7th Grade Forecasting Presentation
If you could not make the presentation on April 13th, you will see some of the highlights of the
conversation below.
District Mandates
All of our CORE Classes must be 55-60 minutes in length. Core classes include:
 Math
 Science
 Language Arts
 Social Studies
 We must offer enrichment (elective) classes
 We must offer Physical Education
 We must offer World Languages
 We must offer support classes. Support classes would be in lieu of one of the elective offerings
for a student and focus on reading, writing or math.
West Sylvan Basic Schedule
 Each class period is 56 minutes long
 Each student will have:
o Math (1 period) – Students will either be placed in Common Core Math or Compacted
Math (To be explained later in the presentation)
o Science (1 period)
o Block (2 periods that will include Language Arts and Social Studies)
o 2 elective classes (Except for Spanish Immersion students due to the requirement that
they have 1 period of Spanish Language Arts, 1 period of Spanish Social Studies and 1
period of English Language Arts)
Changes to the way the schedule runs
 Most students will have two electives per day (Except Spanish Immersion students)
 We will no longer be running an A/B schedule for writing and technology as they did in 6th grade
 Writing will be infused throughout the curriculum. All of the teachers will be considered writing
teachers and will work closely with the Language Arts teachers to use common language and
grading strategies.
 Tiered approach for student support
o Study Hall – Offered for the first time this year. Students in Study Hall will have a quiet
place to work for one period of the day. It is designed for those students who have a
busy after school schedule and need time to get their work completed. Some of the
students will be placed in Study Hall so that they have someone checking in on their
organizational skills as well as to make sure they are completing assignments on time.
o AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) – Offered for the first time this
year. Students in AVID will focus on Executive Functioning skills to help them be better
organized for the long hall. Students must apply to be in AVID (Applications not yet
available)
o Academy – Academies next year will be focusing on specific content areas: Writing
Academy, Reading Academy and Math Academy. This class is designed for those
students who need support in a specific academic area.
Elective Options for 7th Grade
 Tech Ed
 Media Arts
 PE
 Symphonic Band
 Dance 1 and 2
 Ripped and Fit
 Choir
 Arabic 1 and 2
 Study Hall
 Spanish 1
 Mandarin 1
 French 1
How Electives are assigned
1. Students fill out the forecasting sheets
a. Rank order their electives 1-5. They may mix and match between the full year and half
year electives. (i.e. 1-Band, 2-PE, 3-Spanish, 4-Media Arts, Dance 2)
2. All of the information is entered into the Student Information System (Synergy)
3. We press the button and Synergy places students into classes.
Just because your child has turned the form in on time and has ranked their choices, does not mean that
they will absolutely get their choices. It is all about numbers and class sizes.
Schedule Changes
The only schedule changes that will be considered in the fall will be if:
 Your child is missing a class (no math, no science, etc…)
 Your child has two of the same classes (two math, two science, etc…)
 Your child was in Arabic 1 or 6th grade Band and they did not get into the next level of that
specific class
We will not consider schedule changes in the elective offerings.
Selectives
These are classes that could and will be chosen for students with input from current teachers and
parents. You will not see them listed on the forecasting sheet. However, if you or your child is
interested, please indicate that on the forecasting sheet. (You may just write it off to the side.)
 AVID – Students working on executive functioning skills
 Special Education – Student is on an IEP
 English as a Second Language – Student has moved here from another country
 Study Hall – Student needs extra time to do homework and also needs some help with
organization
 Academy – Student needs assistance mastering the concepts in a specific academic area
7th Grade Math
 Students will have two options for 7th grade math
o Common Core Math – This is the regular grade level math class. If they are in this class,
they will track through the following classes through high school:
 8th Grade Common Core
o
 9th Grade Algebra
 10th Grade Geometry
 11th Grade Advanced Algebra
 12th Grade Probability and Statistics
Compacted Math – This is the advanced level of math. If they are in this class, they will
track through the following classes through high school:
 7th Grade – 7th Grade math and half of 8th grade math
 8th Grade – the other half of 8th grade math and 9th grade Algebra
 9th Grade – Geometry
 10th Grade – Advanced Algebra
 11th Grade – Four options
 Probability and Statistics
 Preliminary Math Studies 1-2
 IB Standard Level Math 1-2
 IB Higher Level Math 1-2
 12th Grade – Three options (Some of these will offer college credit. Check with
Lincoln for exact details)
 IB Math Studies 3-4
 IB Standard Level Math 3-4
 IB Higher Level Math 3-4
How will the students be placed for Math?
1. Students took an assessment test in February
2. Students will take an assessment test in April
3. The district scores those assessments and makes the recommendations for placement
4. If a student is on the border, we will also use classwork and Work Sample information to
determine placement
What if my child does not get in to Compacted 1 and they really want to be in that class?
We will be more than happy to place them on a watch list for the year. At the end of 7th grade, the math
team will look at those students, and in conjunction with the principal, determine if a placement change
needs to be made.
We will not move a student into Compacted 1 just because it is requested.
John Ferraro
Principal
West Sylvan Middle School
8111 SW West Slope Drive
Portland, OR 97225
503.916.5690 (phone)
503.916.2681 (fax)
jferraro@pps.net