TJ has no math skip tests. shut this thread down

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.

The principal will need to test the kid and then get Gatehouse to sign off on the acceleration.

Is the decision to test publicly available policy, or up to the principal's discretion? If it's the former, can you link the policy for us? And if it's the latter, then the PP was correct in claiming that parents need to convince the principal to begin the process.

If it's a secret internal policy, then the latter case applies since an unconvinced principal can choose to not test and deny the existence of the policy.

It's not worth approaching the principal at all for this unless your kid shows up on iready as 3 grade levels ahead. For example, if your kid is a first grader and iready says that the kid is "At Level 4," it may be worth a meeting with the principal.

In FCPS, almost all policies are up to the principal, who simply may not be willing to implement the policy. FCPS has a very clear policy for which kids are eligible to skip 5th grade AAP math and take the 6th grade class while in 5th grade. Despite the policy, any principal can decide that they're just not going to let any kids skip up in math. I'm not sure that there is any recourse for kids who are otherwise eligible, but have a principal who doesn't want to implement the program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some FCPS students took Algebra 1 in 6th grade.
Some students came from private schools where they were allowed on a suer fast math track since ES. I know a 6 grader who's doing AP cal BC this year.

How come no one every mentions private schools that allow acceleration at the student's pace like this one? How come AAP is treated as the best option for mathematically advanced kids when opportunities like this exist?

If you pay enough money, you can find someone private to do anything you want. Doesn't make it a good idea. Nearly all of these (very few) ludicrously accelerated kids so it by doing the bare minimum at every class level, and then get stuck when they run out of basic math. The kids a few years behind them, who go slower up the ladder but broader than the basic curriculum, are the ones who have super strong math skills. If you're that good at math, your class in school is irrelevant, because your needs far exceed what the schools can provide, even with ludicrous acceleration.

IME, the few kids that FCPS accelerates to Algebra I in 4th or 5th do not get stuck when they run out of basic math, and instead cruise through calc and all of post-AP math. FCPS is not hyper-accelerating kids all willy nilly, and they really are reserving it for the few outliers.

I agree with your second point, though. The FCPS kids taking pre-calc or calc in 8th grade have never been challenged in a school math class and are not truly having their needs met. Acceleration is the best free option among a bunch of other bad options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some FCPS students took Algebra 1 in 6th grade.
Some students came from private schools where they were allowed on a suer fast math track since ES. I know a 6 grader who's doing AP cal BC this year.

How come no one every mentions private schools that allow acceleration at the student's pace like this one? How come AAP is treated as the best option for mathematically advanced kids when opportunities like this exist?

If you pay enough money, you can find someone private to do anything you want. Doesn't make it a good idea. Nearly all of these (very few) ludicrously accelerated kids so it by doing the bare minimum at every class level, and then get stuck when they run out of basic math. The kids a few years behind them, who go slower up the ladder but broader than the basic curriculum, are the ones who have super strong math skills. If you're that good at math, your class in school is irrelevant, because your needs far exceed what the schools can provide, even with ludicrous acceleration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.

The principal will need to test the kid and then get Gatehouse to sign off on the acceleration.

Is the decision to test publicly available policy, or up to the principal's discretion? If it's the former, can you link the policy for us? And if it's the latter, then the PP was correct in claiming that parents need to convince the principal to begin the process.

If it's a secret internal policy, then the latter case applies since an unconvinced principal can choose to not test and deny the existence of the policy.

FCPS does not have a policy for this. Everything is the principal's and Gatehouse's discretion, handled on a case-by-case basis. I guess technically a parent may need to convince the principal to start the process, but that's different from suggesting that badgering the principal would result in your kid being skipped ahead. The kid still needs to perform many years above grade level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some FCPS students took Algebra 1 in 6th grade.
Some students came from private schools where they were allowed on a suer fast math track since ES. I know a 6 grader who's doing AP cal BC this year.

How come no one every mentions private schools that allow acceleration at the student's pace like this one? How come AAP is treated as the best option for mathematically advanced kids when opportunities like this exist?

??
AAP is free and most kids are in public schools. If you want info on private schools you're more likely to get that by posting a specific question in the Private School forum.

I've seen multiple parents ask there about gifted math education and the consensus there is that, at least on the younger grades, AAP is the best option

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some FCPS students took Algebra 1 in 6th grade.
Some students came from private schools where they were allowed on a suer fast math track since ES. I know a 6 grader who's doing AP cal BC this year.

How come no one every mentions private schools that allow acceleration at the student's pace like this one? How come AAP is treated as the best option for mathematically advanced kids when opportunities like this exist?

??
AAP is free and most kids are in public schools. If you want info on private schools you're more likely to get that by posting a specific question in the Private School forum.

Anonymous wrote:Some FCPS students took Algebra 1 in 6th grade.
Some students came from private schools where they were allowed on a suer fast math track since ES. I know a 6 grader who's doing AP cal BC this year.

How come no one every mentions private schools that allow acceleration at the student's pace like this one? How come AAP is treated as the best option for mathematically advanced kids when opportunities like this exist?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.

The principal will need to test the kid and then get Gatehouse to sign off on the acceleration.

Is the decision to test publicly available policy, or up to the principal's discretion? If it's the former, can you link the policy for us? And if it's the latter, then the PP was correct in claiming that parents need to convince the principal to begin the process.

If it's a secret internal policy, then the latter case applies since an unconvinced principal can choose to not test and deny the existence of the policy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.

You can't just convince the elementary school principal, and being a pushy parent will get you nowhere. The principal will need to test the kid and then get Gatehouse to sign off on the acceleration. It's effectively only on the table for kids who have ludicrous scores on iready and can ace the standard End-of-Year test for several grade levels above the kid's grade.

Does FCPS have a policy on how principal is expected to handle such multiple grades acceleration requests?

Anonymous wrote:Some FCPS students took Algebra 1 in 6th grade.
Some students came from private schools where they were allowed on a suer fast math track since ES. I know a 6 grader who's doing AP cal BC this year.

Which private schools allow this? Which course provider/curriculum did they use?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.

You can't just convince the elementary school principal, and being a pushy parent will get you nowhere. The principal will need to test the kid and then get Gatehouse to sign off on the acceleration. It's effectively only on the table for kids who have ludicrous scores on iready and can ace the standard End-of-Year test for several grade levels above the kid's grade.

What is Gatehouse?

They are the gatekeeper to acceleration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.

You can't just convince the elementary school principal, and being a pushy parent will get you nowhere. The principal will need to test the kid and then get Gatehouse to sign off on the acceleration. It's effectively only on the table for kids who have ludicrous scores on iready and can ace the standard End-of-Year test for several grade levels above the kid's grade.

What is Gatehouse?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.

You can't just convince the elementary school principal, and being a pushy parent will get you nowhere. The principal will need to test the kid and then get Gatehouse to sign off on the acceleration. It's effectively only on the table for kids who have ludicrous scores on iready and can ace the standard End-of-Year test for several grade levels above the kid's grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ students who are that accelerated fall into two camps

- autistic savant in math
- children of tiger moms hellbent on MIT

How do the former get placed in precalculus in middle school, when no school has that as an option?

FCPS skips some kids ahead in math by several years in early ES. FCPS has maybe 1-5 kids per grade level who take Algebra I in 5th or even 4th grade. They take classes either at the nearest school that offers them, or they do it through the FCPS online campus.

If parent can convince elementary school principal, then the advanced path cascades from there. There are few kids on this super accelerated path who have done calc AB and others who have done calc BC by end of 9th grade.