How to accelerate within high school Integrated Math

Parents Forum
41

^^ No, it is not “doomed for life” and many kids are happy not to be in accelerated math.

But it is also about choices and who has the kid’s best interest. (I am not saying the best interest includes accelerated math)
In our case, the “teachers” who made those decision for my kid did not even see her after they decided her educational path. In one of my conversations with the “teacher”, she admitted that she did not know my kid well because she had over 20 kids in her class (obviously, it was not what she said in court).

42

I don’t understand why 5th grade teachers don’t fully explain math tracks and what it means in high school. We implemented Common Core when D21 was in 4th grade. Everyone’s scores plummeted. Our county uses those scores to determine “success” in math. I laughed- because no one would have been successful taking CC math1/ IM 1/ Algebra 1- in 8th grade had we listened to it. Luckily, in 7th grade they gave everyone the opportunity to sign off on taking CC Math 1 in 8th, regardless of their “Predicted” score. We knew to ignore the scores, other parents did not.

OP- IM Math 1 should be real math, not all the coloring blocks and seven different ways to solve the problem. Is there no summer school opportunity to take IM Math 2 next summer if he does well in IM Math1 next year? You will have a better case if he does well in IM Math 1. Our school is always trying to push kids to take Precalc in the summer- which I think is crazy, so there are schools that will push for acceleration. We can also block math- one semester of Math3 and Precalc is a popular option- maybe your school does that?

43

You took a school district “to court” over this?

@annamom

44

Here is the contrarian view from a professor of mathematics at the University of Florida.
http://theconversation.com/the-rush-to-calculus-is-bad-for-students-and-their-futures-in-stem-49746

45

Did anyone suggest outside-of-school math? The Art of Problem Solving or the like? Just dealing with the HS math track as it is and doing creative math on the side?

46

@thumper1 re- post #42. No, I did not bring them to court for accelerated Math but for other issue (as I wrote on post #2). But it was in court that I first found out they “tracked” students. The “teacher” did not answer it only in the context of Math. Not going to the specifics of the “other issues” now.

As I learned about colleges on CC, I found out that my younger DD’s Math path was “tracked” when she was around 5th grade. In our school, there is no formal documented procedure to get back on the “12th grade Calculus track” as they turned down a request from one my younger DD’s friends to take the exam to see whether she could skip a Math sequence. I thought “tracking” students at such a young age is just stupid.

Yes, I agreed that accelerated Math may not be for everyone and may not mean everything, but in pre-calc track also takes opportunities away from some kids.

47

Wondering if you ever figured out what to do for your son. My DS is a senior and was in a similar situation. I was just searching through CC to see how to report some of his grades on his apps when I came across your post. DS went to an elementary school that did not have an advanced math track, while others in the district did. After middle school, he left the district and went to a charter which has grades 7-12. Since he had not been accelerated previously and since he was new to the school (others already at the school had teacher recommendations for grade 9 math placement), he was placed into IM1 for 9th. It’s a long convoluted story, but he skipped IM2 and went into IM3 in 10th. Then we found out that he still had to fulfill geometry, so he took Secondary Math II through BYU online. BYU online does have an Integrated Math series in addition to traditional math, so your school may accept that. BTW, we are also in CA. Best of luck.

48

Thank you for asking. I have lots to update!

My son (a young for his grade freshman) began his freshman year at our public high school in IM1. The second week of school, all kids took a math assessment test, just as the principal had told us would happen when we asked her last spring. She hadn’t really offered any other paths for acceleration and didn’t know anything about BYU online or about any other outside classes. I think she prefers that everyone march in lock step.

He was one of (I think) 12 kids in his freshman class of 450 to have done well enough (perfect score) on the assessment to be invited to then take the two IM1 finals, on which students must score 90%+ to accelerate to IM2.

He scored over 90% on the first final. From there, 4 students, including my kid, moved on to take the second final.

No one passed the second final. He missed by one problem, he says.

The principal then says, sorry, but you’ll have a chance to try and accelerate again this time next year.

Next year?!

So now he’s at a public charter school (in another district) that uses IM! It’s a drive for us, but the charter school does personalized learning, a philosophy that’s not for all kids, but seems to be a good fit for mine. There are kids there who are years ahead. A friend’s daughter goes to this charter school and completed IM1 in a month! At this school, you can ask to take assessments almost anytime, no more “well, try again next year” as the public high school principal had told me. They use Chromebooks (again, not a tool some parents and kids might like, but we love it) and software built in-house (as opposed to at our public school, where teachers were always piloting different edusoftware and flying out to the conferences).

There were other reasons, besides the math issues, for changing schools, but those wouldn’t add anything to the context of this post.

I think my son will find his way at this “newish” charter school!

When schools sort kids into math paths in 5th grade (and my boy was a year younger than most), the school needs to educate parents as to the ramifications of benefits of this. I had no idea.

49

@akborg, glad it seems to be working out for your son! The issue with tracking was made worse when schools transitioned to integrated math. My older son was also in the regular path (due to same problem of accelerated not being offered in his elementary school), but with traditional math he was still able to get to Calc BC. I didn’t worry at first when it also happened with my younger one because I thought it would work out the same way. But when I was sitting in a meeting and heard that the math department was still trying to figure out how to get the kids in the regular integrated math path to reach Calc AB, I panicked! They did get some kids in the regular path to Calc AB, but knowing my son’s abilities and with him looking at engineering, I wanted him to reach Calc BC.

50

I didn’t want to sidetrack the thread, but since OP has reached a resolution I have a question. How does OP school (or any school with IM) handle transfers? If a junior transfers in ready for precalc do they drop him into 8th grade math so he can start the sequence? I have 2 thoughts, 1, there must be a procedure for this, and 2, I can’t see how it can be done without holding some kids back and throwing others into the fire where they don’t have the proper preperation. Also what happens if someone further along than OP’s son moves to a district where the traditional sequence is followed?

This just overall seems like a horrible idea. The reality is that kids move in and out of school districts without any choice in the matter all the time. Not following 99% of the US schools on something so basic as math seems like a horribly misguided idea.

51

Can’t say for sure about OP’s or other schools, but at ours coming in as a junior ready for precalc would not be a problem since precalc is still offered. IM3 does not cover precalc, although schools now often have some sort of advanced version of IM3 that prepares students for calculus. The problem would be transferring in earlier after algebra 1 or geometry (or after IM1 or IM2 if going in the other direction). And yes, IMO Integrated Math has been horrible.

52

Once a student reaches precalculus, s/he is typically past where IM versus traditional math sequencing differs.


Traditional     IM

Algebra 1       IM 1
Geometry        IM 2
Algebra 2       IM 3
Precalculus     Precalculus
Calculus        Calculus

Students who transfer between traditional and IM schools before reaching precalculus would be the ones who could run into issues with curriculum mismatch.

Some high schools offer honors IM sequences which cover IM 1-3 and precalculus in three years, so that the student can take calculus after the honors IM 3. Example comparison:


Regular Pace                    Accelerated Pace
Traditional     IM              Traditional             IM

Algebra 1       IM 1            Algebra 1               IM 1 Accelerated Honors
Geometry        IM 2            Geometry + Algebra 2    IM 2 Accelerated Honors
Algebra 2       IM 3            Precalculus             IM 3 Accelerated Honors
Precalculus     Precalculus     Calculus                Calculus
Calculus        Calculus

Note that in the traditional case, a student who wants to accelerate needs to take two math courses (Geometry and Algebra 2) concurrently the year after Algebra 1, while in the IM case, the student needs to place into the accelerated honors sequence if available, but does not need to take an additional math period (but will not have the option if the accelerated honors sequence is not available).

53

I came upon this thread late, but I’m so pleased that you found something that works for your son.

We didn’t know that our son was tracked to a semi-remedial math track; it became an obvious issue for us in middle school. The school was so convinced that they were right (after all, they rank among the top school systems in the country, so what does a parent know?) and were too busy reading their press clippings to reevaluate. We tired of fighting it, and opted to move him to a very selective private school. Freshman year there, he did well in math, did some self-study to prepare him to take finals of more difficult courses, and by the time he graduated, he was (objectively, not just proud parent) the school’s best math student. He went on to get a combined MS/BS from Yale in CS, with a strong serving of Math (he decided on the combined degree rather than a second major in Math).

Your son is lucky to have an advocate at home.

54

“But where I am, this accelerated math has taken on a life of its own.”

It has in the bay area as well, and I’m going to guess that it was the parents who told the elementary schools to do this so the kids would look good on college apps. Why would a school only focus on math and not accelerate science, english, social studies if it was really concerned about offering the appropriate course(s) for the students?

However in the local HS I’m familiar with, a parent can override any teacher recommendation so if a kid wants to accelerate by taking the class in the summer, they can, the only caveat is that they can’t go back to the less challenging class.

55

Accelerating math historically has been more common than in the other subjects, probably because it is relatively easy to tell if a middle school student is ready for higher level math.

56

It’s so misguided when schools lock kids into a certain track at a young age and offer no on-ramps to a more accelerated track later on. Kids’ brains develop at different rates, and they certainly mature at different rates as well!

My child is a relatively strong math student but was recommended for 6th grade math, not pre-algebra. That was absolutely the right call for her at that time. Her math skills approved tremendously in 6th and 7th grade, and she’s now in honors algebra as an 8th grader. If she continues to do well, and wants to challenge herself, she’ll have the option of doing geometry over the summer, and then jumping into algebra 2 honors as a 9th grader. Thus, she has an on-ramp to join the cohort who took pre-algebra as 6th graders.

My kids are at a private school (California), but I do know the local public schools, which use integrated math, are good about providing summer bridge programs for kids who want to jump from regular-track to honors-track math. I’m not sure, however, if it’s possible for kids to finish a yearlong course over the summer.

Integrated math and the more traditional sequence don’t mesh well, apparently, because kids coming from well-regarded public schools into my kids’ private school have trouble getting placed where they were expecting. For example, a friend’s kid thought he could get into algebra 2 as a 9th grader, but was placed in geometry because he hadn’t learned enough geometry in integrated math to skip that year. Another kid was expecting honors algebra as an incoming 8th grader, but the integrated-math equivalent to pre-algebra wasn’t rigorous enough to warrant that.

57

Looks like you are looking at the difference between the +1 and +2 math tracks. I.e. she is already ahead one year (will reach calculus in 12th grade), but considering the option of moving ahead to get two years ahead.

58

Our school district follows Integrated math and, also uses 5th grade to track students in math for middle school. A student can start middle school on the regular track (majority of students), the one year compacted track, or the two year compacted track (tiny minority). There are opportunities for accelerating in high school for any of those tracks by simply taking three trimesters of math a year instead of only two. Students who start on the regular track can end up in Pre Calc at least, or in AP Calc AB if they accelerate. Students who start in the one year compacted track, can end up in AP Calc AB senior year at minimum, or AP Calc BC with acceleration. Students who start on the two year compacted track can end up in AP Calc BC at least, or take a more advanced math class, or AP Stats senior year. I believe there are additional ways to accelerate (over the summer) but students would have to seek those out by themselves.

59

Ours sounds similar to @InfoQuestMom’s. The regular and accelerated paths in our district are:



       Regular           Most Accelerated (compaction)
7th:   7th grade math    7th   and 8a<br>
8th:   8th grade math    8b    and IM 1
9th:   IM 1              IM 2  and IM 3a
10th:  IM 2              IM 3b and Precalc
11th:  IM 3              AP Calc AB or BC
12th:  Precalc           AP Stats or Dual Enrollment

So, the 3 years of 7th through IM1 can be compressed into 2 years
and the 3 years of IM2 through Precalc can be compressed into 2 years.

Students may take one or both of these compaction pairs, so may get to Calculus in 11th or 12th on an advanced track. There is a decision point after IM 1 about which track to take next.

The district’s teachers of the IM 3b/Precalc class decided this year to just start with the Precalc book rather than finish the IM3 book. The IM books don’t seem as rigorous as the older math books, and I don’t think the teachers respect the newer books.

I hear that some kids are still getting further ahead, perhaps by testing out of courses. But, it is more difficult now than with the traditional courses. Previously there were a couple kids per year who skipped Precalculus and took Calc BC in 10th and occasionally a kid who took Calc BC in 9th by also doubling up on Geometry and Alg II in 8th grade.

60

I may be the only one here who objects to the whole “acceleration” path in math. I think something like AP Calc AB should be the senior level class for accelerated kids. Why? Because I saw one kid at D18’s HS taking BC as a freshman! When I talked to him I saw an interest in several different, non-math, fields. He had an interest in the basic electrical circuitry in the project I helped with. I also got him involved in a citizen-science weather project. Yet, there he was, spending all his time on math (I think he’s taking GaTech’s Calculus as a sophomore).