Position on Algebra 1: This is a fundamental course and we require students to take this course in school and do not support students taking courses outside to skip Algebra 1.
Position on Geometry/Algebra 2 in the summer for middle school students: We do not permit middle school students to take summer classes for advancement purposes.
Position on Geometry/Algebra 2 in the summer for middle school students: We do not permit middle school students to take summer classes for advancement purposes.
So why do we evaluate students for placement purposes?
Rationale: Our goal is to place students in the most appropriate course to find success during this year and throughout their life-long mathematical career. If a student does not meet the criteria to be placed in an accelerated course, it indicates that the student does not have the prerequisite skills to be successful in that course. Placement into a course without readiness could potentially result in the student earning low grades, which then prevents him/her from taking honors classes at the high school-- in both science and math.
From a teaching and learning perspective, we sincerely believe that a student is better prepared after a full year course than after a 6-week intensive course. In our experience, we have observed that a majority of adolescent students are not able to process and retain information in the long term when they take a 6-week course. In the short term it seems that they have mastered concepts, however, we have seen that they are not able to transfer this learning to their long-term memory.
To paraphrase from developmental psychologists, the short-term memory maintains information until it moves into another area of the brain (long-term memory) or until more, new information is introduced. At this point, the short-term memory ignores the new information in favor of the previous information, or discards the previous information in order to deal with the new.
As such, we believe it is in the student's best interest, and to his/her long-term benefit, to build a strong foundation while in middle school and be placed in the full year course for which the student is ready.
Rationale: Our goal is to place students in the most appropriate course to find success during this year and throughout their life-long mathematical career. If a student does not meet the criteria to be placed in an accelerated course, it indicates that the student does not have the prerequisite skills to be successful in that course. Placement into a course without readiness could potentially result in the student earning low grades, which then prevents him/her from taking honors classes at the high school-- in both science and math.
From a teaching and learning perspective, we sincerely believe that a student is better prepared after a full year course than after a 6-week intensive course. In our experience, we have observed that a majority of adolescent students are not able to process and retain information in the long term when they take a 6-week course. In the short term it seems that they have mastered concepts, however, we have seen that they are not able to transfer this learning to their long-term memory.
To paraphrase from developmental psychologists, the short-term memory maintains information until it moves into another area of the brain (long-term memory) or until more, new information is introduced. At this point, the short-term memory ignores the new information in favor of the previous information, or discards the previous information in order to deal with the new.
As such, we believe it is in the student's best interest, and to his/her long-term benefit, to build a strong foundation while in middle school and be placed in the full year course for which the student is ready.