Jackson Reed - why do their public presentations not talk about APs?

[Anonymous]

Last fall I attended the in-person open house and tour. Today I attended an online info session that was advertised for Deal parents. For both, they don't talk about APs. In the online session they had one slide on it and barely spoke to it. For both, they mainly talked about their academies, which is fine. But the lack of presenting on APs is mind boggling. It's so absent, that it seems intentional rather than an oversight. Even when I ask questions about APs, they seem hesitant to answer, it's almost as if they've been given a gag order to not talk about it. I'm perhaps exaggerating a bit too much. But for highly selective bound kids, APs are critical and necessary to the secondary school landscape. Anyone have any insight?

[Anonymous]

Is there a recording available? Please post if there is. We missed it.

[Anonymous]

They said they'd send out slides. You can see the dearth of info on AP in the deck. I can't remember if they said they were recording and would send out a recording.

[Anonymous]

They said that freshman don’t take AP classes except in rare occasions, but then they can start in the following years starting with psychology and human geography. What’s not clear to me is how a kid knows when they’re ready to take an AP class and how these classes align with their core classes. Is there so much room in the schedules that they can take these classes concurrently? Or can AP classes count towards core requirements?

[Anonymous]

That answer was given in response to a question in the chat. The presenter said:
-- The freshman rare AP given as an example was language.
-- For sophmore, examples given are AP Psych, AP Human Geo, .. and he said there are 6 courses in total. (I wonder how easy/difficult it is to get this in your schedule, if you want. And why is not listed/described somewhere?)
-- And can take almost all APs as juniors, except the "sequenced" APs, like AP Calc BC which would require PreCalc.

What I still don't understand is why APs are consistently so obviously glossed over.

[Anonymous]

This is pretty upsetting. When I took a tour circa 2016 before we moved to the neighborhood (with young kids) they boasted about their AP options. This makes me very nervous as a parent of a college-bound kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They said that freshman don’t take AP classes except in rare occasions, but then they can start in the following years starting with psychology and human geography. What’s not clear to me is how a kid knows when they’re ready to take an AP class and how these classes align with their core classes. Is there so much room in the schedules that they can take these classes concurrently? Or can AP classes count towards core requirements?

Yes. JR students take 8 courses a year. (This is apparently common in public high schools nowadays, at least around here.)

[Anonymous]

I don’t know for sure why JR doesn’t talk much about APs, but I’d speculate it’s four things:

1. The future of AP seems uncertain in general, so perhaps they don’t want to oversell it.

2. I think they are concerned about the general academic arms race and think students who take too many APs are likely to get overwhelmed.

3. I think they have seen parents pressure kids into taking more than they can handle and/or take over the course selection process from students, and they don’t want to encourage that behavior.

4. It’s really not an issue 9th graders have to worry about since very very few of them are eligible for any AP classes. (Although they’d be wise to proactively address the issue rather than ignoring it altogether.)

I have an 11th grader and 9th grader and can confirm that they figure it out. My 9th grader knows what APs are available to him next year. My 11th grader took one AP last year, is currently taking four, and will take five next year. The kids talk a lot among themselves, they ask teachers, etc. They figure it out.

[Transplant_1]

Thank you. This is helpful. What I don't get is why kids have to talk among themselves and figure it out (and I assume with help from college educated parents and college consultants.) It just seems there's a lack of the administration, staff, to guide the effort and keeping an eye on the selective college landscape.

[Anonymous]

Transplant_1 wrote:Thank you. This is helpful. What I don't get is why kids have to talk among themselves and figure it out (and I assume with help from college educated parents and college consultants.) It just seems there's a lack of the administration, staff, to guide the effort and keeping an eye on the selective college landscape.

Correct. Kids do this mostly on their own at JR, with help from their parents. There are two guidance counselors per grade, which means about 250 kids/counselor.

[Transplant_1]

They did not talk about course selection.
Just the academies.
But here is one post from the info session tonight.

Jackson Reed - why do their public presentations not talk about APs?
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1124379.page

[Anonymous]

Transplant_1 wrote:Thank you. This is helpful. What I don't get is why kids have to talk among themselves and figure it out (and I assume with help from college educated parents and college consultants.) It just seems there's a lack of the administration, staff, to guide the effort and keeping an eye on the selective college landscape.

You must be prepared to guide your child if APs are your concern. The school does not have counselors who guide kids through. They answer questions when asked and help when issues arrive, but they don’t have time to guide.

There are over 2 dozen APs offered. Human geography, psych, Econ, calc (if your child enters 9th in pre calc, CS principals for kids at that level, and a few others are available in 10th. The school does not offer AP world history. At 11th and 12th grade all core classes can be AP, and then depending on the level your child is at, things like stats, CS, env science, language, AP Art are all available. The top 10 kids in each grade usually graduate with 10-14 or so APs. Taking 8 in a year is never recommended by anyone there (or annywhere) and honestly overkill and an intense amount of unnecessary stress.

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand why JR got rid of AP World History.
At Walls, all students are required to take AP World in 10th grade

[Anonymous]

My niece is in MCPS and at her high school many 9th graders take AP Gov in 9th grade and AP US History in 10th grade.
Not sure why DCPS does not offer this sequence

[Anonymous]

I have visited DCPS and MCPS schools, and the difference in the public discussion of academics in open houses is striking. MCPS principals will up-front address acceleration. I even heard one say “It is our obligation to give students the challenge they need.” Long discussions of math tracking and selection of classes.

In DCPS, academics seem to be practically a dirty word at open houses. Parents who ask about it get stared at questioningly, as if they just ripped a big fart.