Hi there! My son, grade 8, has an honors math teacher whose test results are averaging in the high 70’s. My son is coming in roughly average. He was recommended with no hesitation for honors going forward by this teacher. His grade were A- first term, B+ second term, and perhaps a B this term. I am troubled by the test results and want to make sure that my son has mastered this material and getting test grades in the high 70’s - even if this is the average - seems dicey. Is there a way to get him tested at the end to feel secure in his knowledge base? I’m sure tutoring places would do this but they want your business.
Have you taken this question to the teacher? Start there. The teacher should be familiar with the school district’s math series, and should be able to allay your concerns about placement for the next year.
Test grades in the 70s, by itself, tells us nothing, nor does A-/B grades. How hard are the tests? What is the median score? How do other students who scored in the 70s on this teacher’s tests do when they get to the honors class? Is the student running out of time, or skipping questions because he doesn’t know how to understand them, or trying to answer questions and thinking he is using the right procedure yet getting the answers wrong? What kinds of questions is he getting wrong on tests?
@“Cardinal Fang” these are all great questions although some of them are delicate to ask. I would really like to know the median. My husband and I are fairly numerate and the tests look hard and graded extremely aggressively in terms of small things. Which would be great training except I can’t figure out if my son’s skills are solid. He is running out of time. I’m not sure how to ask these questions as the teacher (I assuming) has a lot of people up in his grill about these tests. My son seems to understand everything as in nearly every question is right. I am especially interested in the question of what the B plus kid does later. I know of one who is in Calculus AB now but … that’s just one data point.
Can you talk to a math teacher and ask what he or she thinks? They might be familiar with this particular teacher and know how well prepared the students are.
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/rur/ruria4.cgi may help. Intermediate algebra as a (remedial) college math course approximates high school algebra 2, so knowledge of high school algebra 1 is necessary to be ready for it (and is what is tested on this quiz). So the student can try this quiz to see how well s/he knows the various topics in algebra 1.
thank you @ucbalumnus! I am concerned about this because it seems like some kids hit a wall in algebra 2 and I want to make sure I know where my son stands before that class. and @MaineLonghorn that’s what I’m looking for! I have a good source on ELA but not math. @happymomof1 I’m also a happy mom of 1 and I’m a bit hesitant to ask the teacher and not entirely confident on the teacher regardless of the answer.
Google “New York State Regents Exam Algebra 2”. There are exams from past years. You will have to look through the exams and cross off any questions which do not match with your son’s algebra 2 class curriculum. There are answer keys and grading rubrics so you can self-assess.
When we lived in NYS, the criteria for the next level class (precalculus honors) was a class average > 80% and a > 80% score on the NYS Algebra 2 Regents Exam.
It is worth addressing the teacher directly. You are a mom. You aren’t a math teacher. You don’t know the curriculum framework that the school district is following in the math series. Where you come from, chances are that a 70 is a C, and would mean that the kid isn’t ready to continue in honors and would be eased into the on-level version of the next math class. So use those words. Ask about the success rate for students whose grades tracked similarly to your son’s. Were they successful in the honors level class, or did they need to step back?
If the teacher has been in that school district for a while, they should be able to tell you with reasonable certainty which options are good ones for your kid. If the teacher is new, all bets may be off. In that case, you want to have a chat with whoever it is who teaches the next course and find out what they think.
@billchu2 I grew up in New York state and the regents growing up were incredibly easy. It’s a good idea. Any idea if it is still really easy? At a bare minimum I can try that. Seems an easy way to at least get a rough idea.
And yes I should just ask the teacher. But he won’t be in possession of what I really need to know - which is how they do after they leave him. He’s a pretty young teacher yes. Not extremely new but pretty new.
@ruthstoops I just realized that you said your son was in 8th grade. Is he currently taking Algebra 1 Honors? You can check out the NYS Regents Exams for Algebra 1 if that is the case. In general, the NYS Regents Exams in Math are fairly easy if you are in an honors math class.
You should be able to look at his past exams and figure out what the main issues are. You can confirm these by meeting with his teacher. I find when meeting with teachers that is good if you have done your own homework and have a good idea of that the issues are.
If, for example, your son is not finishing in time, how much time has he spent studying for his exam? Spending some time the day before the exam putting together the main ideas of the unit in words and drawn figures is very useful. Then, under timed conditions, work some new practice problems. Check answers for understanding.
If, he is losing lots of points for making careless errors, he must realize that algebra requires a logical, orderly, and systematic approach to problem solving. If his written answers are all over the place, or if he is skipping steps, he needs to practice solving problems quickly without skipping steps, and write his solutions neatly in a logical line-by-line fashion. He just has to practice doing this expeditiously for timed exams!
If, after the teacher meeting, he continues to recommend placing your son in the next course at the honors level, it would certainly help for him to on-ramp by looking at the content of the next course over the summer. If he is taking Algebra 2 honors or Geometry Honors, he can find this content in a number of places. I highly recommend emathinstruction.com (I have no affiliation). It was founded by my son’s Honors Precalculus teacher Kirk Weiler who left our school to form this company. In the case of my son, when he was in HS, he covered a third of the content of the next course sequence over the summer. This is quite easy to do in between summer vacations, camps, etc. since the emathinstruction content is online. Also, Kirk was a teacher for many years, so the material came out of the school tested on real students.
Good luck with navigating this with your son.