Again, Pyle parent here.

I thought there were good reasons to wait with a foreign language until 7th grade. I thought 6th grade would be a big adjustment (it was) with more homework (definitely) and greater organizational requirements (for sure). My kid is a very strong reader but I thought the skills they were going to cover in advanced reading were worthwhile.

And, as I posted before, where I might have been reluctant to have him to a full year foreign language as a 6th grader, it was absolutely not an issue as a 7th grader. So he got the benefit of the advanced reading class, and he still will have done two full years of foreign language as a middle schooler.

I am finding this fascinating too! I wonder how schools decide which options to offer? I would have expected Pyle to push the higher level classes. Go Takoma Park!

It's been fascinating to read this thread because you learn that different middle schools take very different approaches. I had always just assumed it was the same across the county.

For example, my daughter is an 8th grader at Takoma Park, and they definitely do not combine advanced and regular English classes. I asked her about it after reading this thread and she said hers is an advanced class, everyone doing the same thing, no differentiation in material.

As for foreign language, when we entered that school, they seemed to encourage incoming 6th graders to sign up for language, even the full A/B class if they felt they could handle it. My daughter did that and is now in Spanish 3. There was never any mention of a reading class, advanced or otherwise.

Maybe in a school where "advanced reading" is offered, it is a more useful option then where it is heterogeneous. My 6th grader is really enjoying having a language. I would say it is one of the best things about MS for her. I don't think it is any more demanding then her other classes. My school does not even offer 6th graders the option of full year language in 6th grade however.

I have 2 fifth graders feeding into Pyle MS. The placement options were Reading/Advanced Reading, English/Advanced English and then the math options. We were told that kids who scored high on reading would have the option of taking a Foreign Language class (full or 1/2 year) in 6th Grade, in lieu of the reading with letters regarding qualifying to be sent out later, but the teachers sent email strongly encouraging parents to consider still taking the reading and waiting on the foreign language for 7th Grade regardless of how "advanced" a reader your kid was. Reasons given were high school grade credit, demanding homework, county wide standardized exams, etc and the reading class was described as an excellent course to take regardless of how good a reader your kid was. Bottom line, unless your kid has the option and is really eager to tackle a foreign language, the message was to wait until 7th Grade. As for the math, I get the sense that all the kids that were in Math 7 were placed in IM except for 1 or 2 who were placed in Algebra, and kids in Math 6 were moved to Math 7. I didn't realize the advanced and regular classes for reading and english were combined in one classroom, that's helpful information to know.

And I think of it just the opposite. The kids that take reading have a much heavier load with the languages than the kids that don't since they are 7th graders taking a full high school class while the other ("advanced") 7th graders are only taking a 1/2 year. It seems to be the harder way to go..unless you just take 1A as a 7th grader.

I'm the PP who thinks advanced reading is a worthwhile class, even for kids who have no issues in this area.

Since so many kids who start foreign language in 6th grade do just the half year class over the course of a year (and then the second half of the class in 7th grade) it doesn't really make a difference if you do reading in 6th grade and then the full year foreign language in 7th grade. That's what my kid did (he's now in 2AB foreign language as an eighth grader) and it worked out great.

At my middle school (not a W school) the majority start a language in 6th (taking 1/2 a year over the course of a whole school year and the other 1/2 in 7th grade) and there is no such thing as advanced reading. I posted earlier in the thread that clearly all the schools handle it differently. We can not assume their are any standard methods for these classes. OP needs to talk to families from her school only.

Only some kids are recommended for Foreign Language in 6th, the rest take "Advanced Reading". The standard track is taking the first Foreign Language in 7th grade.