Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Op here— usually I would agree with you but in my specific case being put in a lower math class would have caused significant harm for my son. His average in math 6 was a 110%, 107%, 100%, and 108% for each quarter respectively. Obviously math 6 was not challenging enough. He was sick the day of the sol (recovering from a stomach bug), and scored two points below the cut off. On his practice sols, he scored a perfect score, a 586, and a 550. These stats are from his math teacher (I emailed them this past weekend as well). His math teacher had nothing to do with the recommendation, it was based off him scoring two points lower than the cut off on a test when he was sick.

If you don’t take math as a seventh grader, there are lots of doors that close for you. You can’t apply to tj. You can’t do the ib program. You can’t take intensified science in highschool past freshman year. That’s a lot of doors to close at twelve, especially if you have a borderline case. There are ways to “catch up” but those are debatably bad ideas (taking foundational math classes over the summer, homeschooling for a year, etc).

I might be feeding a troll here, but in this case you are just wrong. It’s a parents job to advocate for their kid, and I do not in any way regret pushing back.

This is on you for sending your kid to school while he was sick.

Thanks for all the informative posts an especially about the very negative impact of not being able to apply for IB or TJ. Somehow I missed that important nugget despite attending school info sessions and parent teacher conferences. My DC entered APS from a private religious school so SOLs are new to us. If I had known the SOL score determined math placement (rather than another checklist item from APS), I would have insisted DC actually study for it. I figured As in math (without studying or regular homework) would be enough to indicate DC was ready for more challenge and actual homework. My bad. Now I have to pester someone for higher placement, even though I think I’ll be rejected because I was told the middle school has “limited seats “ for pre-Algebra and those seats are saved for the “better” students. Sigh!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this whole thread and APS’ policy of parent final say is twofold: (1) the “regular” math classes are too easy for too many kids and (2) too many Arlington parents believe that their kid should make every cut.

+1 there needs to be a third option for 6th grade students who aren’t ready for the pace of pre-algebra but are more advanced than math 6

There was during the pandemic the year my kid was in 6th, it was called Math 6 Extended and it was because they did not offer pre-algebra for 6th that year. But maybe they should bring that back as a third option.

They did offer Pre-Alg in 6th in 20/21- my son was in the class. That year, there were 3 tracks- Pre-Alg, Math 6 Extended, and Math 6. They got rid of Math 6 Extended in 21/22 and collapsed 6th grade math into two tracks.

Why would they get rid of that? Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this whole thread and APS’ policy of parent final say is twofold: (1) the “regular” math classes are too easy for too many kids and (2) too many Arlington parents believe that their kid should make every cut.

+1 there needs to be a third option for 6th grade students who aren’t ready for the pace of pre-algebra but are more advanced than math 6

There was during the pandemic the year my kid was in 6th, it was called Math 6 Extended and it was because they did not offer pre-algebra for 6th that year. But maybe they should bring that back as a third option.

They did offer Pre-Alg in 6th in 20/21- my son was in the class. That year, there were 3 tracks- Pre-Alg, Math 6 Extended, and Math 6. They got rid of Math 6 Extended in 21/22 and collapsed 6th grade math into two tracks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this whole thread and APS’ policy of parent final say is twofold: (1) the “regular” math classes are too easy for too many kids and (2) too many Arlington parents believe that their kid should make every cut.

+1 there needs to be a third option for 6th grade students who aren’t ready for the pace of pre-algebra but are more advanced than math 6

There was during the pandemic the year my kid was in 6th, it was called Math 6 Extended and it was because they did not offer pre-algebra for 6th that year. But maybe they should bring that back as a third option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this whole thread and APS’ policy of parent final say is twofold: (1) the “regular” math classes are too easy for too many kids and (2) too many Arlington parents believe that their kid should make every cut.

+1 there needs to be a third option for 6th grade students who aren’t ready for the pace of pre-algebra but are more advanced than math 6

I wish this existed, where kids could be challenged but wind up in Algebra rather than Geometry in 8th. I think technically there is, but the kid would be essentially repeating a class somewhere along the way.

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this whole thread and APS’ policy of parent final say is twofold: (1) the “regular” math classes are too easy for too many kids and (2) too many Arlington parents believe that their kid should make every cut.

There's also the issue that elementary math does absolutely nothing to challenge advanced students, so no one really knows if their student is up to the challenge.

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this whole thread and APS’ policy of parent final say is twofold: (1) the “regular” math classes are too easy for too many kids and (2) too many Arlington parents believe that their kid should make every cut.

+1 there needs to be a third option for 6th grade students who aren’t ready for the pace of pre-algebra but are more advanced than math 6

The problem with this whole thread and APS’ policy of parent final say is twofold: (1) the “regular” math classes are too easy for too many kids and (2) too many Arlington parents believe that their kid should make every cut.

It makes sense to put greater weight on standardized test scores for the 6th grade math placement, because those kids don’t have any math grades from elementary school (thanks to standards based grading). However, it’s insane to place rising 7th and 8th graders into their math section based on two standardized tests and not look at their actual performance in class. If you have a kid way above the cut on one test, with straight As in 6th and 7th grade math, they are clearly ready for the more advanced math pathway even if they were slightly below on the SOL or the MAP. 11 & 12 year old kids should be allowed to have an off day on a standardized test and not have their whole academic track derailed through high school. Even high school kids get more than one chance to take the SAT.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Op here— usually I would agree with you but in my specific case being put in a lower math class would have caused significant harm for my son. His average in math 6 was a 110%, 107%, 100%, and 108% for each quarter respectively. Obviously math 6 was not challenging enough. He was sick the day of the sol (recovering from a stomach bug), and scored two points below the cut off. On his practice sols, he scored a perfect score, a 586, and a 550. These stats are from his math teacher (I emailed them this past weekend as well). His math teacher had nothing to do with the recommendation, it was based off him scoring two points lower than the cut off on a test when he was sick.

If you don’t take math as a seventh grader, there are lots of doors that close for you. You can’t apply to tj. You can’t do the ib program. You can’t take intensified science in highschool past freshman year. That’s a lot of doors to close at twelve, especially if you have a borderline case. There are ways to “catch up” but those are debatably bad ideas (taking foundational math classes over the summer, homeschooling for a year, etc).

I might be feeding a troll here, but in this case you are just wrong. It’s a parents job to advocate for their kid, and I do not in any way regret pushing back.

Do you mean algebra or Pre-algebra is required to access those things?

Not OP, but OP is completely right in their reasoning for their child and in the progression: https://www.apsva.us/curriculum/mathematics/ (go to secondary then course progression and note that high school is 4 years, not 5 before you come back and say we're wrong). Likewise, doors begin to close if your student does not take a language in 7.

I cannot and do not believe that all of the issues with APS in middle -- or otherwise -- and lack of rigor, kids not being able to read in middle school, gen ed as the default and college prep for a select few... is simply pushy parents. Nor is it on the teachers. It's on APS much higher up. Yes, we parents are all advocates and we send too many emails and make too many demands, but seriously, having a math trajectory that doesn't (a) close out your student to college prep work; and (b) mean you student is bored with straight As isn't a parent problem. We're okay to want our students to be challenged and to learn and to be competitive. We're okay to question if straight As without trying is actually a great learning experience. We're okay to think that test retakes may actually help our students learn when they clearly didn't. We're also okay to acknowledge that teachers cannot do it all in the current environment, to advocate for more teachers and higher pay for those teachers. It's all okay. I know that a certain kind of parent wants to seem cool by not advocating for their student, but that's not in the end a great way to be cool (try pickleball, maybe?).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Op here— usually I would agree with you but in my specific case being put in a lower math class would have caused significant harm for my son. His average in math 6 was a 110%, 107%, 100%, and 108% for each quarter respectively. Obviously math 6 was not challenging enough. He was sick the day of the sol (recovering from a stomach bug), and scored two points below the cut off. On his practice sols, he scored a perfect score, a 586, and a 550. These stats are from his math teacher (I emailed them this past weekend as well). His math teacher had nothing to do with the recommendation, it was based off him scoring two points lower than the cut off on a test when he was sick.

If you don’t take math as a seventh grader, there are lots of doors that close for you. You can’t apply to tj. You can’t do the ib program. You can’t take intensified science in highschool past freshman year. That’s a lot of doors to close at twelve, especially if you have a borderline case. There are ways to “catch up” but those are debatably bad ideas (taking foundational math classes over the summer, homeschooling for a year, etc).

I might be feeding a troll here, but in this case you are just wrong. It’s a parents job to advocate for their kid, and I do not in any way regret pushing back.

Do you mean algebra or Pre-algebra is required to access those things?

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread says it all. I’m sorry, but I don’t think parents should have any say as to who is placed in an advanced math class. There are so kids that actually legitimately meet all of the benchmarks.

Op here— usually I would agree with you but in my specific case being put in a lower math class would have caused significant harm for my son. His average in math 6 was a 110%, 107%, 100%, and 108% for each quarter respectively. Obviously math 6 was not challenging enough. He was sick the day of the sol (recovering from a stomach bug), and scored two points below the cut off. On his practice sols, he scored a perfect score, a 586, and a 550. These stats are from his math teacher (I emailed them this past weekend as well). His math teacher had nothing to do with the recommendation, it was based off him scoring two points lower than the cut off on a test when he was sick.

If you don’t take math as a seventh grader, there are lots of doors that close for you. You can’t apply to tj. You can’t do the ib program. You can’t take intensified science in highschool past freshman year. That’s a lot of doors to close at twelve, especially if you have a borderline case. There are ways to “catch up” but those are debatably bad ideas (taking foundational math classes over the summer, homeschooling for a year, etc).

I might be feeding a troll here, but in this case you are just wrong. It’s a parents job to advocate for their kid, and I do not in any way regret pushing back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Fought"? You simply email the counselor. It's not a big deal.

But likely his prior teacher recommended Math 7 due to something they see going on in the class.

Likely not. They only have so many classes of pre algebra. My kid scored over the limit to take it in 6th, but wasn't recommended. They only have so many spots and can't have 50 kids in a class.

I know people that fought to have their kid in 6th grade pre-algebra, and I know people whose children got in the class and had perfect SOL scores. These kids were clearly not at the same level, but some parents just can’t handle that idea.

My son reported that there were a few kids in his pre-algebra class who couldn't keep up and had low test scores (including one of his best friends, which is how he knew the scores)

My kid still got pass advanced on the Math SOL, but not over 550 so I think he can handle pre-algebra in 6th so I'm going to push for it. Being in Math 6 is going to not be challenging enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Fought"? You simply email the counselor. It's not a big deal.

But likely his prior teacher recommended Math 7 due to something they see going on in the class.

Likely not. They only have so many classes of pre algebra. My kid scored over the limit to take it in 6th, but wasn't recommended. They only have so many spots and can't have 50 kids in a class.

I know people that fought to have their kid in 6th grade pre-algebra, and I know people whose children got in the class and had perfect SOL scores. These kids were clearly not at the same level, but some parents just can’t handle that idea.

My son reported that there were a few kids in his pre-algebra class who couldn't keep up and had low test scores (including one of his best friends, which is how he knew the scores)