Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Math acceleration in 6th grade (long post)

First, my apology for the long post ...

Anyway, here it goes. Just found out today that our 6th grader DS10 (will turn 11 in 3 wks) is recommended to take pre-algebra class. He had math assessment test on Thursday and Friday, and didn't do so well. Had the school made the placement solely based on the assessment, he would not have been able even to go to pre-algebra! I know that he knows the answers to these questions. He was able to blurt out the correct answers when I asked him. Good thing that the middle school math specialist actually knows him and has worked with him.

She still recommends him to be in pre-algebra class based on the following reasons:

1. He will be in good company. They are going to be at least 6 kids who will be about the same level as he is. The teacher is planning to get these kids to finish the regular problems (maybe about 15-20 problems). Since these will be "easy" for these kids, they should be able to finish them quickly, and then they will be given the harder problems, most likely, problem solving.

2. She believed that he would get so much more out of algebra if he takes it later next year. She also warned us against putting him in a 'too high' math track as he gets to high school later.

3. The school has initially offered to accelerate him to 7th grade, but we decided against it since our DS wanted to stay with his friends. We agreed to keep him in 6th with the understanding that he would be able to continue to go to 8th grade science (which he did in the second half of 5th grade last year) and to Algebra 1 with a particular math specialist that worked with him last year. Unfortunately, both will happen at the same time. Algebra 1 will be offered at different time, too, but it will be with different teacher. The math specialist told us that based on what she knows about the kids, she highly recommends the pre-algebra since these kids will be at higher level than the algebra 1 class being offered at a later time.

4. She thought that DS should try the pre-algebra class for a few weeks. If it doesn't work out, we can try to find another solution.

DS is really disappointed and mad at himself for not doing well in the test. I've explained to him that in life, when it really counts, we have to "show up." Just like the athlete who has worked hard for years has to be able to perform at his / her peak for the race.

I also told him that the recommendation is not based on that particular assessment only. Unfortunately, it does make it a bit harder to push for higher class. We're not sure what we should do next. This is a boy who scored high in his WISC-IV, and his math in WIAT got him into DYS. Last year when he was in 5th, he worked independently and finished Singapore Math 6A/B, did some chapters on Singapore NEM, and the first 3 chapters of AoPS. He didn't do much math over the summer, only a few pages of MathCount problems. nstead, spent countless hours on his Nerf gun

My questions now are:
1. Should we just let him try it out, hope for the best, and ask for some changes if it doesn't work out?

2. We can try to push for Algebra 1 for him, and even some of the kids that are supposedly at the same level as he is. However, the school, in principal, are not too keen on allowing 6th graders taking Algebra 1.

3. I have re-read the "Calculus Trap" article in AoPS website, and the discussion of that article in this forum. If we apply what Richard Rusczyk wrote to DS' situation, does it mean that he would really be better off being in pre-algebra with lots of problem solving skills added to the class than taking algebra 1 now? How relevant do you think the article is to HG / PG kids?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

ETA: this post is very opinionated, but you know your DS and I don't. Please take what works and leave the rest!

Sounds good, provided your DS will work fast enough at the "easy" problems to have plenty of time for the hard ones. Maybe have him time himself and use it consciously for speed/accuracy practice?

This is very plausible; there really isn't much stuff in Algebra I. All the interesting mathematical development potential of either class is in the problem solving. Your maths specialist sounds like a gem, actually :-)

In a word: yes. And it's definitely relevant in its main point which is: it really doesn't matter when you learn a particular technique; what matters is how good you are at solving problems. (I think RR understands HG+ kids much better than ND ones, actually - his main focus is on those doing maths competition at a high level, and I imagine there's a correlation there!)

If in prealgebra your DS will not learn any techniques new to him - he'll be there just for problem solving and for speed/accuracy practice - you may find at some point that he's desperate for new stuff, and then maybe he can find some in the AOPS book you have at home. His not having done much maths over the summer speaks against that, though, I think. I see it as being rather like "let the kid trust their body" when it comes to eating. Sometimes they're hungry for new maths stuff, sometimes they're not. Right now it sounds as though although he wanted to be in Alg I, it wasn't really because he's desperate to learn new maths, or he'd have been doing that over the summer. It may be just the right time to stop taking in new stuff and focus on gaining maturity with what he's got.

kcab,

I wish the test was at the end of last year, too! In a way, it was good learning experience for DS. At least, the school does not make decision based on this one test only. I wished we had pushed harder for pre-algebra class last year at school.

Re. AoPS pre-algebra, I've looked at their website and he actually tried the post-test from their website. He almost finished only the pre-algebra 1 post test, and he seemed to be doing just fine with it. We'll see how he does the 2nd part later today.

The reason why the math specialist is recommending this pre-algebra class is really because the group of kids that he will be with. We do have MathCount as afterschool program. I'll just to work out the scheduling

ColinsMum,

I like your opinion

DS had a really bad math teacher last year, and that's why we ended up pulling him out of that math class and worked with him independently. He was really eager to learn 'real math stuff' (in his own words) last year from this teacher that supposedly had experience teaching middle school math. Instead, he had to go through drill after drill of multiplication facts. The teacher thought that his best math student was the one who could finished the drill the fastest.

Yesterday I printed out the Pre-algebra 1 & 2 post-tests from AoPS website. We'll see how he does in both. I agree with what you said that it doesn't matter which class he's in as long as he's able to learn 'new things'. In his case, it may very well be more problem solving using the skills that he had already learned last year.

DS wanted to be in Algebra 1 class with another math specialist that had worked with him in the last 2 months of last school year. Unfortunately, the scheduling may not work. He will have to give up science accommodation to be in that math class.