Gifted Bulletin Board

Welcome to the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum.

We invite you to share your experiences and to post information about advocacy, research and other gifted education issues on this free public discussion forum.
CLICK HERE to Log In. Click here for the Board Rules.

Links


Learn about Davidson Academy Online - for profoundly gifted students living anywhere in the U.S. & Canada.

The Davidson Institute is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted students through the following programs:

  • Fellows Scholarship
  • Young Scholars
  • Davidson Academy
  • THINK Summer Institute

  • Subscribe to the Davidson Institute's eNews-Update Newsletter >

    Free Gifted Resources & Guides >

    Who's Online Now
    0 members (), 591 guests, and 14 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    streble, DeliciousPizza, prominentdigitiz, parentologyco, Smartlady60
    11,413 Registered Users
    March
    S M T W T F S
    1 2
    3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    10 11 12 13 14 15 16
    17 18 19 20 21 22 23
    24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    31
    Previous Thread
    Next Thread
    Print Thread
    #57311 10/03/09 01:29 PM
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    OP Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    Those of you who've used ALEKS: did you follow the course sequence recommended for advanced students (Levels 3-6, Middle School Maths 2, MSM3, Pre-algebra, Algebra 1...) or did you telescope further? DS5 has done levels 3 and 4 and is doing fine with level 5, but is less enthusiastic about it than he was, and TBAH, I think it's because it's not challenging him (eep). Obviously there just are a lot of things they have to know that aren't difficult, so we can't expect it all to be challenging, and that's the role of separate problem solving activities, but still... The steps in Lv5 are so small, and although he gets to skip a bit by answering things in assessments that weren't on his pie, there doesn't seem to be much opportunity to do that (especially if he also makes "silly" errors in assessments, which happens a bit, though remarkably little given his age), so it's happening a lot that he picks a topic and can do it straight away, and even the 3 questions to get it on his pie is too much repetition. Looking at the syllabus for level 6, it seems to be a small increment over level 5, and I'm wondering whether we might skip it and go straight to middle school maths 2 once he's finished with level 5. Am I crazy?


    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
    Joined: Jul 2009
    Posts: 1,743
    O
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    O
    Joined: Jul 2009
    Posts: 1,743
    How long does it take for a child to get assessed in alex so we know which level to start in?

    Joined: Aug 2008
    Posts: 574
    D
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    D
    Joined: Aug 2008
    Posts: 574
    20-25 minutes, tops for the levels up to 6th grade. Can't imagine that 7th/Pre-Algebra would be much longer.

    You pick the grade level that makes most sense & ALEKS will require an assessment on first use by your child. If your child scores sufficiently high enough to warrant using the next level, you can easily move him up. ALEKS recommends that if your child initially hits 90% on the assessment to move to the next level.



    Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house. - Fran Lebowitz
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 679
    M
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    M
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 679
    My DD9 used ALEKS for Levels 3 and 4 without problems. Then by level 5 and into 6 things went down hill. She got more and more disgusted with the program and it became a fight to get her to do it, so we stopped. We are now using EPGY instead.

    We gave up ALEKS with my DD part way through 6 and are now doing grade 7, Holt Mathematics Course 2 at a very quick clip before Course 3, which is prealgebra at our local PS. My DD seems to be doing really well with it so I would say you could easily skip forward. In our PS the sixth grade was the same across the board (course 1). Advanced students then did prealgebra (course 3) in 7th then Algebra in 8th. The regular students then did course 2 in 7th and prealgebra (course 3) in 8th. My DD does well in math but doesn't enjoy math so we are taking the longer route.

    We are finding some topics in EPGY that weren't covered in ALEKS.


    EPGY OE Volunteer Group Leader
    Joined: Aug 2008
    Posts: 574
    D
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    D
    Joined: Aug 2008
    Posts: 574
    Originally Posted by ColinsMum
    Looking at the syllabus for level 6, it seems to be a small increment over level 5, and I'm wondering whether we might skip it and go straight to middle school maths 2 once he's finished with level 5. Am I crazy?
    I took a slightly different approach to answering this question for my son. Those assessments drive him bonkers, so I didn't want him to have to take a series of assessments to see where he lands. Because I have a really good handle on what he does & does not know, I created a test account and took the assessment myself, answering as I figured he would.

    So take the assessment for your son (or if he's not opposed, have him do it). If he scores high enough for your satisfaction, skip to the next level.


    Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house. - Fran Lebowitz
    Joined: Aug 2008
    Posts: 574
    D
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    D
    Joined: Aug 2008
    Posts: 574
    Originally Posted by melmichigan
    My DD9 used ALEKS for Levels 3 and 4 without problems. Then by level 5 and into 6 things went down hill. She got more and more disgusted with the program and it became a fight to get her to do it, so we stopped. We are now using EPGY instead.
    @melmichigan: When we spoke with EPGY about shifting to their program beginning with Pre-algebra, the person recommended that we shift for the 6th grade level (5/6, starting @ 6), as she thought the EPGY version would be more demanding and would better prepare our son for the EPGY Pre-algebra. What's your take on this approach?


    Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house. - Fran Lebowitz
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 679
    M
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    M
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 679
    From what I have seen so far I would say that I agree. My DD had a very negative view of math after ALEKS so I started her low at 4.5. (EPGY wants a child working above 85% at all times.) It took her 20 hours to get to 5.4, where she is now. She has already encountered material that she hasn't seen or that is presented very differently, especially in the geometry strand. Most material is review but she moves quickly through that and I see her confidence improving. Some problems are also multiple steps and EPGY demands that those steps be demonstrated in some cases when you first experience a certain type of problem, to determine where any error might be. That was new for my DD. I like that it will direct you to an error and ask you to retry a problem before giving you the answer. wink I also like that there is a lecture first, even though it can be clicked through, rather than just problems where the work can be shown.

    My DD is using the program at school right now for about 25 minutes a day when the class is doing something else. (She only goes to PS for English.) Then we are using a higher textbook/online program at home to present new material until she gets caught up in EPGY. I have found that the majority of parents using the program start their children out at least 1/2 a year behind where they think they would be, others even more, because of the differences in the program.


    EPGY OE Volunteer Group Leader
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    OP Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    Thanks everyone for your comments - Dandy, creating a test account to do the assessments "as him" and use that to judge what course to have him do is a brilliant idea, thanks especially for that.

    [on rereading, maybe I'm replying here to something that was actually addressed to Dandy, but never mind!]
    CFK, I've drooled over AoPS courses, but as far as I can see they don't have weekend classes at all, so DS wouldn't be able to "attend" the interactive sessions. (Unless school wanted to facilitate that, but it's really too much to ask, I think. At the moment, he does ALEKS online at home - just a few minutes every day, I don't think he'd have the energy left after school for a 90 minute class even if AoPS ever does them then our timezone - and we make sure he always has a fresh ALEKS worksheet in his bag so that his teacher can have him do it whenever it fits what's going on at school. He likes having the ALEKS sheets at school, and in fact at the moment, "so that your ALEKS sheets don't get all boringly the same" is the most convincing argument for him to get more ALEKS points on his pie.)

    Last edited by ColinsMum; 10/04/09 12:18 AM.

    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
    Joined: Jul 2009
    Posts: 1,743
    O
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    O
    Joined: Jul 2009
    Posts: 1,743
    Do you think if a child does an assessment with Alex you can take that to your school and say he belongs in X grade Math. Does the assessment give you something to print out with particulars. Is is difficult for a school to accept another Brand of Math? Our school uses Saxon Math which is great except for it too slow for my son with lots of repetion. Our school is letting him skip some of the work in Saxon Math.

    Last edited by onthegomom; 10/04/09 03:59 AM.
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    OP Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    I don't think you can ever expect just to be able to tell the school where your child belongs! However, part of the ALEKS report will let you compare your child's achievement to specific US state standards, and I imagine that might be very useful if you're in the US. I'm not sure how much school syllabuses differ within a state in the US, but certainly one of the things we've used the ALEKS reports and syllabuses for here in the UK is spotting where there are mismatches between ALEKS's syllabus and the school's.

    You can't actually print out the individual assessment your child does, i.e. print out the questions asked and what your child answered. It would be nice if that were possible, actually, I should probably suggest it.


    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail

    Moderated by  M-Moderator 

    Link Copied to Clipboard
    Recent Posts
    Testing with accommodations
    by aeh - 03/27/24 01:58 PM
    Quotations that resonate with gifted people
    by indigo - 03/27/24 12:38 PM
    For those interested in astronomy, eclipses...
    by indigo - 03/23/24 06:11 PM
    California Tries to Close the Gap in Math
    by thx1138 - 03/22/24 03:43 AM
    Gifted kids in Illinois. Recommendations?
    by indigo - 03/20/24 05:41 AM
    Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5