Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Downside to accelerating in math in middle school?

My son will be entering middle school in NC this year. We may have the opportunity for him to independently take the required high-school math courses in middle school but when he enters high school he would still be required to take 4 years of math courses.

He would be left taking much higher level math classes than others which potentially could negatively impact his GPA. I had not thought of this but the school warned us of this potential issue.

I want him to be challenged and learn but do not want to put him at a disadvantage because we do not know how to play the "game" for college admissions. Has anyone else dealt with this type of situation and if so could you let me know your thought process, what you chose and if you would do anything different...I understand colleges want to see that you have taken the most challenging courses available but for our school district, no one else would be in this situation which is great if he does well but could be negative if he does not.

My general feeling is that he likes to be challenged in math and I see no reason that he would not do very well in the higher level courses in high school. He is quite young though and I hate to make choices now that could be problematic in the future.

My choices seem to be to have him take the required tests and accelerate through the high-school math courses or instead he may be allowed to work independently during math classes on courses I purchase for him through EPGY, AoPS, etc but take the end of grade tests on grade level and not be accelerated.

Perhaps we have a different system here, but there is a set curriculum of high school math required for graduation. These are the courses that universities recognize for admissions, and they would be used in calculating GPAs. If your DS were to take the complete series of high school math in middle school, his high school transcript would simply accumulate the credits, but they would also be listed on middle school report cards.

You need to figure out exactly how this works in your district. From what you are saying, he will finish Calc BC, AP Stats and Linear Algebra in MS?

If that is the case - and there are some kids here that take that path - is there a college nearby? Kids around here just go to a nearby college (there are three four-year colleges within a mile of the HS). Also, in our district, HS courses taken in MS do not show up on your HS transcript. If you take a course outside the HS (for example, a college math course), it counts as a credit but does not factor into GPA.

I know that things work differently in other areas. I see this all the time on this site, but I find it hard to believe that no one else has faced this situation. There are always a few kids in each class in our HS who have run out of HS math classes by 9th or 10th grade, sometimes by 8th.

If math is the path, then the big future step is grad school. I was reading an interesting discussion that suggested that people making it into the top grad math programs were ones taking linear algebra their freshman year of college.

Our plan is to make sure DS continues moving at the pace that suits him and he enjoys.

Good GPA is common, kids graduating HS with three+ years of college math credit are not at all common.

Our approach is to with the right level and pace now. Cross future bridges if and when they come.

For course availability we have AoPS, then the local university. The courses won't run out.

As to high school credits, the whole thing is ridiculous. Any decent university should recognize when a student is radically accelerated, and view it positively.

Does the school have math classes beyond Calculus, such as Multi-Variable Calc or Linear Algebra? My school does not, my son who will finish Calculus Junior year will probably take AP Computer Science as his "math" class. But my school/state only REQUIRES two years of math and to pass algebra. But the two years of H.S. math he took in H.S. do not count, nor are they part of his transcript to go to university. I had not sure what the one classmate who finished Calculus as a freshman is going to do, although I assume it's to take courses at the local university.

This is something to consider. On the other hand if you so in bored in math now, he might decide he dislikes math or do worse. I have seen this happen with a few kids. I have seen a kid get so bored in pre-Algebra as to be almost failing be moved to Algebra and start Acing the class.

Look at what the school offers for classes in H.S. I wouldn't worry that a bright math kid who was doing well in math through Calculus would have a particular problem with Linear Algebra and necessarily lower his GPA.

Another question is how many kids get accelerated like this. At my school probably 15% of the kids take Algebra in 7th grade, but only one or two earlier than that. It is really quite common these days for kids to finish Calculus by the end of Junior year.

Here the grades count even if a HS-level course is taken during the MS years. We have accelerated our immature/disorganized math lover anyway, and I think the chips will fall where they may in terms of GPA.

I am reading all sorts of technical assistance papers on the ACCEL law here in FL. I really think that on a state level the ACCEL law is very pro gifted. (At the school level I think things are still small battle after small battle). Supposedly one of the things under this law is that the schools have to inform you of your options.

The thing is at this time you as a parent have to know that it exists and understand it. From my advocacy at the beginning of last year, speaking with the gifted district level person, if you trot out the words "I would like to discuss options under ACCEL" you have your ticket. If you don't use the magic words, you get the run around.

One thing that I just saw that is interesting is that elementary students and middle school students (and we already have many many 8th graders getting high school credit for math and science classes and the grades go on the transcript so that is nothing new)now can bank high school credits. AND the funny thing is they don't even have to take the actual class through the school system...so if they are a full time elementary school student and they pass the EOC for a high school class they can bank that credit for high school credit...it is called some sort of CAP program...but I can't find what CAP stands for.

Here is an interesting overview (it has some extraneous info involving funding for the districts but it is very interesting).

http://www.fldoe.org/bii/Gifted_Ed/

Look under Technical Assistance Papers...the last link in that section.

Our DD13 finished 9th grade in June, having taken Geometry as her math class.

Our thought process when advocating for both of her whole grade accelerations, and in accepting the school's recommendation to further accelerate her in math, was to be prepared to sacrifice GPA for actual learning. Sure she could have snoozed her way to an easy A+ in 7th grade math this year. Instead she was challenged and had to fight for her A in Geometry. At the end of the year her GPA might be slightly lower than it could be, but in exchange she has gained much more value in real knowledge.

Would we do anything different? Not substantially. Maybe if I could think of a way to boost her confidence in her math ability. Since math is her relative weakness, she thinks she is not good at math. Frustrating since she considers me good at math, yet at 13 I was looking to take 8th grade math where she's queued up for Algebra II.

Best of luck,
--S.F.

Well, I am not sure that I am qualified to reply as we are still in the process. However, I do have to say that the decision has been pretty clear based on balancing what DS absolutely needed with practical considerations. This has meant choosing not to accelerate as fast as DS can ace a course, but only as far as it would have actually been harmful to not accelerate. As a result, DS is an incoming 6th grader who has been accelerated two years so scheduled for Geometry with 8th graders in the Fall. This means that DS will likely be taking either Linear Algebra or Differential Equations as a Junior or Senior even if he also takes the "sideways" option of Statistics as a Junior/Senior. Although Linear Algebra and Differential Equations are harder than Calculus, they are also natural progressions so not necessarily harder to ace.
Of course, in your DS' case, you may be talking about a more radical acceleration than we have chosen for my DS, but the same issues are present. Ultimately, I would say go with your gut. If everything has been so easy thus far, it makes more sense to stay on course unless/until your DS hits a wall. For what it is worth, I would go with your option #1 and accelerate rather than to work independently on EPGY, AOPS, etc. without acceleration. While I know that some people think highly of EPGY and AOPS, they are not accredited and there is the perception in some education circles that they are not sufficient in and of themselves. I am not knocking AOPS because I actually love alcumus but I wouldn't allow that to be DS' only credential for practical purposes.