math placement letters

I do hope that they have expanded the accelerated program, and to be clear, when I say the accelerated math program, I am referring to the program which puts (1) 6th graders in 7th grade math; (2) 7th graders in 8th grade math and (3) sends 8th graders to CHS to take Geometry. That is the only route which prepares them to take AP Calculus their junior year.

I tried to find the current statistics, but I could not. The District used to issue an "Appendix" to their annual "State of the District" report each year and the Appendix was chock full of charts, and included charts showing how many students were in the accelerated math program in the middle schools. The most recent statistics I could find were for 2007 to 2010, and with the exception of 2008, the number of students was enough for one class of 22 students in each school (SOM, MMS) for each grade (6,7,8). SOM in 2008 had 30 more than MMS, but after that it dropped back to the same as MMS. So, dg64, are you saying that they now have more than one class at each school for each year, or that they have more than 22 in the one class?

dg64 said:

RobinM2 said:
This would be good. Where didyou get that information? (But it doesn't change the import of my point about qualifying score creep).

dg64 said:
@RobinM2 - The number of students in accelerated math classes have gone up quite a bit in recent years - from about one class per school to about 3 of accelerated 7th graders. Could more students qualify? I have no idea.

From personal experience with both my kids, who are currently in accelerated math.

RobinM2, My seventh grader's Algebra 1 class has around 30 kids including accelerated 7th graders and Advanced Honors 8th graders. It is my understanding that there are 3 more classes like his being taught Algebra 1 at SOMS. I believe that last year there were 2 classes of accelerated 6th graders at SOMS. So, this year they have nearly double the enrollment as last year, though it is a mixed group of 7th and 8th graders.

The last time I saw numbers of how many kids accelerated each year was during the discussion leading to the deleveling of all core subjects but math at the middle schools.

bookbabe66 said:

Way to many students in this district, including mine, need tutoring to help them truly understand the material. I am lucky enough to afford tutoring but everyone in our community can't.
We need to change not only how students are placed in levels but how the material is taught.

I think math instruction at the middle schools are an important issue.

bookbabe66 said:

Another thing that worries me is that we have step up programs for kids who want to go up a level but where are the remedial programs for students who need extra help?

They have those too in the summer (at least they did last summer).