Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Hitting a brick wall with algebra

I have asked over and over again if the grades on high school math classes done in middle school count in high school and most teachers say no and others say "I don't know." I ask if these classes show up on high school transcripts and again it's unknown. It's not like this is something new. I think that middle school teachers just don't know much about high school.
Our classes are no longer called "algebra" and "geometry". They get called Common Core 1 and 2 because they are that "integrated" business of stirring the 2 subjects together.

Now I'm curious what books our kids are using in math!!

The students will get credits for completing HS class in middle school and count towards graduation but not in their GPA. (at least most schools are).

Here, they appear on the transcript, kids get credit, and the grades are definitely figured into the GPA. One of the reasons the school has been so resistant to allowing acceleration I imagine; when kids sign up for middle school classes that are essentially high school classes on the middle school campus (like the math being discussed here), parents are sent multiple letters and what seem to be warnings, alterting them to this very point. (We are in a school where every parent is certain their kid should be in the top classes, etc, and in lieu of denying anyone opportunity, they allow anyone to take the advanced classes with a parental override of the teacher recommendations.)

I would see if you can ask someone (guidance counselor, perhaps) at the high school.

Same here. This is a big reason why our schools treat accelerations very very carefully, because they want kids to take challenging classes and get As. Parents sometimes don't realize this. For districts that routinely offer accelerated courses, they know exactly how these courses will be figured into transcripts and GPAs, parents need to find the right person to ask. My DD was allowed to start acceleration only this year (in 5th grade), she has finished 6th and 7th grade math and pre-algebra in the past 5 months or so, and will finish Algebra 1 before the end of 5th grade. But because her acceleration is arranged by the district, the district coordinator is keeping an eye and communicating with us on next steps.

Yes-- DD's math coursework starting in 6th grade was part of her high school transcript. (Algebra I)

I just referenced the letter we got when DD tested into this class, and it's actually quite clear. It says her 7th and 8th grade grades in math will be entered into her "permanent" high school GPA, though this still confuses me a bit--I guess she just will have more high school grades to average than other kids? It is actually a bit of a "scare" letter, direly worded, and I hesitated to put her in this class, even though she tested in easily. I posted about it here when making the decision, in fact.

In my district, AFAIK, you may not take this class without meeting two bars (standardized test score bar--easy--and placement test--harder).

I finally found this about high school math classes taken in our district's middle schools:

The grade will be listed on the high school transcript under Grade 6, 7, and 8 with one unit of credit.

Only courses taken during the high school years will be included in the student’s grade point average.

In our case this is a good thing. DD is doing very well in all classes, but as DD is emotional, ADHD, and very young for middle school we could see things change. I don't want her grades received at age 10 to affect her college choices.

It's interesting how different this is from location to location. My experience is like yours, not as ultramarina's and so many others. Ds's first class in HS will be precalc, and he'll take calc BC in 10th. Even though he takes Honors AlgII/Trig at the high school now, because he is in 8th grade, it shows up on his middle school transcript. In a way, this makes sense to me, because he is in 8th grade now. Whether he takes Alg or Geometry or 8th grade math or trig, it's his 8th grade math class.
What does NOT make sense to me is that he is still required to take the same number of hs math classes. IMHO, it should be "3 years or through Calculus" or "4 years or through Pre-Calc" or whatever you want, but right now he'll have to take at least Calc III for dual credit-which we'll have to pay for- in order to fulfill his high school requirements (and I've heard that some of the classes listed in the math dept, like AP Computer Sci/stats/micro won't fulfill that particular requirement).

And see, in some instances, this is how state graduation requirements are codified, which is why the policy of inclusion of those middle-school classes has to happen on transcripts. Otherwise, they'd have simply RUN OUT of math coursework to take in the first place.
It depends on how it's written up, and where-- if it's state law, there's not much wiggle room. If it's department of education "policy" then that means exceptions can be granted.


So yes-- if your state law requires "X years of high school mathematics" then, er-- coming into 9th grade as a calculus student means that there may be no effective means of satisfying the requirement in a technical sense. Not unless classes taken prior to entry into high school are allowed to be shown on the transcript, if they grant an exemption allowing the student to take distance college coursework, or something else like that. DD was allowed to use AP Stats, for example, though AP Computer Sci/Econ would NOT have counted.

Unfortunately, this is one of those ways in which GT students challenge the ways in which educational programming supposedly "works." The problem here is that nobody thought about this when writing the rules and the policies, which leave a sort of "undefined" gap between them that kids like this fall into.

That answer is THIS HAS CHANGED RECENTLY.

When my son took H.S. math classes in junior high I was told unequivocalably NO they didn't count for college admits. But things have changed. As of THIS year many of the state schools in California as of this year DO look at those grades. Not sure how the H.S. are handling it because those grades are NOT part of their H.S. transcript and not part of the GPA the High School shows. But I was told that the school was going to be handling this case since it was so common but I don't know how they are handling this.

I found this.. For UC's it's only if you take GEOMETRY in junior high. It's because they require Geometry to be taken.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/geometry-requirement-factsheet.pdf