Math Placement for JAMS 6th Graders

Principal Montgomery has sent us information about students' placement in math classes this coming year. She has sent the District's math placement recommendations to 5th grade teachers by now, so you can contact your child's teacher or you can contact Ms. Montgomery at p l mont gomery at seattle schools dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols] about your child's JAMS math placement.

Families may opt up by a level, but you need to fill out the paperwork and mail it to JAMS.  Bringing the paperwork to JAMS after July 1 would be best.  Here’s the link to the opt in form. Scroll down until you see a table of languages and select the language you’d like the form in. If you can’t open it, please contact Ms. Montgomery and she can send it to you as a Word document.

Matrix used for 6th grade math placement

Highest Fall or Winter 5th Grade MAP Score	4th Grade MSP Score
	200 - 425	426 - 475	476 - 524	525 and above
100 - 229	CMP 1	CMP 1	CMP 1	CMP 1
230 - 239	CMP 1	CMP 2	CMP 2	CMP 2
240 - 249	CMP 1	CMP 2	CMP 3	CMP 3
250 and  above	CMP 1	CMP 2	CMP 3	Algebra 1

"CMP" stands for the district-adopted middle school curriculum, Connected Mathematics Project. JAMS will be using an updated version. More information about the curriculum can be found at the Pearson website.

Math Placement FAQ

What is the recommendation based on? 

The recommendation is based on MAP and state assessment results from grades 4 and 5. The recommendation matrix is displayed above.

Why does the district use 4th grade scores in placement recommendations? 

Middle schools need to build their schedules well before 5th grade MSP results are available.

Why are some students recommended to skip over a math class? 

The vast majority of students will not be recommended to skip a math class. Most of our math students will be recommended to take the next course in sequence. Math is developmental and sequential and very few students can skip an entire grade of math and not experience repercussions later. Nevertheless, in an effort to offer the best mathematical opportunities for all students, a very few students may be a recommended to take a course beyond the next one in sequence.

What if a family disagrees with the recommendation? 

A family may choose to ask a middle school to place a student in a math class one year beyond the recommended course. To do so, most schools require the students and families to sign a placement contract. 

What should a family consider in helping a student enroll in the right middle school math class? 

Families are encouraged to be very thoughtful about their math enrollment decisions.  Students and parents/guardians should carefully consider a student’s math acuity, confidence, work ethic, and strength of foundational mathematics skills before enrolling in an advanced pathway.

Can students opt into Algebra 1 in Middle School? 

The math department believes the best way to help students be prepared for college and careers is through completion of a mathematics pathway that allows students to experience a balance of procedural fluency and conceptual understanding. To ensure this, it has been the tradition in SPS not to allow students to opt into Algebra 1. However, this year, to accommodate the possibility that the recommended math course may miss a student who is ready for Algebra 1, the district has decided to offer an Algebra readiness test to students who meet one but not both of the criteria for placement in Algebra 1. This test can be requested by the parents or teacher of a fifth grader. It will be given at John Stanford Center once a month beginning in April. More information on this Algebra readiness test can be obtained from Anna Box, Math Program Manager, or Shawn Cook, Assessment Development Professional. Scores and resulting placement recommendations will be communicated to families and to the middle school where the student will enroll.

Information from Paula Montgomery on JAMS Programming

Thank you all for your comments and questions on the last post. We asked Paula Montgomery, the JAMS Planning Principal, for information on planned meetings with families. We also sent her the link to the last post so she could see what some families are thinking about.

Ms. Montgomery is working on a master calendar of currently scheduled meetings with families and will get it to us at the beginning of next week to post. We know from a meeting she had with a group of Sacajawea families last week that she is planning multiple appearances at PTA meetings and with kids at Eckstein and Hamilton who will be geo-split away to JAMS to get their perspectives. Definitely watch for that master calendar and take advantage of the chance to get to know her and ask her questions.

Here are Ms. Montgomery's "quick big answers" to questions posed on the blog. 

-----------------

1. Yes, JAMS will have Algebra 2 next year. It looks as if we may have enough qualified students for two sections.

2. Geometry and Algebra 1, no problem. Plenty of sections.

3. Yes, for band and orchestra program. Just added a second music room to the plans for Phase 2 (summer 2014). The number of sections/levels will be driven by student needs. Both Hamilton and Eckstein band directors are involved in planning.

4. Working on initial instrument and library inventory with district.

5. Yes to foreign languages, starting for 6th graders. At this point, I can say absolutely Spanish and Japanese due in large part to preparing students for high school. I will need to see the number of current 6th graders in French before making a decision.

6. Spent day at Garfield, learning what needs to happen in APP at the middle level for students to be successful in 9th grade. Plan to visit Ingraham as well.

7. Yes to biology. Hoping to pull off science electives as well. Our school site is an amazing resource for environmental sciences. In conversation with science leaders in the district to develop possibilities.

8. Teacher leader positions are now posted! An all Seattle district email should be sent out next week, alerting teachers about the opportunity. Hope to have interviews in late December. May have to interview in early January given how busy December is . These leaders should be on board by mid-January.

9. Other programming decisions are waiting for 1) student data review, 2) teacher leader input, 3) student input, and 4) parent input.

And now I have a BIG ask. If anyone out there is able/willing to do pro-bono work on logo design. I would love to connect. Our BEX levy is really covering academic spaces and curriculum and this is an area that has not been addressed. Would love to use the expertise of a professional to start designing logo/mascot possibilities and have our future JAMS students select the mascot/colors/etc prior to February. The architect for the project then can include these elements into finishes for our school.
---------------------

If you're interested in providing some design help, Ms. Montgomery can be reached at p l mont gomery at seattle schools dot org. [remove all spaces, replace words with symbols.]

Also, information that Ms. Montgomery passed on from Tracy Libros in response to the questions raised by maps of the JAMS, Eckstein and Hamilton attendance areas: they are working on "enlarged (and therefore more detailed) maps of the middle school attendance areas for JAMS, Eckstein, and Hamilton."  Dr. Libros provides this info for families: "For specific information on where your child will be assigned for next year (2014-15), please go to the Address Lookup Tool on the district’s web site. We are in the process of updating that information for 2014-15 to reflect changes approved by the School Board. We expect to have the updated information posted the week after the Thanksgiving break."

Now a request from us to you: please share the address of this blog with people you know. The more community involvement, the better it will be. Thanks.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

One more test!

OK, so maybe I'm a little obsessed with math. ;-)

Testing tag cloud

Playing around with the template... please don't mind me!

How our tag cloud works

Wondering about that tag cloud at the top of the blog page? Each post here will have one or more tags that help us sort out what we all think is most important for JAMS. The more times a tag is used, the bigger the tag label appears in the tag cloud. Visual voting, essentially!