New to MCPS need help getting 9th grader moved into more challenging classes

[Anonymous]

Coucou OP,

Bienvenue aux US.

We are French and our kids take the AP French exam in 10th grade or so, without taking the MCPS classes, which frees them up to take other languages (Latin for my high schooler, which might not be offered at his high school) and Spanish for my middle schooler.

They keep up their French at the Classes du Samedi, a French weekend school for francophones:
https://myfrenchclasses.org/
This weekend school offers a AP French prep class in the second semester every year for interested students. I HIGHLY recommend them.

Your child's counselor really did not take into account your child's intelligence and academic level, just saw "foreigner" and put him where there was room, which means the lowest possible level of classes. It's too bad, because there might not be room in the top levels anymore! Please ask anyway. You did not land in the best school district, unfortunately, so you might have to push mightily to get them to place your kid where you want him to be.

AP courses - take 2-3 every year at least.
Honors - the rest.
"Regular" - please avoid, unless there's not other choice for that particular graduation requirement; it's remedial and will reflect poorly on his transcript when he applies to universities.

For 10th grade, your child will have to pick courses at the beginning of the 2023 calendar year. Don't miss the deadline and pick strategically!

Of course, if you plan on having him attend a French university or grande ecole, your strategy may be different and in that case I advise you to consult with the post-secondary counselor of Rochambeau, who knows best how to navigate that switch.

But if you think your child will attend a US, Canadian or British college/uni, then here's your high school blueprint:

1. He has to pick a few AP courses for 10, 11 and 12th grades. Mostly in his areas of strength and interest, obviously, and if he already knows what he wants to do in college, in that general subject of interest. But a strong math track, even he's a Humanities kid, is always well considered, provided he can get As on his transcript for every subject. For selective universities, only 4s and 5s out of 5 on the AP exams are "good" scores.

2. He needs As everywhere and the highest gpa he can get, so if he has a weakness in one subject, it might be better to downgrade to an easier class to get the A.

3. He needs something outside school that shows his interests. Music, art, sport, robotics, looking after pets, whatever it is. He will need to write about it on his college applications. Competitions, awards, leadership in group activities are all highly (way too highly) valued. But mostly colleges look for what your child has gotten from those activities.

4. Keep in mind the graduation requirements: a math class every year, an English class every year, some years of a foreign language, a PE, health and tech requirement. Your child can take the health class in the summer because it's only one semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just timing in that the explanation about Honors French 3 doesn't make any sense. Many kids begin taking foreign language in the 6th grade, which means they hit French 3 in 8th grade. Grade. Those kids don't repeat French 3 their freshman year, they move forward. I would go back and ask again.

Ask for the other classes, folks are right that you just need to be persistent. Explain the coursework that your child has already completed in math or science or whatever, and ask to be moved to the honors version of those classes this year.

I agree. Many Northwood kids went to SSIMS for middle school, and completed honors French 3 in 8th grade. So there should be a lot of kids in French 4 in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Impressed that no one has suggested changing schools!

[Anonymous]

Send him to private school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Are you guys American? Is your kid a Native English speaker? What math classes did he take in France and what is he in now>

I would focus on making sure he gets put in the right math track, stat. That's the one that is harder to get fixed later on. If he doesn't get to take AP Gov this year, that's not as big a deal.

OP again, we're American, but DS has grown up in the French system. He is native English and has worked very hard to learn French while not "living" in French, as we remain an Anglophone household for the most part. Math in France is typically a year ahead of math taught in a place like MCPS, but what's really different is that the work must be explained in writing using a very specific lexicon to describe the operations. I'm sorry they couldn't give him a placement exam for math. He's probably better than he thinks. I think AP Gov would be a stretch, he's had a lot of civics and history but it's from the French perspective, so he doesn't know much about American government outside of the Lincoln and FDR administrations.

MCPS math also requires "explain your thinking" .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coucou OP,

Bienvenue aux US.

We are French and our kids take the AP French exam in 10th grade or so, without taking the MCPS classes, which frees them up to take other languages (Latin for my high schooler, which might not be offered at his high school) and Spanish for my middle schooler.

They keep up their French at the Classes du Samedi, a French weekend school for francophones:
https://myfrenchclasses.org/
This weekend school offers a AP French prep class in the second semester every year for interested students. I HIGHLY recommend them.

Your child's counselor really did not take into account your child's intelligence and academic level, just saw "foreigner" and put him where there was room, which means the lowest possible level of classes. It's too bad, because there might not be room in the top levels anymore! Please ask anyway. You did not land in the best school district, unfortunately, so you might have to push mightily to get them to place your kid where you want him to be.

AP courses - take 2-3 every year at least.
Honors - the rest.
"Regular" - please avoid, unless there's not other choice for that particular graduation requirement; it's remedial and will reflect poorly on his transcript when he applies to universities.

For 10th grade, your child will have to pick courses at the beginning of the 2023 calendar year. Don't miss the deadline and pick strategically!

Of course, if you plan on having him attend a French university or grande ecole, your strategy may be different and in that case I advise you to consult with the post-secondary counselor of Rochambeau, who knows best how to navigate that switch.

But if you think your child will attend a US, Canadian or British college/uni, then here's your high school blueprint:

1. He has to pick a few AP courses for 10, 11 and 12th grades. Mostly in his areas of strength and interest, obviously, and if he already knows what he wants to do in college, in that general subject of interest. But a strong math track, even he's a Humanities kid, is always well considered, provided he can get As on his transcript for every subject. For selective universities, only 4s and 5s out of 5 on the AP exams are "good" scores.

2. He needs As everywhere and the highest gpa he can get, so if he has a weakness in one subject, it might be better to downgrade to an easier class to get the A.

3. He needs something outside school that shows his interests. Music, art, sport, robotics, looking after pets, whatever it is. He will need to write about it on his college applications. Competitions, awards, leadership in group activities are all highly (way too highly) valued. But mostly colleges look for what your child has gotten from those activities.

4. Keep in mind the graduation requirements: a math class every year, an English class every year, some years of a foreign language, a PE, health and tech requirement. Your child can take the health class in the summer because it's only one semester.

Vraiment utile, merci infiniment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What school? If it has APs and honors, get appt. with counselor and have him moved.

It's Northwood.

OP - Northwood has many students who matriculated from french immersion at SSIMS who are in more advanced french classes as 9th graders. As others have said, be persistent. I had to deal with the counseling office shortage as well leading up to the start of school for a similar reason and my extra respectful, yet persistent follow up paid off. At this point, escalate to AP and Principal without throwing the counseling team under the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What school? If it has APs and honors, get appt. with counselor and have him moved.

It's Northwood.

OP - Northwood has many students who matriculated from french immersion at SSIMS who are in more advanced french classes as 9th graders. As others have said, be persistent. I had to deal with the counseling office shortage as well leading up to the start of school for a similar reason and my extra respectful, yet persistent follow up paid off. At this point, escalate to AP and Principal without throwing the counseling team under the bus.

This is OP - thank you thank you! We've heard great things about the SSIMS French immersion and a neighbor's kids went there and their French is pretty good. I sympathize with the Northwood counselors and Dad is on notice to be nice but insistent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. Are you guys American? Is your kid a Native English speaker? What math classes did he take in France and what is he in now>

I would focus on making sure he gets put in the right math track, stat. That's the one that is harder to get fixed later on. If he doesn't get to take AP Gov this year, that's not as big a deal.

OP again, we're American, but DS has grown up in the French system. He is native English and has worked very hard to learn French while not "living" in French, as we remain an Anglophone household for the most part. Math in France is typically a year ahead of math taught in a place like MCPS, but what's really different is that the work must be explained in writing using a very specific lexicon to describe the operations. I'm sorry they couldn't give him a placement exam for math. He's probably better than he thinks. I think AP Gov would be a stretch, he's had a lot of civics and history but it's from the French perspective, so he doesn't know much about American government outside of the Lincoln and FDR administrations.

MCPS math also requires "explain your thinking" .

Maybe the difference is more that the way teachers grade the explanations can be really harsh - if you get the calculation wrong but the explanation right, you'll get the credit, but not vice versa.

[Anonymous]

You are going to need to make this easy for them and figure out the exact classes you want your kid in (and have a couple of backups in case schedule doesn't work out). I'd want him in honors everything (he can always switch back if struggling, some schools combine regular and honors classes anyway) and then what level French you think is appropriate. If he is fluent in both reading and writing, I'd request AP French.

Send an email today and cc AP and Principal. List specifically what you want your kid enrolled in and tell them you want to be called back. If you don't get a call back by tomorrow COB, then on Wednesday, go to the school office and request a meeting with the counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send him to private school

LOL. private recruitment in full force!

[Anonymous]

I tried to get my 6th grader's schedule modified recently for different reasons and the counselors are completely overwhelmed by such requests. Since this is MS parents were actually lining up at the school trying to make this happen. I just sent my child and it got fixed pretty quickly.

In HS I would think the students would be making these requests in the first place. I'm confused why your child can't make the request?

[Anonymous]

I would insist that this be done ASAP. Every day he is not in the higher level courses, he is falling behind-- will need to make up the work. (My kid has had several quizzes already this semester.)

If the counselor is not available, talk with the vice principal and perhaps consider an in person meeting so that you can hold them more accountable.

This is a tough year for switching. In prior years, I know lots of kids who switched classes in the first two weeks (mostly down a level, not up). But my kid said that her counselors said that switching would be tough this year because classes are completely filled up due to teacher shortages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS just moved to MCPS from France and is attending 9th grade in the DCC. His counselor opted to put him in the most basic classes, just to see how he does. It's been two weeks and he's seriously bored. I should note that he has already been through 9th grade in France, but we thought to have him repeat it in the US to help him acclimate. Also, his birthdate is past the cutoff for 10th grade this year, so, he's with his age cohort. Finally, they did move him to Honors French 3, supposedly the highest level of French offered to freshmen at his school, so that's good. But he's fully bilingual, fluent in French and he recently passed the French middle school exit exam with honors. So, I feel like 11th or 12th grade AP French would be the place for him. The counselors are nice but seem overwhelmed and meanwhile the weeks are ticking by...

I've never heard of there being an age/class restriction on who can join an AP course. Counselor was probably trying to make sure the kid didn't get overwhelmed, but didn't see the full picture. (Note that students can take the AP exam without taking the course, so if he is truly fluent, you might like to register for it and self study as it approaches in the spring.)

[Anonymous]

OP - your child doesn't have to know anything about American government to do AP U.S. Government. The class teaches all that you need, and I can guarantee that almost none of the kids know anything more on course content than Schoolhouse Rock when they arrive. Been teaching this class for years.