental push. Plus, shouldn't the school teach the accelerated math? Taking the course should be enough, right?

Not to mention, my kids (and DH and I) are like Kid A but we’ve been taking our queues for how hard to push from teachers who consistently told me DS was doing great in compacted math. DC got As and special shout outs for doing great in math. I took them at their word and yet my child’s MAP score isn’t 85 / 90th percentile. Now hearing that DC will be shut out of a track that will mean they are now essentially never going to make it in a science/math program in college. Wow, if only someone had said that despite all of the accolades from teachers my child was actually underachieving and can’t move to compacted math 5/6.

This is not right and not acceptable. I know I’m not alone. And I’m so sick of the smugness on this thread. It’s exactly why this pathetic system perpetuates. Some of you get off on it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Or, look at it this way. Right now your child is on track to take AP Calculus in 11th grade and to need to take yet another math course to graduate. What actual harm is done if they take Calculus as a senior instead?

Since this question has come up repeatedly.

Some of us are thinking ahead. Admission to competitive STEM majors, in particular CS, is separate from admission to an undergrad institution as a whole. Unfortunately there just aren’t enough CS PhDs who are qualified and want to be academics. So the limited spots in, for example, the EECS major at Cal will go to kids who have already taken Linear algebra.

It’s not about beating another kid. It’s about not letting an Education admistrator decide which doors to close to a 9 year old that they’ve never met.

Anonymous wrote:oh, can my 3rd grader who scored 260 on fall MAP taking math 5/6 next year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Or, look at it this way. Right now your child is on track to take AP Calculus in 11th grade and to need to take yet another math course to graduate. What actual harm is done if they take Calculus as a senior instead?

Since this question has come up repeatedly.

Some of us are thinking ahead. Admission to competitive STEM majors, in particular CS, is separate from admission to an undergrad institution as a whole. Unfortunately there just aren’t enough CS PhDs who are qualified and want to be academics. So the limited spots in, for example, the EECS major at Cal will go to kids who have already taken Linear algebra.

It’s not about beating another kid. It’s about not letting an Education admistrator decide which doors to close to a 9 year old that they’ve never met.

Great info about Cal. But at UC Berkeley, one can skip 1st year Math (not 1 semester) if he/she got a 5 in AP Calculus BC. There is no way one can skip Multivariable Calculus and/or Linear Algebra by saying "I took Linear Algebra in HS or a class in U Md". If one skip both 1st and 2nd years of Math and march on to Discrete Math (CS70) as a first math class in college, be prepare to be surprised. Do people really believe that Calculus classes in U MD are comparable to the Calculus classes in UC Berkeley/MIT/ Cal Tech?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about 3rd grade kid who consistently scores 99th percentile in MAP but got a B at some point in the past few months? Kid understands the content and is bored. Not sure why the B. Well this preclude him from compacted next year?

Maybe kid'll be our next Einstein.

Did Einstein get precluded from 4/5 math?!!

Einstein did math problems at home. People should worry less about what your doing in school than what you’re doing out of school.

I’m curious whatever happened to lifelong learning?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Or, look at it this way. Right now your child is on track to take AP Calculus in 11th grade and to need to take yet another math course to graduate. What actual harm is done if they take Calculus as a senior instead?

Since this question has come up repeatedly.

Some of us are thinking ahead. Admission to competitive STEM majors, in particular CS, is separate from admission to an undergrad institution as a whole. Unfortunately there just aren’t enough CS PhDs who are qualified and want to be academics. So the limited spots in, for example, the EECS major at Cal will go to kids who have already taken Linear algebra.

It’s not about beating another kid. It’s about not letting an Education admistrator decide which doors to close to a 9 year old that they’ve never met.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Or, look at it this way. Right now your child is on track to take AP Calculus in 11th grade and to need to take yet another math course to graduate. What actual harm is done if they take Calculus as a senior instead?

Since this question has come up repeatedly.

Some of us are thinking ahead. Admission to competitive STEM majors, in particular CS, is separate from admission to an undergrad institution as a whole. Unfortunately there just aren’t enough CS PhDs who are qualified and want to be academics. So the limited spots in, for example, the EECS major at Cal will go to kids who have already taken Linear algebra.

It’s not about beating another kid. It’s about not letting an Education admistrator decide which doors to close to a 9 year old that they’ve never met.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about 3rd grade kid who consistently scores 99th percentile in MAP but got a B at some point in the past few months? Kid understands the content and is bored. Not sure why the B. Well this preclude him from compacted next year?

Maybe kid'll be our next Einstein.

Did Einstein get precluded from 4/5 math?!!

Anonymous wrote:People are way over thinking and fretting about this. I've had 3 kids (both in magnets and not) go through almost all the flavors of ES and MS offerings for math recently. They have all been terribly bored in math at some point. I attempted to resolve issues along the way - sometimes successfully and sometimes not. It's fine. They can spend their brainpower on other things. In the long run, lack of challenge and slow pace in ES and MS hasn't held back any of my kids from taking the most advanced math possible in HS.

The key to remember is that Algebra in 8th grade leads to 9th-Geometry, 10th-Algebra 2, 11th-Precalculus, 12th Calculus. Don't like that pathway? Double up with Geometry and Algebra 2 in 9th. Take AP Stat in 11th. Be proactive in high school to ensure your child is on the most appropriate pathway for them, and speed up or slow down then as needed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Or, look at it this way. Right now your child is on track to take AP Calculus in 11th grade and to need to take yet another math course to graduate. What actual harm is done if they take Calculus as a senior instead?

Since this question has come up repeatedly.

Some of us are thinking ahead. Admission to competitive STEM majors, in particular CS, is separate from admission to an undergrad institution as a whole. Unfortunately there just aren’t enough CS PhDs who are qualified and want to be academics. So the limited spots in, for example, the EECS major at Cal will go to kids who have already taken Linear algebra.

It’s not about beating another kid. It’s about not letting an Education admistrator decide which doors to close to a 9 year old that they’ve never met.

Anonymous wrote:
Or, look at it this way. Right now your child is on track to take AP Calculus in 11th grade and to need to take yet another math course to graduate. What actual harm is done if they take Calculus as a senior instead?