<p>S took Algebra in the 8th grade last year but did not do well enough to move to Geometry this year. He is a strong humanities student but struggles in math</p>
<p>He has seemingly been doing well in Algebra this year. Earned a B at the first Semester and so far has an A in the second. He meets with the teacher one or two times a week and gets extra help. In my conversations with the teacher his approach has seemed to be to build slowly, remind them of what they already know and help them to feel better about themselves as math students. I was happy that he seemed to be building confidence as well as mastery.</p>
<p>Now it seems that there is a chance that my S's grade is not a reflection of mastery. The teacher it appears hands out Cs and higher to the majority of his students and has a ridiculous curve. So I was wondering if any of you knew of a way to assess S's mastery. CA will be testing him but those results won't be available until August and I would like to get him Algebra help this summer. </p>
<p>I am not capable of assessing his knowledge in the subject without a tool so if you know of a good one, I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!</p>
<p>Doesn’t his book have problems at the end of the chapters? If so, can he do the problems okay? It should be pretty straightfoward whether he can do them or not with the variable being the amount of time it might take him to do the problems - i.e. if he manages to work his way through it but takes a very long time to do so.</p>
<p>I would use an algebra problem workbook (that you could probably buy at the Barnes & Noble or Amazon) or the school book during the summer for review (so he doesn’t forget all that he knows) and to spot out what areas weren’t covered by the teacher or not learned completely by your S. That way, his math brain will be ready to hit the ground running in the fall and you can be sure that he knows what he needs to know.</p>
<p>Ask him to do some of these [Algebra</a> worksheets and printables.](<a href=“http://math.about.com/od/algebraworksheets/Algebra_Worksheets.htm]Algebra”>Pre-Algebra and Algebra)</p>
<p>Something that looks like a better source: <a href=“http://www.kutasoftware.com/free.html[/url]”>http://www.kutasoftware.com/free.html</a></p>
<p>If you’re hoping for him to have a better understanding (maybe able to do some word problems) I bet you could find some of those two. Or ask some people here and they could make some up.</p>
<p>I like the “Key To” math series. They have workbooks in algebra, geometry, fractions, decimals, etc. We have found these books to be very helpful in augmenting our public school “integrated” curriculum which is hated by nearly everyone.</p>
<p>The algebra series starts at the basics so you would probably want to start at book 5 or above.</p>
<p>[Key</a> to Algebra - Key Curriculum Press](<a href=“The Geometer's Sketchpad”>The Geometer's Sketchpad)</p>
<p>I ABHOR integrated math! (Sorry, rant…)</p>
<p>Those Key to books look interesting, 2girls4me.</p>
<p>ALEKS.com has a trial period and he can take an assessment there. It will give feedback about how where is right now.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the feedback. I was just feeling at such a loss that I didn’t even think of things like having hi do problem sets. duh! </p>
<p>The only problem with that is that I feel helpless to really measure his understanding. Also the closer I get to him with a math book in my hand the further away from me he pulls so I really was hoping for some sort of test that I could present him with, allow him to take and score with a key. He gets his math skill set from me so I am of no use other than as an administrator. </p>
<p>2girls4me The materials you recommend look great. Thanks!</p>
<p>PhotoOp I am off to check that out right now. Thanks a million!</p>
<p>PhotoOP do you have personal experience with the Aleks program? I like the look of it for tutoring assistance and assessment but don’t trust myself to be able to evaluate it since I am, like my boy humanities and social science minded.</p>
<p>From your description, I get a sense that your S benefits from one-on-one help in math, as for example the help provided by his teacher. I also get the sense that you do not feel comfortable in doing your own evaluation of your S math skills and progress. Generally books, and on-line programs work well if they are complemented with someone who evaluates the results, and tunes the focus accordingly.</p>
<p>So, if you can afford it, I strongly recommend that you get your S a tutor – possibly now, and certainly during the summer. The tutor can provide the review, the focus and the tuning. Without the tutor you may be losing an opportunity to correct soon enough. Math is a subject in which falling behind can be irrecoverable in high school.</p>
<p>ALEKS will give your child an online assessment which will tell you <em>exactly</em> what he can and cannot do. I’ve used ALEKS. The assessments are accurate. </p>
<p>If you look around a little, you can find the key for a one-month free trial.</p>
<p>I tutor high school math to kids whose parents are well able to do the math themselves. Why do they bring me in? Many kids just can’t work with their parents. Look for a college kid to tutor during the summer. He or she would probably appreciate the pocket money.</p>
<p>On the California Department of Education website, you can print out a sample STAR Algebra test, made up of released questions from prior years. It’s useful for representing a similar range of problems as the actual test, and the answers are included at the end. You can administer the test to your child yourself, correct it, and then figure out what he still needs to learn.</p>
<p>SV mom thank you. </p>
<p>Cardinal Fang I am happy to hear that you find ALEKs a useful tool. It looks like soemthing best done in conjunction w/ a human tutor no? </p>
<p>fogcity you nailed it</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input. I was feeling pretty helpless and desperate on friday but now have a bit of a plan and direction. Discussed tutoring with S and for the first time he didn’t dig in his heels and refuse. Progress!</p>
<p>I don’t think ALEKS is meant to be used with a human tutor, though it could be. The people I know who use ALEKS do not have human tutors.</p>
<p>Just wanted to update you all with some cautiously optimistic news. DS decided he wanted to try to get caught up before summer started and is now working with another teacher in the math department. It is going well. kid is volunteering information, seems to be gaining in confidence and told me that “when I saw that I got the wrong answer I used what I knew and reworked the problem until I got it right.” </p>
<p>CF we will be using ALEKS this summer if necessary (and barring a miracle it will be). I went to their website and found that one of their endorsers is a friend of mine who is a high school math teacher.</p>
<p>Thank you all for throwing me a lifeline. I think we may be OK at this point.</p>