LAKE ZURICH MIDDLE SCHOOL SOUTH

MATH DEPARTMENT

 7th GRADE PLACEMENT  INFORMATION

PRE-ALGEBRA  MATH (8TH Grade Curriculum)

Academic Performance:

·         A or high B in 6th grade Advanced or a 95% and must meet MAP requirement in 6th grade Standard.

·         MAP 90% and above.

·         Computational skills consistently accurate.

·         Understanding and retention of math concepts is excellent (based on periodic pre-testing throughout the 6th grade year and teacher generated review assessments).

·         Performance on math tests consistently high.

·         Performance on standardized tests is very high and consistent from year to year.

 STANDARD MATH

Academic Performance:

·         A or below in 6th grade Standard or a 75% or below in 6th grade Advanced

·         MAP 45% - 89%

·         Computation skills are very good.

·         Understanding and retention of math concepts is good (based on periodic pre-testing throughout the 6th grade year and teacher generated review assessments).

ACADEMIC MATH

Academic Performance:

·         Low C or below in 6th grade Standard or a B or below in 6th grade Academic.

·         MAP is less than 45%.

·         Low achieving in math.

·         Computational skills are very weak.

·         Needs constant reinforcement of previously learned skills (based on periodic pre-testing throughout the 6th grade year and teacher generated review assessments).

·         Careful instruction using concrete and visual models and their connection to the abstract math concept is very important for student understanding.

Reasoning/Thinking Skills:

·         Performs very well on standard routine word problems.

·         Much more creative in non-routine problem-solving situations.

·         Able to use higher level thinking sills (analysis, synthesis) in problem solving situations.

Reasoning/Thinking Skills:

·         Good problem-solver but less creative in their approaches to solving non-routine problems.

·         Needs more teacher guidance in using higher thinking skills.

Reasoning/Thinking Skills:

·         Critical thinking skills are very weak.

·         Success on multi-step word problems of any type is usually poor.  The need for visual/concrete models is present almost always.

·         Has difficulty determining an approach or plan to help the student solve different types of word problems.

Personal Characteristics:

·         Usually enjoys a challenge.

·         Doesn’t give up easily.

·         Asks thoughtful, intuitive questions.

Personal Characteristics:

·         Is much more of a “memorizer” of mathematical procedures rather than a “thinker.”

Personal Characteristics:

·         Genuinely want to improve their math skills and willing to put in good effort to improve.

·         Very slow to understand new concepts.  Sequencing must be very gradual and carefully done with constant modeling along the way.

·         Very tentative and lacking confidence.

·         Needs frequent positive reinforcement and encouragement for trying, even when they are wrong.

Work Habits:

·         Homework responsibility is excellent.

·         Generally more organized.

·         Works well independently.

Work Habits:

·         Homework responsibility, in general, is good.

·         Generally, average/above average organizational skills.

Work Habits:

·         Although accuracy on homework is often a problem, in general, the student does try to be responsible about homework.

·         Organization is often poor.

·         Needs structure.