WE HAVE SWITCHED INTERNET CARRIERS
I will get out the May Newsletter in a couple of days as soon as I resolve the following dilemma. Hopefully you have not been involved in sending us an email only to not receive either a reply or a telephone call. We have switched internet carriers and no longer can send or receive email from suddenlinkmail.com or suddenlink.com. Without warning they just stopped our email several days after the transfer. Any of the following email addresses will get to me or to AJ Publishers.
For email directed for Art Reed, use one of the following:
For email directed to the company AJ Publishers LLC, use one of the following:
I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused any of you.
Please give me a call if you need a reply to an errant email you have sent in the last several days and have not yet received an answer
Art Reed (1-580-234-0064)
ENTERING A SAXON MATH TEXTBOOK FROM A NON-SAXON BOOK
Because of the cumulative nature of the Saxon mathematics textbook, a student entering a Saxon classroom from a non-Saxon environment will encounter difficulty regardless of his academic ability. It is this very cumulativeness, coupled with the incremental development of the Saxon textbook that will assist the student in regaining their academic level of performance. While it is an initial shock to the student and their parent(s), regardless of their academic ability, it is possible to overcome this initial shock if incoming students and their parents will sit down and agree to several policies and procedures based upon the following conditions as they apply to each student.
- It will take three to four weeks or more for any student to reach his academic expectations regardless of his academic abilities. Students who arrive new to the Saxon methodology generally fall into one of three categories:
- Exceptional Students: A valid “A” or “B” math student who has mastered the prerequisites for the course will take about three to four weeks to assimilate to the weekly tests and the cumulative nature of the Saxon textbook. Inform the student that initial test scores may be a bit lower than expected. However later test scores that will undoubtedly be higher, will replace these lower test scores. This will resolve the problem before the end of the nine-week grading period. This will not solve the problem if the student is not really an “A” or “B” math student (e.g. his grades were based on applying a fifty percent notebook or fifty percent homework grades, etc.)
- Average Students: Students who arrive with a low “A” or a low “B” average will experience a great deal more difficulty and will take almost an entire nine week period to assimilate to the Saxon methodology. Again, an initial conference with the student is essential.
- Below Average Students: Students who arrive with a “C” grade should be placed in the last part of the previous textbook (e.g. if the students came from the algebra 2 course, they should be placed in the last part of the Saxon algebra 1 class). To enable them to receive credit for this semester, enter algebra 1 (w/geometry) or Intro to algebra 2 on their transcripts to differentiate from the algebra 1 course they completed in the previous non-Saxon textbook. The Saxon algebra 1 textbook, unlike other algebra 1 textbooks, contains geometry and the later part of the textbook prepares the students for algebra 2, so either entry would be an accurate description. Without exception, students who received a low “C” or “D” grade in their previous math textbook should repeat whatever the course was, only now using the Saxon textbook.
Upon successful completion, their transcript could either reflect the same “introductory algebra 1” or “introductory algebra 2” course or use “algebra 1 (w/geometry)” or algebra 2 (w/geometry), etc.
(1 Con’t) In almost all cases, students who encounter difficulty in changing to a Saxon algebra 1 or algebra 2 textbook do so, not only because of the cumulative nature of the text, but because of the geometry as well. If the students were not properly prepared in their previous non-Saxon environment, they cannot always absorb the algebra and geometry concepts at cumulative level in the Saxon math textbooks.
Setting them back with this review process gives them the opportunity to absorb the algebra and geometry at an easier level. Use the entries “introduction” and “w/geometry” on the transcripts so they can honestly receive credit for something they have not previously encountered.
2.The later test grades should override earlier test grades. Unlike other textbooks, Saxon math books are cumulative in nature, so the student who fails the first three tests, then begins to receive passing test scores on the next three tests (e.g. scores of 40, 50, 55, 70, 80, and 85) has indicated they have finally grasped the material they were initially struggling with. There are a number of ways to encourage and enable these students to be rewarded for their hard work. One way would be to either drop a failed test for each subsequent test passed (e.g. the 40 is dropped when the student got the 70, the 50 was dropped when the student then got the 80). Another way would be to replace the failed test score with the average of the failed test and one of the recently passed tests. That would mean we would replace the 40 with the average of (70+40)/2, the 50 with the average of (80+50)/2 and the 55 with the average of the (85+55)/2, so the students’’ new test grades would reflect 55, 65, 70, 70, 80, 85). In either case, if the student maintained a test average of 80 or 85 for the rest of the grading period these earlier low test scores should not affect his grade for the course. If the student continues with test grades of 80 or 85, he has indicated that he is a “B” student in this Saxon math class. If the test grades begin to fall below an 80, this procedure should not be applied.
3. Students should not attempt to make up everything all at once just to become “eligible” for extra-curricular activities. It is critical that both the parents and the students understand that this process of assimilating into the Saxon textbook will not occur within a single week or two. It may take an entire nine-week grading period. During the process, the student should show a slow but determined increase in test grades. For this reason, so long as the test grades are improving, the student should be classified as “eligible” and allowed to compete in extra-curricular activities.
4. Second nine-week grades and second semester grades can override previous term grades. Unlike other math textbooks, a student who falls behind in a Saxon textbook takes about the same amount of time to return to this previous level of understanding as it took to fall to where he is now. In other words if a “C” student starts failing, it will take the three or four weeks it took to go from the “C” to the “F” or get back to the “C” again. For that reason, students who fail the first nine-week period, but see the error of their ways and recover to a passing “C” or even a “B” the second nine week period, should receive that “C” or “B” for the first semester grade. Again, is it the cumulative nature of the Saxon textbook that logically and legally supports this. Depending on their actual test scores, attitude, and individual circumstances, students who fail their first semester should either be reassigned to the second semester algebra 1 class to review the concepts they do not comprehend, or be given the opportunity to continue and have their second semester grade also replace their first semester grade.
5. Re-evaluate the student’s progress after two or three weeks. Remember, not every “A” or B” student coming from a non-Saxon environment may really be prepared for the no nonsense Saxon Methodology. If the student’s test grades are not slowly getting better, it is critical that that you brief the student to alert him to the possibility of his reassignment to the “introductory” or “w/geometry” Saxon level courses.
6 Give credit for a “lesser inclusive” subject. Using a single case as an example, the reader can extrapolate to other levels and courses. Let us assume we have a student who switches from a non-Saxon textbook to a Saxon Math book at the start of the second nine-week period with a grade of “B” in the non-Saxon Algebra 2 course.
And you and he both feel it would be beneficial to switch to the Saxon Algebra 2, 3rd Ed textbook. After three tests of 45 and 50, and 45, it is apparent that the student is not able to handle the material. You recommend the student be assigned to the Saxon algebra 1, 3rd Ed textbook and complete the Algebra 1 course. Depending on the student’s latter test scores, his transcript would either reflect the Algebra 1 w/Geometry or the Introduction to Algebra 2. Assume the student’s final five or so test scores are low “C”s” (70-75) the students transcript could reflect a “C” for an Intro to Algebra 2 course and they would repeat the algebra course the next year and their transcript would be annotated to reflect Algebra 2 (w/geometry). Recall that 3rd Ed textbook qualifies as an Honors Course.
Don’t forget to read the December 2023 News Article titled
If you already have questions about this particular problem please email me your telephone number with just a quick question and include your telephone number and I will call you rather than each of us sending a small book to each other – and I painfully type with two fingers!