Good morning. 

 

My name is Ken Graham, and I am the K-12 Director of Science for the the Long Beach School District.  I am attempting to collect some information on policies of entrance into accelerated courses at the middle school, and I am hoping that this group can help me out.  

 

This year we had approximately 70% of our students in grade 8 take Regents Earth Science.  Of those students 98.9% passed the Regents and 69% achieved mastery.  We have a policy of self-selection, meaning that students can opt into any level of a course that they choose. 

 

Could you please provide me with a brief synopsis of how students in your middle school are placed in a Regents level science or math course for grade 8?  For example, do you have standardized exam score requirements, teacher recommendations, waivers for signing in, self-selection/open-enrollment, or universal acceleration?

 

Please tell me your district, your title, the procedure, and an estimate of the number of students in math or science as eighth grade students.

 

kgraham@lbeach.org

 

I look forward to sharing my findings.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

Views: 165

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Hi Ken,

 

At Commack Middle School (where I am currently Math Chair), I have about 40-50% of the population sitting for the Integrated Algebra Regents Exam in any given year.  The beginning of that acceleration actually happens in grade 6, when I make recommended placements for our incoming 6th graders.  I study basically 4 pieces of data to make the tentative placements- Quantitative COG scores from 5th grade, performance on the Grade 4 Math Assessment (the most recent ones available), Grade 5 math average to the point of scheduling, and a rubric score based upon the student's habits as they pertain to reading, problem-solving, working collaboratively, etc.  Once the tentative schedules go out, parents are able to question the placement and I tell them where their child fell, by percentiles, relative to the whole incoming 6th grade class.  I assure them that their child will be appropriately challenged, but indicate that with a signed letter, they are able to "self-select" their child into the accelerated course.  Also, I truly refer to these courses as "accelerated" and not "honors"...my accelerated track contains the following courses:  Pre-Algebra 6, Pre-Algebra 7, and Integrated Algebra.  The regular track contains:  Math 6, Math 7, and Math 8.  We always have 100% passing Algebra in Grade 8 and somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% mastery.  Certainly, our current procedures (and the issue of accelerating all) are worth revisiting now with the adoption of the Common Core Standards.  Hope this helps!

 

Robin Rann

RSS

FOLLOW SL 2.0

JOIN SL 2.0

SUBSCRIBE TO

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 2.0

School Leadership 2.0 is the premier virtual learning community for school leaders from around the globe.  Our community is a subscription based paid service ($19.95/year or only $1.99 per month for a trial membership)  which will provide school leaders with outstanding resources. Learn more about membership to this service by clicking one our links below.

 

Click HERE to subscribe as an individual.

 

Click HERE to learn about group membership (i.e. association, leadership teams)

__________________

CREATE AN EMPLOYER PROFILE AND GET JOB ALERTS AT 

SCHOOLLEADERSHIPJOBS.COM

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 2.0 EVENTS

School Leadership 2.0

© 2024   Created by William Brennan and Michael Keany   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service