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Immediately following is a listing of all math classes offered at Southwestern Middle School. SMS is one of many middle school in the school district of Volusia County, Florida. These courses are offered throughout the district and are not unique to SMS. All math classes should be actively involved in training for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT.) It should be pointed out that the comments below are mine and are not a formal statement by our school district. After the informal list of classes, I get to the real point. My real purpose in developing this information is to answer the question "Should I take advanced math?"
typical progressions for middle school math:
| regular level | Math 1, Math 2, Math 3 | students doing regular, or "on grade level" mathematics courses |
| honors level | Math 1 , Math 2 adv (Pre-Algebra), Algebra | students doing advanced work |
| accelerated level | Math 1 Adv (Pre-Algebra), Algebra I, Algebra
II
|
students doing "advanced,
advanced" work
|
| alternative courses | math 3 adv (this is not an algebra credit) intensive math |
students who have worked successfully in pre-algebra not
ready for full algebra course work on skills necessary for FCAT, usually had a level 1 or level 2 score |
| "Should I take advanced math?" |
Math 1 and Math 1 gifted (6th grade): Students have learned to add, subtract, multiply and divide in elementary, or at least we hope so. Additionally, they have experienced some elements of the use variables and some geometry as well. The elementary curriculum seems to be consistently improving. These early concepts are developed further at the middle school level. It is important that students work to improve their skills in problem solving where more than one option is available and where more than one step is necessary.
Pre-Algebra: As the name implies this course prepares for algebra. Thinking abstractly is emphasized as students are introduced to a higher level of problem solving and the use of mathematical functions. Names for this course vary at each grade level, Math 1 advanced for 6th grade and Math 2 advanced for 7th grade that both use books titled Pre-Algebra. Math 3 advanced for 8th grade actually uses a book titled Algebra but it is not the algebra credit. Students in Math 2 or Math 3 should be working with higher level concepts but the introduction is more gradual than at the advanced level. This course can be taken as Math 1 Adv in 6th grade or as Math 2 Adv in 7th grade. The actual work done in the advanced classes should be more extensive and more challenging but the curriculum guides call for all students to be exposed to algebraic, geometric and statistical thinking.
Algebra I: by any standard, algebra is considered advanced study in middle school. Algebra is now the "gatekeeper" for high school graduation in Florida. Students studying algebra so early are not working toward minimum standards. In the future, it may be that all students take algebra in middle school but for now, it is only taken at the "honors" level in our district.
In algebra students deal with linear functions (LINES and the coordinate plane, absolute value functions), (absolute value equations) , and some quadratic functions. They should work with the Pythagorean Theorem and that includes the use of radicals. Also, students begin to be proficient with exponents.
Algebra II: As the name implies, this study is an extension of the algebra course. In middle school, it is only for "advanced, advanced" students. This is a tough course. For an 8th grader to get into this level means they are way above average in math ability, maturity as a student, and ambition to be a strong student. I would guess this might be about 5% of all students.
"Should I take advanced math?"
how to have