<p>D2 attends small private in NJ. She will be a junior next year, and came from a public district that has "average" kids in pre-algebra in 8th grade (yuchhh)....therefore, she was in alg 1 in 9th, geometry in 10th. Earned an A- in alg 1, 1st semester geo: B.</p>
<p>Her current teacher recommended her for the lowest level (intermediate algebra) rather than advanced algebra (college prep). There is also an honors level of adv algebra, but that was never a consideration.</p>
<p>I honestly think this is a clerical error. Other classmates were recommended for adv algebra with "C"'s in either one or both of the pre-requisites.</p>
<p>Anybody else have any insight as to why this would make sense? I sent an email to the parties involved. but I guess I'm trying to think of a logical reason for this b4 I "blow a gasket. FWIW, my D is devastated; thinks she's an idiot.......</p>
<p>Discuss with the school- teacher/guidance counselor. Not sure if with /without your D present. Sometimes the student who is willing to work hard in a more challenging class should take it and will succeed. Do not just let the school place her without finding out their rationale and discussing options with your D and the school.</p>
<p>thanks so far.....yes, my D has already contacted the teacher by email and will speak with her in person tomorrow...</p>
<p>wis: you see, the thing is , this is a "grade level" class...not a more challenging one necessarily....that's why it's so confusing; it's "down" a level....</p>
<p>I agree - discuss it with the teacher. I'd just state that my kid is doing well with the current math courses and both your D and you want her to be in a more accelerated course. Stick to your guns on it as you can likely get your way. If the teacher becomes an impediment go to the academic counselor next. If you don't get anywhere with them then go to the principal's office on it and go to the actual principal if you need to.</p>
<p>Public schools will usually acquiesce to the parent on something like this.</p>
<p>Let the kid fight the battle as long as possible. If teacher sees she is committed to the challenge of the class that too will weigh in their reconsideration vs having her mom in there. However, if it doesn't go positively or make more sense, it is fully within your rights to insist your kid get a fair shake. Never underestimate their need to keep within their numbers in a class and that could be driving the decisions having nothing to do with A's or B's in math.</p>
<p>Have your D talk to the teacher in the morning and YOU follow up at lunch or after school (a simple phone call would do). Just ask WHY???
Do not wait for things to solve by itself. Even if the teacher thinks that for some reason she/he has made a valid choice you can always ask for a higher class and have your D drop it if she thinks it is too challenging.
At a small private - maybe the teacher needs a certain number of students in the class to even offer it and therefore earn money/have employment.</p>
<p>Mistakes happen. My daughter was inadvertently left off the list of kids selected for advanced math in 6th grade. We only found out because my husband asked the principal how close she was to the cutoff. I realize your daughter is older, but I think a polite phone call from you wouldn't hurt.</p>
<p>That could explain it -- the teacher doesn't have much experience with placing students.</p>
<p>My d (junior in a public HS) had a newly minted teacher who wanted to place her in puzzles and games for senior year. We told her she had to take calculus and stats, and the change was made.</p>
<p>My kids have always attended private school and we had a similar problem in middle school with DS. What is came down to was the number of kids the school wanted in the advance classes. Those parents who knew the system lobbied for their kids to be placed in the advanced classes prior to the assignments being made. Definitely inquire about why your D was placed where she was and then lobby to have her put in the class you think she should be.</p>
<p>My kids attended a medium-sized excellent private school in middle school. Kid 1 was a B+ math student always, and was placed in the advanced math track. Kid 2 was an A math student always, and was placed in the regular math track. Granted, they had different teachers at the time of the placement decisions, and it's possible that the same teacher would have made the same recommendation for both of them. But the different placements reflected thoughtful evaluations of the capacities of both kids. </p>
<p>Kid 1 didn't care much about math, but had a very easy time with math concepts, and "got" things very quickly, often from multiple angles. Her B+s reflected lots of carelessness with calculation, and an unwillingness to put in any extra time to improve beyond what she thought was an acceptable level of success in math. Kid 2 worked his butt off, was very competitive, cared about being the best, but wasn't nearly as conceptually facile as Kid 1. The judgments were that Kid 1 was going to be a B+ student in whatever math class she took, so she might as well take the advanced class that she could handle, while Kid 2 would get more of the positive reinforcement he needed in a slower, more systematic class. </p>
<p>In fact, the decision worked out better for Kid 2 than Kid 1. Kid 1 developed real math phobia; she hated the teacher in her advanced math class the next year. She finished Calculus in 11th grade, but she ultimately got a 700 Math SAT I and 730 Math II SAT II. Kid 2 did very well in math his first three years in high school (and doubled up in 10th grade to get on an AP Calculus track), but hit a wall in AP Calculus BC. He got 800 Math SAT I and 780 on the SAT II. Both of them struggled with college Calculus (K2 in a slightly higher level course than K1), getting the same grades, although Kid 2 worked very hard at it, and Kid 1 most certainly didn't.</p>
<p>JHS: you always make alot of sense.....except for one thing in this particular case...the class she was recommended for is not the regular track, but rather the class that the bottom 10% of the class has taken in the past (last year 6 out of 100 juniors were in the class). I totally agree with your analysis; she doesn't belong in an advanced class, she belongs on the regular track.......we are not even near the same league based on your sons' scores or level....</p>
<p>If she takes their recommendation she may not even get to pre-calc as a senior......certainly eliminates a ton of choices......</p>
<p>This mistake could also have happened because of what other classes she is trying to schedule. If it is a small private hs, the time conflicts may have caused her to be dropped a level.
Not saying that is the right thing to do, but maybe that is why it happened. A relative had the opposite happen to her at her small private hs. She was placed in an honors section of math, because it was the only one that would fit based on her other classes/electives (I think it was because of her 3rd yr foreign lang offering).
This may be a case where she will have to rearrange or select other courses if the Math tracking is the most imp. aspect of her junior year class schedule.</p>
<p>Sounds like a) the teacher doesn't like her for some reason, or b) her attitude in class has not impressed the teacher for some reason. It could simply be that she doesn't particularly like the spatial aspect of geometry in comparison to the logic of algebra, and the teacher is interpreting this as a deep-seated problem with math. It could also be a simple poor fit between teacher and student.</p>
<p>In any case, it sounds like she has clearly been mis-placed. There is no reason for her to be put in a class with the bottom 10% of the class given the grades she's earned, unless she had to struggle tremendously to do that. </p>
<p>Get it changed now, and do not accept any solution that has her starting the year in the lower class with a promise of moving up if it is too easy. It is very difficult to catch up after weeks in the slower class. It would be much easier for her to move down if it turns out that she can't hack it.</p>
<p>I've dealt with being placed in too low a math class personally when changing schools, and it can really wreck one's experience of the subject. My S was placed incorrectly at one point in jr high, due to a poor teacher fit the year before. Luckily, after consulting with the G/T coordinator, I was able to arrange for him to take the subject online over the summer and be retested at the beginning of school. He was immediately moved into the correct class, where he outperformed most of the kids who had been originally placed in it (and continued to do so over the next 5 years, so it was no fluke :) ). </p>
<p>If all else fails, you might see if she can do part or all of Algebra II in summer school somewhere or online over the summer. In the fall, she could either be placed in the higher level class, or accelerate so that she will get to Calc senior year. It depends on her interest and in your assessment of her ability.</p>
<p>It is useful here to point out that Algebra is quite different from Geometry. Although the D did not perform as well in Geometry (though a B is quite acceptable), the relevant grade should be the A- in Algebra 1 since the course she is being recommended for is Advanced Algebra.</p>