Dear Santa Clara Unified School District Board Members,

All parents of 5th graders have been notified by the district that the district intends to skip the MDTP advanced math placement test this year and have no 6th grade advanced math placement whatsoever next school year.

We, as parents, are concerned this will create even more learning delays and feel the district is trying to do this without parent feedback or oversight from the board.

From our perspective, there seem to be no practical obstacles to have some sort of test either in person if schools are open, or online or do placement based on teacher recommendation.

The district seems concerned that not as many children will be placed in advanced math compared to other years. We share that concern but we are also eager to see actual data from administering a test. Moreover, we think that the current proposal of the district is actually making matters worse by holding back ALL children, even the ones that would still qualify.

Most children that do 7th-grade math in 6th grade are accelerated again in 7th grade to 9th grade HS Algebra. This will mean that these kids will lose 2 years of math under the current proposal unless they can accelerate 2 years at once in a later phase which is harder to do.
 
In our view, the district should still place those kids that qualify and then focus our scarce resources more intensely on those kids that didn't until we get to a 'normal' level of kids in advanced math.

Moreover, some of the children might move to other districts that don't offer catch-up options there as SCUSD might provide in coming years in this school district.

Although we wholeheartedly agree that we need to focus on the students who are struggling in this pandemic, the district should not take away advancement opportunities for our most talented students and create more learning delays in the process. These kids will later compete for college spots globally. Why penalize the children that are still doing well by intentionally holding them back?
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Dear Parents,

We would like to encourage you to support this petition to the Board and to join the upcoming board meeting of February 11th where this issue will be discussed.

Please sign this petition, forward it to other parents, and dial into the board meeting to have your voices heard https://www.santaclarausd.org/boardmeetings

Current SCUSD advanced math placement tracks prior to COVID-19 
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1V0fMYbsw4VrZkPkVZwB9nBvVLDWNwJHSbH6mzL6P3_4/edit

Thank you for your support,
Concerned parents of Santa Clara Unified School District students