Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Typical middle school math progression?

In our district, the local culture and individual teachers make all the difference. It's not the subject matter, so much as the homework load, trickiness of the tests (including topics assigned as reading but never as homework or covered in class, for instance), and so on that make classes like falling off a cliff. I recommend you ask around your local area and haunt local forums for the feel of the different tracks.

Ah...I suppose Google is the way to go. I wasn't sure what I'd called the thread, so was searching for "middle school math." Ths search function here is maddening.

This is complicated because many schools and districts are in the middle of changing everything because of Common Core. So in my district things were ONE way until this year, and they are going to be very different for all kids who haven't already passed Algebra I starting next year. This INVOLVES all the kids from the most advanced to the most struggling. In my school district junior high starts at 7th grade, but there are some gifted students who take 7th grade math in 6th grade. I'm taking 1/700 students who take anything more advanced.

In my school district UNTIL next year the regular track for the most advanced kids was Algebra I in 7th, Geometry in 8th, H. Algebra II in 9th, H. Pre-Calc in 10th. AP BC Calc in 11th, with AP Statistics & AP Computer Science as options for 11th & 12th grade. There are a tiny number of outliers who have done this sequence even earlier. One kid in DS's class who started Algebra I in 5th grade and took Calculus as a 9th grader.

Starting with next year our district is going to Common Core Integrated Model for all students who haven't already passed Algebra I. Common Core 8th grade math is a new class that includes topics from what used to be Algebra I. Math I, II, III is a replacement for Algebra I, Geometry & Algebra II and some topics from what used to be Pre-Algebra. My district is going to make it possible to move straight from Math III to BC AP Calc.

The honors kids will be doing compacted classes because there is no "skipping" in Common Core. Most advanced regular track is a "Compacted" sequence that gets students through H.S. Math I by the end of 8th grade. A second "compacted sequence" for 9th & 10th -- that includes Math 2 & Math 3 + trig. So that a student is ready for AP Calculus as an 11th grader. Putting the kids on the same path as before. Honestly last I saw the district hadn't figured out the details of the "upper" part of the honors sequence yet.

Are you confused yet?

My advice. Even if they tell you there is no room to move, a student can usually always move "DOWN" to an easier sequence between school years. In my school is is easy to move down, you have to get near perfect scores to move up. This is one of the changes the district is implementing ways for kids who start the Math 1 as 9th graders to move up.

Our district...

Regular track:
6th grade math, 7th grade math, 8th grade math which is pre-algebra, 9 th grade algebra, etc is one tract

Honors:
The next track is 6th grade math honors, 7th grade honors (pre algebra), 8th grade algebra, 9 th geometry, etc

Accelerated:
The newest track is 6th grade accelerated (I believe it is 6th and pre algebra combined, 7th algebra, 8th geometry, 9th algebra 2, etc. it wasn't available for my older son but hope to get my younger in it.

Our district is very similar except that these days they are trying to move the majority of students to the 2nd track:

track 1: 6th grade math, 7th grade math, 8th grade pre-algebra, 9th grade algebra. etc.

track 2: 6th grade math, 7th grade pre-algebra, 8th grade algebra, 9th grade geometry. etc.

track 3: 6th grade pre-algebra, 7th grade algebra, 8th grade geometry. etc.

You can go to an even faster track by individually arranging it with the school.

At high school, you pretty much go from where you end up with in middle school. In our magnet school, though, there is another very comprehensive placement test and you can accelerate even further.

Our district is similar with the three tracks. Maybe there is something lower too for kids with learning disabilities. We have maybe 75% on the average track, 20-25% on advanced track and 1-2% on the highest track (highly gifted program students and a few kids other kids who test into Algebra after 6 grade pre-AP math). They could easily get more kids on the highest track if they accelerated all of the gifted kids starting in 4th like they do in the highly gifted program. I'm guessing that they don't do that because there wouldn't be enough of them for an entire class in elementary at each school.

Our tracks are in transition as well, as a graduated adjustment over a few years. The new path, after the shift, will be 6th grade math, then 7th pre-Algebra, 8th Algebra I, 9th Geometry, 10th Algebra II, with additional course required in 11th. After transition, the core requirements end up a year ahead of previous path (before, Algebra II was 11th grade for regular track).

Accelerated path shifts 5th graders into 6th grade math; 6th pre-Algebra, 7th Algebra I, 8th Geometry, Algebra II in 9th, then 10-12th are Trig/pre-Calc to AP Calc AB to AP Calc BC, with AP Statistics as an alternate to one of those, and a few other courses also available. The accelerated track is Honors level for Algebra, Geometry and Algebra II; accelerating 2 years shifts pre-Algebra to 5th, same sequence forward.

My two older kids attend different private schools which have interesting course progressions:

School 1's most accelerated path:
7th grade-accelerated math (includes some algebra), 8th-algebra (algebra 1 and 2 combined), 9th geometry (includes some precalc), 10th pre-calc (includes Calc AB), 11th calc BC, 12th multivariate calc.

There are several other options for kids to go at a slower pace, including one that starts with 9th grade Algebra I

School 2's accelerated path:
6th grade- everybody in the same class, 7th grade algebra, 8th algebra 2 & geometry (1 semester each), 9th algebra 2 & geometry (1 semester each), 10th precalc, 11th calc AB, 12th calc BC. 1 semester of stats is also required for everybody.

The non-accelerated pathway has algebra in 8th.

So with a very few exceptions, it appears DD's projected math track, if she chooses the one she tested into, is similar to the highest/hardest/most accelerated typically available, though obviously some do individual accelerations beyond this. My question is (hard to answer)--what is this track likely to be like for, say, a 95th-97th percentile math achiever? That's what I think DD is. May seem like a fine point, but we all know it isn't--she isn't 99th%, IMO. Math will probably be her hardest subject, though--I don't see her struggling in other areas.

From my back of the envelope calculation, about 5-10% of our students do the track your DD tested into. The success rate among these kids is quite high. So my guess is that if she's above 95%ile, she will be fine.

About half our students do the next track down, Calc in 12th grade.