Automatic enrollment is a powerful tool for expanding access to advanced education, but it’s most effective when paired with efforts that begin even earlier.
What options are there for the truly advanced math students? I've had 5th and 6th grade students doing algebra in my class.
The first I did it, the math department refused to believe the two boys could possibly have mastered the materiel. They decided they would put them in PRE-algebra. It was a concession to us.
I told them to take Algebra that summer at UW's Summer Stretch. One boy went. He said they have him a pretest and told him, "You already know all this stuff." So they enrolled him in geometry. He came to middle school with two certificates saying he had completed both algebra AND geometry--to UW standards! He was ready for Algebra 2 in 7th grade.
That was an extreme case, but I had many highly advanced math students in my career. It's a problem when they run out of math classes to take on high school. I talked to one of the high school principals once who was so proud of all the district's offerings. I circled all the classes my really accelerated students would take and said, "There aren't enough classes for my kids. Can they go to the community college to get more advanced classes?"
He said, "No, they offer the same math courses we do."
Now that I've retired, students are not allowed to accelerate more than a year in math, at least in my district in Washington.
What options are there for the truly advanced math students? I've had 5th and 6th grade students doing algebra in my class.
The first I did it, the math department refused to believe the two boys could possibly have mastered the materiel. They decided they would put them in PRE-algebra. It was a concession to us.
I told them to take Algebra that summer at UW's Summer Stretch. One boy went. He said they have him a pretest and told him, "You already know all this stuff." So they enrolled him in geometry. He came to middle school with two certificates saying he had completed both algebra AND geometry--to UW standards! He was ready for Algebra 2 in 7th grade.
That was an extreme case, but I had many highly advanced math students in my career. It's a problem when they run out of math classes to take on high school. I talked to one of the high school principals once who was so proud of all the district's offerings. I circled all the classes my really accelerated students would take and said, "There aren't enough classes for my kids. Can they go to the community college to get more advanced classes?"
He said, "No, they offer the same math courses we do."
Now that I've retired, students are not allowed to accelerate more than a year in math, at least in my district in Washington.