Need advice about my DD 12 and math

[ckaranassos]

My daughter will be a 7th grader in a week. She started middle school last year slightly anxious, but in the end had a fabulous year. She managed straight A's all year, sang in the choir, played flute in the band and ran track. We were very proud of her. Especially in the subject of math. Math did not always come easy to her. She was a solid B/B- student prior years. Typical girl with math anxiety. Last year not only did she have math, but in our district our middle schoolers also take geometry. (All geometry skills were removed from regular math class) She had great teachers that just cleared all anxieties for her hence the staight A's. Here's the problem: yesterday she ran to the mailbox (again our district they do not tell the children their teachers for upcoming year until last week of school) yelling it's here thinking she got her homeroom placement. Well she opens it up to find a letter stating she will be placed in a fundamental math class next year in place of one of her special areas. She starts crying (a lot of drama with 12 year old girls). I immediately call the math supervisor very confused. Well in the state of NJ our children take a state wide test called the NJASK. My DD has taken them since 3rd grade and has never had a problem. (I haven't even got her scores back yet :mad:) So the math supervisor informs me that she scored a 197 in the math and needs to be 200 or over. I ask what special she is going to miss and they inform me Tech Ed. I'm not sure what the class is but seems sort of important. Sorry so long I now have a child who is devastated she thinks she is stupid, going into a special class and basically does not want to start school in the fall, basically to a 12 year old this is as close to the end of the world as it gets. Do I pull her out based on her performance the 183 days and not the one day of math testing or do I make her go potentially blowing her math confidence forever. I still have lots of questions for the math supervisor, but I am sitting here waiting for the hour I can call her and wanted advice. It's funny I've been a teacher for 16 years, it all changes when it's your child.

[BMan62]

A couple/few questions:

1) What is the scoring for this test? Max/min?

2) Actually a statement: It seems like if she has gotten B/B- grades in math throughout her schooling and an A last year, that this "low" score seems a bit fishy. Were grades on a 'curve' in prior years?

3) Where does this school rank in math overall for your area?

Something doesn't seem quite right here.

[tinklover]

Any way she can test out of this special class before school starts? i know when i was in school i always got distracted with those kinds of tests and never scored as well as i did in my classes. and could her lower score could have been becasue there was geometry on the test and where they removed geometry it confused her as to what to do? i also agree with teh previous poster something does seem fishy. but let your lil girl know that she is in no way stupid . reinforce that she has done so well in the past in math that this is just a fluke and it does not mean in any way that she is stupid.

[ckaranassos]

The scores for the test are figured 199 and below partial proficency, 200-249 proficient, and 250 and above are advanced proficient. She has scored 230 - 240 all three years prior in 3rd grade 4th and 5th and this year scored a 197 which is the difference of 1 question to scoring a 205. No her grades were not on a curve ever, She really got math this year, the change was amazing. I really think she had math anxiety, she would always say I am just not good at math. These test in NJ are starting to dictate everything, as a teacher I think they are silly. They are tested 4 days in March based on all that was learned that year. Obviously everything hasn't been taught, so teachers have to jump ahead to try to introduce 4 months of material before the test (good old teaching to the test). Then the test scores seem to negate the child's performance all year. Like I said the other years we didn't have to deal with it.

[MsMin]

You have several options.
You can see if they will retest her. Everyone can have a bad day. See if there is a process for appeal. Ask if she can take a test privately. Check into your dd's math anxiety and see if it did have an effect on the outcome of the test.

Ask about the standard of error. Every test has an error rate, meaning that the validity of the test has a margin of error. Since she is so close to the cut off it would seem like one could argue psychometrically about the validity of the cut off.
Problem is it would be easier to have someone argue that fact if both parties were familiar with testing methods and error rates. But fact is there are never clear lines when predicting. (of course they could have accounted for that and the cut off could actually be higher).

I would be concerned with the fact that the school cut out the geometry from her curriculum. There may have been a math component that included geometry and this could be part of the problem. If this was a standardized test you can be certain that it covered geometry. The question could be whether your child had the appropriate preparation for this course. Do you have any information as to how the class did as a whole?
Another point is to encourage your child and prepare her for success. One test does not mean she is "dumb" or a failure. It may mean that she has not had the proper preparation for the test. Don't let one test define who you are.
However, you could encourage to repeat this material now so that she has a strong foundation for later. I don't believe in blaming the teacher; certainly you don't want her to develop a habit of passing the blame.
The test may indicate that she is not ready for pre-Algebra. Sometimes this is a readiness factor. With many children abstract thought develops fully by this age and Algebra does require abstract thought. Similar to reading readiness. It doesn't predict future performance only readiness.
Does your district teach HS algebra in eighth grade? We do here and to earn the credit I believe you have to get a B or higher to earn the HS credit.
Send her a :hug: and if you have any other questions feel free to ask. If it were my child I would investigate further and give her plenty of encouragement.
I just reread this and may have misunderstood. So she did have geometry? That may not be the problem. It may be an abstract component. I bet they do have the test broken down into sub components. See if you can check it out and find if she has scores that are even or if there is a component where she has a weakness.
Honestly, I don't go by grades because the curriculum could have missed something or a lower performance in a subsection could have been balanced out a with a higher performance in another area. Grades just don't give you the whole picture.
We have LEAP testing here and I can't override a LEAP performance but I can help a child with placement for gifted or magnet placement.

[Minnie Imagineer]

When I was going into 8th grade, there were tons of us who the school thought needed some extra math help for a state wide test (don't recall which one). During homeroom- that lasted about an hour- we had different classes that we could choose, like electives. Some were english, lab, history, etc. But those kids including I had to take this extra math class. It really wasn't bad at all but it didn't help me. Parent complained and the school thought they could solve everything by giving us all new calculators. People stopped complaining but just because you are in the class dosen't make you 'stupid' or anything like that. The state exams don't even mean anything. People who are good at test taking get high scores, the rest of us don't. Sorry if I couldn't be a major help, but I know what shes going through. Just tell her it dosne't mean anything because it really doesn't

[ckaranassos]

Sorry for the confusion she had geometry, but as a separate class. She had regular math and geometry. The same will take place in 7th and 8th grade. Two math classes a year. she did score an A in both math and geometry. But I talked to the math supervisor this morning and she took my DD out. She missed the test score by 3 points (equals one question) since she more than mastered her math and geometry classes she does not need this class. But great letter for a 12 year old (really her parents) to receive in the mail. We will work with her at home in case this test score was not a fluke.

[WDWFanatic]

I'm glad you were able to get it all to work out for your DD.

While the extra math probably wouldn't have hurt her the stigma would have way out weighed the benefits!

Good luck, hopefully she will do just as well in math this year.

Maybe you should take her to WDW to make her feel better;)

[conorsmom2000]

I'm glad you got it all worked out, but I'm sorry you had to go through all of this - especially for your daughter. Conor will take the NJASK for the first time this year (he's going into 3rd grade) and I already dread it. Because so much is tied to these tests, the pressure on the kids is unbelievable. When he was in 1st grade he took the Terra Nova's for the first time - his overall score was 99th percentile - excellent, right? Well, one of his math scores was only 89th percentile (because he got one wrong or didn't answer one question) and the principal told me he was "a little disappointed in Conor's scores". Basically he said he expected kids like Conor to pull 99's across the board to pull up the average for his grade!! :mad: Okay, not too much pressure to put on a 1st grader!! For an anxious kid like Conor, whom we were afraid would really struggle with this kind of testing, we were beyond thrilled with his scores. I am not a big fan of these kinds of tests....

[Mousemates]

Glad things worked out for your daughter and that you didn't just let things slide...your daughter is fortunate to have you on her side.:thumbsup:

[Mickey91]

We have the same sort of tests in VA. In my opinion, they are the dumbest things ever put together. A child can literally make all A's and fail a grade based on these tests. Some kids simply do not test well even when they have the knowledge. Teachers use them to keep from having to do extras. SOLs are always the excuse for not going on field trips etc.

I am glad you got it worked out! Good luck to your DD for this school year!!:mickey:

[ckaranassos]

Thanks everyone for your well wishes today was
an easier day everyone seems happy. I will work with my DD at home using a wonderful study guide called Study Island (if it helps anyone else) She is happy and so I am. I loved to take the family to WDW, since we go every other year. DH is a hard sell since we put an inground pool in this summer. But grandmom is usually an easy sell, well see :cloud9:

[conorsmom2000]

I will work with my DD at home using a wonderful study guide called Study Island (if it helps anyone else)

Our school uses Study Island and Conor loves it - he barely realizes he's doing work at home on the computer because he loves the games so much. :thumbsup: The only downside (not really a big deal though...) for us was that they had him set at a 3rd grade level (when he was in 2nd) but once he got to things in Math he didn't know (decimals, etc.) they had to change him back to 2nd grade - they couldn't have him at 3rd for Reading/spelling and 2nd for Math - it has to be the same grade level across the board. Even so, it was a lot of fun for all the kids to use! It's a great program.... :mickey:

[thrillme]

You did the right thing by challenging. You just have to sometimes. I'm really glad it all worked out. My DS would have been crushed too.

Because she's on the border (it could have been test anxiety or maybe she's just not quite ready for all of it...) you "might" want to consider getting a few names of some tutors early (unless you or someone else in your family is a math whiz). I'm not saying stick her in tutoring or anything...just be prepared. It's easier to have some help in the background and not need it than than need it and try to scramble for it later. It sounds like it's going to be a little tougher than last year. (My DS is getting full blown HS Algebra this year and he's only in 7th...I'm scared to death...I'm terrible in math). I've started taking names of tutors (just in case) because "I'm" nervous since he's gotten to a point in math that neither my husband nor I are really good at. I made it to Business Calculus and "Sadistics "(Statistics) in college but that's not all that much.

We have these goofy tests too. They score a little differently than your New Jersey ones do and they really don't seem to have much effect on the following school year other than making sure they have "met" minimum requirements for "promotion". Some years if you don't pass you don't move to the next level regardless of your grades through out the year.

I wouldn't mind seeing these tests taken at the end of the year for the NEXT grade up. It wouldn't make any determinations on whether they get promoted or not but maybe it can help to place kids in classrooms or with teachers who could best help them hone their skills.

[jax86]

i live in NJ also and went through a similar situation. However, be aware, when she takes the GEPA's at the end of 8th grade she needs that 200 score or she will take an extra math class in H.S. i was told that is a state regulation and there are NO negotiations. we know kids who scored a 199 and they wouldn't budge. luckily my daughter scored a 210, but looking back i wished i put her in the extra math class anyway. but every child is different and you know what is best for your daughter. good luck