Ravensworth Sixth Graders Get Accelerated Math

Starting this school year, all Ravensworth sixth-graders will have the opportunity to take higher-level math, known as accelerated math. This new instruction accelerates the regular sixth-grade math curriculum with elements of seventh-grade math, according to Frank Atchison, FCPS coordinator for math K-12.

Atchison explained the change to parents who gathered in the Ravensworth cafeteria Sept. 23 to learn about the program. FCPS assistant superintendent Leslie Butz, Ravensworth Principal Pam O’Connor and sixth grade teachers also were on hand to talk to parents.

Completion of accelerated math in sixth grade makes it more likely for students to take either honors math or algebra I in seventh grade. Algebra I may only be taken by seventh graders who successfully completed accelerated math in sixth grade, Atchison explained.

Taking advanced math in middle school may allow students to take higher-level math in high school. In a standard curriculum, students typically complete regular math in eighth-grade, algebra I in ninth, geometry in tenth, algebra II in eleventh and precalculus in twelth-grade. In the most accelerated program, students could take algebra I in seventh grade and go beyond advanced calulus in eleventh grade to matrix algebra their senior year, according to an FCPS handout distributed at the meeting.



Still, Atchison cautioned against pushing students ahead for classes they aren’t ready for. “There is nothing worse than putting a kid in a class they aren’t ready for,” he said.  

Under the Ravensworth model for accelerated math, sixth-grade teachers assess students early in the year, then group them in classes by abilities. Teachers then embed some seventh-grade math in the curriculum on a differentiated basis for those students deemed ready for accelerated math.



“We anticipate all children to be in some accelerated program part of their time,” O’Connor said.  Students will not be labeled for accelerated or not, but will work on different levels from each other, she said. 

 Students will be assessed toward the end of sixth grade as to whether the amount of accelerated math they received constitutes having completed accelerated math, Atchison said.

  The differentiated math also will apply to the Standards of Learning exam in the spring, where sixth-graders could take either a sixth-, seventh-, or eighth-grade SOL, depending on their aptitude, Atchison said.  And, all sixth-graders will be given the Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test in the winter to assess their abstract-reasoning abilities for algebra, he said.



The addition of accelerated math came with Ravensworth’s move this year from Cluster III to Cluster VI, where all elementaries offer accelerated math starting in fifth or sixth grade. The accelerated program is modeled after the compacted programs traditionally offered in the gifted and talented program beginning in third grade, Atchison said. 

Scheduling constraints due to the Spanish immersion program complicated creating compacted math at Ravensworth, but another immersion elementary in Cluster VI has successfully added it, Atchison and Butz said. Accelerated math is being offered in both immersion and non-immersion classes, although Atchison noted extra challenges of teaching accelerated math in a foreign language and said it must be done “very, very strategically.”  However, he added that he would not encourage parents to pull their children from immersion after investing so many years in learning a second language. 

The creation of compacted math is in the beginning stages at Ravensworth and probably won’t begin being taught until October, the speakers said. “This is a learning and transition process for Ravensworth this year,” Butz said.



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By Lisa Daniel
PTA vice president for outreach