APS math pathway question for high school

[Anonymous]

Through Virtual Virginia, as others described - but please know it is a significant commitment, several hours per day, synchronous, and there is very little flexibility with absences. They'll drop a kid without remorse after a few absences, and keep your money. It's no joke.

But reach out to the counselor now to get it on the counselor's radar, because that's the person who helps you sign up, and there's a deadline to register coming up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Through Virtual Virginia, as others described - but please know it is a significant commitment, several hours per day, synchronous, and there is very little flexibility with absences. They'll drop a kid without remorse after a few absences, and keep your money. It's no joke.

But reach out to the counselor now to get it on the counselor's radar, because that's the person who helps you sign up, and there's a deadline to register coming up.

The lack of flexibility is a good thing. These classes should be taken seriously. APS post-9th grade summer school geometry was similarly strict. More than 3 absences of any kind (excused or not) and the student was kicked out. APS also kept the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
There's no shame in starting calculus in college, or there shouldn't be.

Most engineering schools (and many science focused schools) will not seriously consider a student whose school offered calculus but the applicant did not take it in HS. This has been true for decades. My EnSchool Math 101 class (differential calculus) had 44 of 45 students who had taken calculus in HS. The sole exception was from a deeply rural public school system where it was not offered. He struggled.

[Anonymous]

My DD is a freshman in Alg2/trig at W-L. She says several of her classmates took Geometry over the summer. She says they are doing fine. The only carryover from Geometry to this year is the trigonometry, but that's the easiest part of the class. If you kid is willing to commit to 6 weeks of intense studying this summer, I think it's a good idea if the goal is getting to calculus by senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a freshman in Alg2/trig at W-L. She says several of her classmates took Geometry over the summer. She says they are doing fine. The only carryover from Geometry to this year is the trigonometry, but that's the easiest part of the class. If you kid is willing to commit to 6 weeks of intense studying this summer, I think it's a good idea if the goal is getting to calculus by senior year.

It feels very wrong that kids are taking summer classes b/c the expectations in HS are too much for how much time they have. Summer school used to be for remediation. The whole system is out of control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a freshman in Alg2/trig at W-L. She says several of her classmates took Geometry over the summer. She says they are doing fine. The only carryover from Geometry to this year is the trigonometry, but that's the easiest part of the class. If you kid is willing to commit to 6 weeks of intense studying this summer, I think it's a good idea if the goal is getting to calculus by senior year.

It feels very wrong that kids are taking summer classes b/c the expectations in HS are too much for how much time they have. Summer school used to be for remediation. The whole system is out of control.

Not in APS. Summer school courses for enrichment/advancement had been the norm for APS summer school pre covid since at least the 1980s. Taking these classes over the summer through whatever program is nothing new in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a freshman in Alg2/trig at W-L. She says several of her classmates took Geometry over the summer. She says they are doing fine. The only carryover from Geometry to this year is the trigonometry, but that's the easiest part of the class. If you kid is willing to commit to 6 weeks of intense studying this summer, I think it's a good idea if the goal is getting to calculus by senior year.

It feels very wrong that kids are taking summer classes b/c the expectations in HS are too much for how much time they have. Summer school used to be for remediation. The whole system is out of control.

It's not HS expectations, it's colleges. Without the SAT, many colleges are looking for applicants who take calculus in high school. Lots of kids not on the advanced math track are looking at summer school to get there.

[Anonymous]

Op here - I appreciate all of the feedback! It’s nice hearing things that have / haven’t worked out for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! That answers it. Any idea if it can be completed asynchronously? The calendar seems like it could be a summer buster otherwise.

As others have said, in APS the counselor has to be involved to get the student enrolled in Virtual VA. Also, when you're selecting high school classes (usually in Jan/Feb) you will need to clear it with the counselor to do the summer math plan. For example, they won't register your student for class, without a confirmed registration in summer school. So just to give you an idea of the timeline.

Doing this is more common in FCPS, in case you have options about where to live. The process I described is for APS, but having a student in both APS and FCPS (TJ Science) I've been surprised at how much more common it was to take math during the summer in FCPS to get ahead (prior to HS). Up through 8th grade, APS seems to limit summer school for remediation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You take it through virtual Virginia. Aps used to offer it over the summer before covid so maybe they will return to that again one day.

They won't. They have made a lot of cuts to summer school already and they have a hard enough time finding teachers (APS admin)