Note to Parents

Dear Parents of Algebra 2 Student,

We are very excited to begin the year working with your junior or senior son or daughter. As a department and more specifically as an Algebra 2 curriculum team, we are very excited to share and execute the changes to this course.

The Algebra 2 course your son and daughter will be taking this year will very closely follow a course taught at College of DuPage. The reason for this is because students who pass this course with an A, B, or C letter grade will be eligible to directly enroll in a college credit math course at College of DuPage instead of having to take one or more entry courses that would not award college credit immediately.

However, this direct enrollment in a college credit math course at College of DuPage is not solely based on the letter grade earned at the end of the year by your student. Your student's eligibility for this opportunity is also dependent on their score on the ALEKS placement test. ALEKS is an online tutoring and assessment program used across the country for supplemental reasons in the classroom and for placement purposes at the high school and university levels. We will be taking advantage of both of these purposes this year. Students will be working with the ALEKS online tutoring program throughout the year with the intent to improve upon necessary algebraic and numerical skills that will benefit them throughout the course, and will help them with the placement test they will take at the end of the year.

At the beginning of the year, students will take an introductory assessment to provide us, your student, and you with an idea of where they stand at the beginning of the year. In January, students will take a more official assessment to gauge growth from the first semester and provide a benchmark to compare with their growth at the end of the year. Lastly, students will take the final ALEKS post - assessment which will be used as their ALEKS placement score in May.

Below you will find the criteria that will be used to identify what your student will need to earn in the class as well as what they will need to earn on their ALEKS placement test in order to place into 1218 or 1220 (the two possible college credit courses at College of DuPage for our Algebra 2 students).

Semester 2 Course Grade Minimum ALEKS PPL Score to Place into 1218 or 1220

Semester 2 Grade: 90% or above Minimum ALEKS Score: 37

Semester 2 Grade: 80% - 89% Minimum ALEKS Score: 40

Semester 2 Grade: 70% - 79% Minimum ALEKS Score: 43

As you can see, this class will be mimicking a college course and will have a higher-ed reward upon its successful completion. Therefore, your son or daughter should anticipate that this class will be taught with collegiate expectations. The course will move quickly and with that, your student will need to take on several responsibilities outside of class such as consistently completing their homework, studying for assessments, and frequently working on the ALEKS program. Heading to the Math Lab, working with resource teachers, and seeking their Algebra 2 teacher out should also become productive habits for your student. We are setting higher standards for our students in Algebra 2 this year because we have to in order to put them in a position to be successful. With this, though, we are looking forward to your students reaping the benefits of their hard work at the end of the year.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Mr. Westerberg and Mrs. Nolan