Beating the Math Tracking System

Parents Forum
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<p>I need advice from any parents who have successfully gotten their school to reconsider an elementary or middle school math placement/tracking decision. Class grades and achievement test scores would support the placement I am seeking, but apparently not the results of the school-administered placement test. I am looking for ammunition I can use to argue in favor of higher placement regardless. Some 7th graders take algebra, some pre-algebra, and some grade level math. I am seeking the pre-algebra level for D for next year. </p>

<p>I don't want to bore you with too much background, but my 6th grade D is a special education student who began her school career in the pre-school handicapped program, then moved to self-contained classes for grades K-3, and then to mainstream classes with resource room support for grades 3 (repeated)-4, to now mainstream classes with in-class support (which she does not utilize). </p>

<p>Math has never been her forte, but she has made tremendous progress over the last few years once I demanded she be mainstreamed. In general, the self-contained curriculum was too basic for her needs and she was not encouraged to progress in her areas of strength. Several years ago she was below the lowest band (low proficient) on the math achievement test used by our district, but her 5th grade scores place her solidly in the advanced proficient category. Also, she earned high A's (98 avg.) every marking period in grade level math this year.</p>

<p>The problem is two-fold. One, our district has a high population of students who participate in outside tutoring and math classes, and these students form the majority of those selected for advanced classes. Our D does not receive outside math instruction for financial reasons and because of time constraints. (She probably does need more time to do homework than other students, but she is also involved in various EC's which are crucial to help her with social skills.) The second problem is that given her classification, she does not "seem" like the best fit for a higher level math in the eyes of the school. They don't want her to "feel overwhelmed." </p>

<p>My argument is that she works very hard and so far has managed to learn well whatever has been taught her in school. I do not believe her special ed. background should hold her back, nor should the fact that she doesn't study math outside school. I believe the school's assessment test caters to those who have been pre-taught. Also, her file shows numerous batteries of IQ and other psychological tests, the results of which would never have predicted D's current level of success (high A's in all grade level classes). Therefore, I don't believe certain types of assessment testing offer predictive accuracy in D's case. Regardless, her normed achievement test scores are high. In addition, I believe she needs strong academic role models, and especially in the high school it will be important for her to be in at least the middle level of math for that to happen with some consistency. Lastly, it would be tough for any student, much less one with disablilities) to do well enough on the SAT's unless they take Algebra 2 in junior year and no later, which she couldn't do if she stays in grade level math for 7th grade.</p>

<p>Suggestions? I've been researching testing and special ed. students, but am not finding data which I can use in support.</p>

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<p>DS’s private school allows a student to start in the higher level class but explains that if the grades are not good enough, the student will be placed in the lower level class at the end of the first marking period. To me, this is win-win. Everyone is on the same page and everyone has the student’s interests at heart.</p>

<p>I would add that around here it is pretty easy to get a child moved.</p>

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<p>Can you find out what the school placement test was and how your D did on it? Are there any kids in the class that are exceptions? I can’t give you advice on how to approach the school with the best tactic as it so depends on the school. If the school regularly makes exceptions to their criteria, you would have a wedge for your argument. If not…it can be a problem.</p>

<p>When we moved here, we found out that our school district is very strict in gate housing for AP courses. When I looked into the matter, I found that the chances were zilch to get my kids in those classes because there were so many families fighting the same battle and the school was just not budging for any of them without extraordinary reason if that even. I think some fodder for your argument is that your D’s handicaps should not be an issue in her placement if she can do the work in the class.</p>

<p>I hesitate in egging you on in this battle, because in my experience, many handicapped kids who have done well in school have a big problem with Algebra and other middle school subjects. I watched my son very carefully because he had central nervous IT chemo treatment that is known to affect one;s cognitive skills. Sure enough when they hit middle school, many kids that we knew who had undergone this chemotherapy started having problems. Something about the second degree though processes necessary as you approach algebra, along with thematic concerns in term papers really hit these kids hard. The reading also become onerous. That they take a longer time to get the work done, becomes a big problem when the work load is set up to be rigorous. </p>

<p>But my son got through it as did most of those kids, though a significant percentage did struggle, so one cannot make such generalities to every kid, and if you feel it would be beneficial for you D to get a chance at the more rigorous courses, this is something you need to address directly with the school.</p>

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<p>Had the opposite situation with my child (its complicated, I won’t bore you). We allowed her to be pushed forward, against our better judgment. Didn’t work out very well, so I’m biased.</p>

<p>That having been said, I have two thoughts (not trying to run your life, but maybe worth thinking about).</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Except for a VERY small number of students, being pushed forward in math simply means that you hit the wall a year earlier–whether the wall comes in high school or college. So except for issues of being in the right peer group, I’m generally not a fan.</p></li>
<li><p>On the long term SAT question, one possibility would be to have her stay in “standard” courses for a while, and then have her take algebra 2 over the summer after her sophomore year.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Huh? Wouldn’t “normal grade level math” be:</p>

<p>7th: whatever they call 7th grade math
8th: pre-algebra
9th: algebra I
10th: geometry
11th: algebra II
12th: precalculus
college: calculus</p>

<p>?</p>

<p>On the other hand, if she is acing 6th grade math in 6th grade, placement one year ahead in 7th grade is a perfectly reasonable request (and she may be bored in normal grade level math).</p>

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<p>It may be easier to work with high schools
Have your d take Geometry during the summer at a high school your district will accept transfer credit (private, Catholic high schools-check with the guidance counselors), she takes and passes the Geometry placement test before school starts and gets placed into the higher math class (usually Algebra II/Trig)</p>

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<p>Our county allows parents to sign a waiver that basically says that the parent wants the student to take a class against school recommendations. You might want to check to see if your school system has something like this in place.</p>

<p>Is there anyone in your school system who advocates for kids with special needs? You could try calling the district or state department of ed for assistance.</p>

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<p>No matter how smart a kid is (uber genius excepted) they need the prep work to advance in math. We are a math family and my older kids had great middle school & algebra teachers, one did Algebra in grade 7. My youngest ended up with some school switches and some very very different math styles, one did a year of each subject and one did integrated, so she had 2/3 of a year of each of three subjects. She has never really owned her math potential due to this fragmented history. </p>

<p>I would only recommend advanced early math if the ground work has been laid and she will be ready for that level of work. Most people cannot skip around in math. My youngest had weaker teachers and a weaker school system in middle school and was not as ready as she should have been when she attended a strong high school.</p>

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<p>Unless you see your D aiming for tippy top schools, I don’t see the need for the rush. Does she really need to track towards Calculus senior year? She could easily take Alg 1 as a Frosh, Geom as a Soph, and Alg II Junior year. Take the SAT in spring, (when most kids take it). The SAT only has a handful of Alg 2 problems on it anyway. She could miss them all, and still score well.</p>

<p>Of course, the ACT math is a little more “advanced”, in that it includes 4 trig problems.</p>

<p>But to your question…our DO will allow a student to advance against recommendations, if the parent signs a ‘failure waiver’, i.e., if the student doesn’t do well, s/he will have to repeat the following year.</p>

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<p>I just wanted to add that your post seems to do a very good job of succinctly making your case. Well it convinced me! </p>

<p>Is it possible to hire a psychologist to run a present day psycho-educational assessment to determine her current abilities? Maybe some additional independent data would help?</p>

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<p>My argument to them would be that if a kid who is getting As in grade level math classes is NOT a candidate for acceleration, then who is?!! Also, I’d point out that you are not asking her to be put into the Algebra 1 group, merely the pre-algebra group. Then I’d ask for a chance for her to prove to them that she can handle it, asking them to have an open mind about the possibilities within special education kids.</p>

<p>And, if you are successful, you will need to monitor your D’s progress in the class. One of the challenges as you accelerate up the math ladder is that the pace of learning quickens. Even if your D can learn harder math concepts in time, she may not get the time. The class will have moved on long before she has mastered the topic.</p>

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<p>This is EXACTLY what the middle school administrators told us too. Our son had been in a special ed school from 1-5th grades and was in our public school, grade level math for 6th. My husband was determined to get him into a higher level; he knew my son would do well. If he was taught it, he’d understand; if he was held back, that’s where he’d be. </p>

<p>But the school resisted. Said it’d be “overwhelming”. After much discussion, they gave him an option: take a bridge class during the summer, so he could go “up” a level if he was successful. He did that and got a B. Yet still they kept him in grade level math in 7th grade, saying they “had to test him out”. By now (November), my husband felt SO frustrated, and up until that point, had never been involved with school IEP meetings. They had said they’d move him “if he did well enough”, but still they didn’t move him.</p>

<p>Finally, after more tests proving he was ready, he switched. Of course, by now, one third of the school year was over. But he managed, with extra help from my husband. He continued at this track throughout high school. 7th: pre-algebra, 8th: algebra I, 9th: geometry, 10th: algebra II, 11th: precalculus, 12th: calculus. He even was in Honors Algebra except went back to regular leveled (no Honors or AP) after a really (notoriously) horrible teacher. He took the SAT once in the spring of his junior year: 780M.</p>

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<p>I made this argument exactly, and it worked. D did pre-algebra in 7th grade, Algebra 1 in 8th, Geometry in 9th, Algebra II in 10th, pre-calc this past year. And I’ve come to regret it. Geometry is almost literally impossible for her due to a visual/spatial disability…she really hasn’t got the capacity to go on in math so will have no math her senior year in HS. And that will not look good on her transcript at all–if she’d gone at the more ordinary pace, she’d have 4 years of high school math.</p>

<p>Since your D has done well in math before, it sounds as if she could go to pre-algebra next year, and maybe that would be best for her. But if she’s not someone who’s naturally interested in math, I’d consider letting her go at the slower pace, especially if there are pieces missing on the IQ tests-- those things can start to wreak havoc as the math gets higher.</p>

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<p>My D1 was in a similar position in MS- she scored slightly below the cutoff on the Algebra placement test but had an A in 7th grade math and high standardized test scores. The school was unwilling to put her into Alg I in 8th grade until we fought for it- long story short she did fine in Alg I and continued on doing fine in all of her math classes through to Calc AB her Senior year. Sometimes parents really do know what they are talking about.</p>

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<p>One issue I have with D staying in regular 7th grade math is that other parents have told me that there is nothing new being taught than was covered in 6th grade. The district has this concept of “algebra readiness”–either the student is cognitively prepared to handle the thought processes of algebra or she’s not. If not, she stays in regular math and treads water for a year or two until her brain matures. Obviously, given D’s history, they would automatically assume she’d need more time to mature. How then do other countries manage to bring all their students up to a higher math level than we do here in the US, when surely not every child is innately talented in math, nor of equal intelligence, and not every child reaches “algebra readiness” at the same time? Also, D is actually a year older than most 6th graders because we held her back for social reasons in 3rd grade, so that could help her supposed readiness quotient.</p>

<p>The students currently in the 6th grade advanced math class will be the bulk of the kids placed in Algebra, unless for some reason they bomb the placement test, in which case they’ll be put in pre-Algebra. Of all the others like my D in regular classes, those that do very well on the placement test will go to pre-Algebra. I’d like my D to be in that group.</p>

<p>Regarding the concern for the later years: students are only required to complete 3 years of math in high school to graduate. Actually, my S only did 3 years of math in high school and took no outside classes and was accepted to several Ivies. It is highly unlikely we’d be shooting for elite schools with this child anyway, so I’m not concerned about that so much as I am about her learning the math, and ending with the better teachers and better-behaved peer group in high school. The regular level classes at the high school are generally worthless–think warehousing, or at least little to no homework and low expectations.</p>

<p>The summer classes that are accredited are too pricey for us. But even if we could swing it, lately people haven’t had a great track record trying to advance by those means. If the school wants to keep you out for whatever reason, they use the black box criteria of teacher recommendations and their own mystery assessment test that no one ever gets to see. I will ask about her score, but have no hope of defending it because they will never show anyone the test. Trust me, hundreds of parents before me have tried! Of the 4 criteria they claim to use for placement, I believe 3 of the 4 would place her at the pre-algebra level: last year’s achievement test scores, this year’s grades, teacher rec, and the darn school assessment test.</p>

<p>The reasons I think we could have a shot at arguing for higher placement are: 1)diversity–she’d fill both the URM and classified category 2) because they invoked what’s known as a stereotype threat before the placement test in that they gave different instructions to the classified kids that communicated a lower expectation. That’s discrimination! 3) they know my other two children are high achievers and therefore know D would have support at home 4) because I’m very tenacious, lol.</p>

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<p>My kiddo had the SAME math book & was given the SAME homework in 5th grade, 6th grade and would also have had it AGAIN for 7th grade but we had her go to private summer school at the one place on our island KNOWN for math. She got a B in the course and they FINALLY allowed her to advance. They admitted that if she had gone anywhere else (including their own summer school or any other private school, she would have had to repeat the SAME course & SAME book for the 3rd year in a row).</p>

<p>Perhaps see if they would let your child get accelerated if he takes a particular summer school course or something. It makes no sense that they aren’t allowing him! I didn’t want to argue with the school & am glad things worked out for us; didn’t want D to have extra hostility from faculty. She transferred to that private school beginning 9th grade anyway.</p>

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<p>GFG- it’s not your tenacity that’s relevant here, it’s your D’s.</p>

<p>I think your D has to present at whatever meeting you have; she needs to explain that she’s interested in trying the more demanding math sequence, and that she understands it will be more work and more challenging work but that she’s up for the challenge.</p>

<p>You will come off as a tenacious (i.e. pushy and over-reaching) parent in denial about your kids performance if you try to go it alone.</p>

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<p>Girls who do well in math class, but maybe not so well on placement tests, are called ‘hard workers’. Boys who are less consistent in their class ,but well on placement tests, are called ‘underachievers.’ When my kids were in MS, the parents of these girls were furious as these boys were recommended for the higher level classes, and these girls weren’t.</p>

<p>You are not pushing for the highest level, she has the grades and the willingness to work hard. If this is what she wants, she should tell her history to the people who are in a position to reverse the decision.,</p>

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<p>I think your original post was succinct and well thought through. I would take this through the case conference process, have the team discuss the issue, and have it be part of her IEP. If you can get the team members “together” on this, I feel you will have much more success in battling school honchos.</p>

<p>I had a similar problem with D in grades 3-4. She is reading/language LD, but had no math issues. She tested high enough for “high math”. The school refused and I didn’t push it at that time, due to the reading issues then. By 6th she was doing Aleks math on her own and bored to death in her “regular” class. I pushed hard for high 7th math, because I knew if not, the rest of the tracking would not fall into place for all of HS. </p>

<p>She just completed 8th as the highest student in algebra. You know your student better than the school. They are fitting pegs into slots. I think it’s best to always think long term w/ school decisions–what will doing/not doing affect 3-5 years later? There are often also important peer modeling issues in the higher groups. I would rather my kid be challenged than bored in a lower group. I would highly recommend ALEKS as an at-home program to supplement school math.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>The question of placement for a class should be determined by your IEP team. Your daughter’s individual education plan will look at all the factors - and they should be making the decision - not a placement test. You can ask to re-convene the iep meeting.</p>

<p>Often signing a waiver about the placement works - and you can also ask about meeting during the year to confirm progress. If there are problems you can switch down to a lower track.</p>