[BlaskEric]

In my district we have middle schools with grades 6-8.  We are trying to decide if we should begin to accelerate students in grade 6 or grade 7.  In either case we will provide many other ways for students to “jump into” acceleration as late as their 10th grade year.  Also in either case we would not be skipping content but would be compacting the content.  We would either be compacting 4 years into 3 years or 3 years into 2 years.

 

My question specifically concerns appendix A on Page 81.  Following the logic of the first recommendation on this page, compacting 4 years into 3 years would be preferable to compacting 3 years into 2 years. Therefore, leading one to believe that accelerating and compacting the curriculum beginning in grade 6 would be not only ok but preferred.  However in recommendation number two, it states that the Achieve Pathways Group does not recommend starting acceleration until grade 7.

 

After using some of my ELA Common Core skills and closely reading this second recommendation, I think the intent of this recommendation was not to track students too early and choose the fate of their high school mathematics as early as the 6th grade, not that there is an issue with the mathematics of compacting prior to grade 7.

 

I contend that beginning to compact the curriculum for grades 6-8 and Algebra I into the three years of middle school and providing multiple opportunities for students to enter this accelerated pathway along the way through middle and high school is preferable to waiting until 7th grade and compacting 7-8 and Algebra I into two years.

I would love feedback from Bill, the Achieve Pathways Group, and anyone at large on this idea.

Thank you.

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