Math proficiency - should I panic?

[swimmermom3]

Sailor Dude just texted from school in a panic. He is taking a standardized math test that is part of the school district's high school graduation requirements. There are base-level tests that all students must pass in math, reading, and writing in order to graduate.

Apparently the test is not going well at all and he is out of time. He is a ninth-grader taking Geometry. I think all Geometry classes are given the test.

 

So I have been patting myself on the back thinking that we have done a good job with math over the years. I figured this test would be our validation. The last standardized test was in 7th grade. He scored two points below the "Exceed" benchmark in math, but the test was for 8th graders. We did Foerster Algebra I for 8th grade and he seemed to do fine with it. So far this year, he has an A in Geometry at the school and they signed off for him for Advanced Algebra II for next year.

 

I guess I am panicking because ds is usually a good judge of his own skill level/performance. If he is worried, then I am worried.

 

How do I check and make sure that his math skills are solid enough to do that Algebra II course next year? My older kids' experiences were so poor with the ps math experience that I have lived in a state of math paranoia since I brought this one home in fourth grade. I may have slacked off on a few subjects at certain times over the years, but not math. One and a half hours four to five days a week. Now I am wondering if I am just too mathematically inept to be able to genuinely evaluate his ability.

 

He does have to take the Stanford Achievement test in another week. Will that answer some of my questions?

[Karen in CO]

Not much help, but when my ds took geometry in ps, he did very little of what would be considered math. I'd have a brain-dump with him after school to find out what kinds of problems he had before you panic. He may just be rusty on computations and such.

[Frances]

If the test is required for graduation, maybe it covers material beyond geometry, and it will go better when he takes it again in a few years.

[letsplaymath]

Also, keep in mind that most (maybe all?) standardized tests include material that they do not expect the students to know. They do this so they can get a nicely-shaped bell curve with its center around 50%. So neither of you should panic until you get the official results back --- he's probably doing just fine. Even if there is stuff that he needs to make up or re-learn, it sounds like he has time, since this is a graduation test and he's only in 9th grade.

 

If when you get the results back it looks like he's forgotten most of algebra 1, you could just do occasional reviews with Khan or Alcumus to review and sharpen those skills. Algebra 2 starts with review, too, since lots of students are rusty by then.

[swimmermom3]

Thank you everyone for your responses to my knee-jerk panic. We did do a "brain-dump" after the test and it seems graphing on co-ordinate planes and adding radicals were the major problem areas that he remembers along with a question or two on functions. We also figured out that if his mother had told him to do all of the problems that he knew first and then work on the others, that he could have gone faster. :tongue_smilie: This child is usually pretty savvy and sometimes I take things for granted. He proposed on his own initiative that we do Algebra I review over the summer. Someone has taken the real Sailor Dude and is holding him hostage somewhere, I think.

 

Denise, I liked the post "Homeschooling with Math Anxiety" on your blog, which has some great insights. Thanks for sharing it. Also, I had forgotten about Alcumus. We need to build it back into the schedule.

[swimmermom3]

:blushing: Not only did he pass, he "exceeded" the required standard.

 

Too bad I already made him sign (in blood) a contract to review Algebra over the summer. :tongue_smilie: