Placement Recommendations for GRADE LEVEL MATH COURSES

Math 7 and Math 8

All students in this series of courses are exposed to high-quality mathematics program designed to prepare them to graduate from high school ready for college, a career, and civic life. The California Common Core Math Standards resemble the standards of the highest-achieving nations and reflect the importance of focus, coherence, and rigor. The standards stress conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application to ensure students are learning and absorbing the critical information they need to succeed at higher levels and can apply their learning in increasingly complex situations.

This course is designed to provide all students with opportunities to meet and exceed grade-level content and skills, and explore the content with degrees of depth and complexity that will provide broad preparation for high school-level coursework.

Placement Recommendations: All students

Placement Recommendations for JUNIOR HIGH MATH COMPACTION

Math 7/8 Compaction and Math 8/I Compaction

In grades 7 and 8, there is a “compaction” (three courses in two years) option for students who demonstrate evidence of being able to move through course content at a rapid pace.

Students must possess above average mathematical computational skills with a strong conceptual understanding of grade level mathematics. They must have the ability to learn new and challenging concepts in a short period of time, usually 1 class period, and not need extra time or practice to fully grasp the new concepts.

Placement Recommendations:

• have CAASPP results indicate Standards Exceeded in mathematics over multiple years
• demonstrate strong mastery of the 6th grade standards as evidenced by report card marks ( “standard exceeded” or “standard met” when exceeded isn’t an option)

Note: Students completing this two-year compaction sequence with grades of A, B or C in all terms should advance to a Math II course and should not be asked to repeat any portion of the compaction sequence.

Placement Recommendations for GRADE LEVEL MATH COURSES

Math I, Math II and III (CP or Enrichment)

All students in this series of courses are exposed to high-quality mathematics program designed to prepare them to graduate from high school ready for college, a career, and civic life. The California Common Core Math Standards resemble the standards of the highest-achieving nations and reflect the importance of focus, coherence, and rigor. The standards stress conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application to ensure students are learning and absorbing the critical information they need to succeed at higher levels and can apply their learning in increasingly complex situations.

This course is designed to provide all students with opportunities to meet and exceed grade-level content and skills, and explore the content with degrees of depth and complexity that will provide broad preparation for high school-level coursework.

Placement Recommendations: All students

Placement Recommendations for HIGH SCHOOL COMPACTION

Math II/III and Math III/Pre-Calculus

In grades 9, 10 and 11, there is a “Compaction” (three courses in two years) option for students who demonstrate the ability to handle the acceleration required to complete Integrated Math II, Integrated Math III and Pre Calculus in two school years.

This course sequence is recommended for students who prefer acceleration over depth, complexity, and novelty. Students must possess above average mathematical computational skills with a strong conceptual understanding of grade level mathematics.

Please note: The pace of this course is exceptional fast on the 4x4 block schedule given students learn 1.5 years of math content in half of a school year.

Placement Recommendations:

• Evidence of strong math achievement in prior math courses (i.e A level work)
• CAASPP results indicate Standards Exceeded over multiple years

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Placement Recommendations for SUPPORT for Math I (TEMPLATE)

Students who need extra preparation to succeed in Math 1 often also need support to develop positive beliefs about mathematics. The Math I Support & Extended Time class:

• gives students opportunities to access grade-level mathematics in age-appropriate contexts. The course does not delay Math I content, and invites students to reason mathematically and communicate their thinking at the same level of rigor as the Math I course.
• provides students opportunities to be and feel successful. A small number of high-leverage instructional routines focus on number sense, precision of language, and mathematical reasoning that all students can access. These routines are repeated so that students can see their “thinking like a mathematician” skills improve.
• focuses on routines that build a positive classroom culture in which everyone is expected to share their thinking, all ideas are considered seriously, and there is collective responsibility for making sense of the ideas offered. This is not only good mathematical practice, it is also a way of showing students who have historically felt that they didn’t have good mathematical ideas that their thinking is valuable.

Based on Narrative from Illustrative Math Algebra 1 Support

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