What are the electives for freshman at Jackson Reed?

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader signed up for the computer science academy so her elective is an intro comp sci class, which has been good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are sophomores allowed to double up on science classes, say Chem and Physics? DS will be taking AP calc coming in this year, so will have the math requirements out of the way and could take AP Physics C (Mechanics) by 11th.

Are you saying that you have an incoming 9th grader who's going to take AP calc next year? I was just in the 10th grade parent meeting on Wednesday night, in which they told us that APs start in 10th grade, and there are only four APs that they're allowed to take: Human Geography, Psychology, African-American History, and Microeconomics.

They make exceptions for students whose progression would place them in AP classes in 9th/10th grades. So, a kid who doubled up in math in 7th and is on course for AP calc in 10th grade will be able to take it. A kid who has advanced language skills and is ready for AP language in 9th or 10th will also be able to take it. That’s a very small number of kids, so they handle those case by case.

Also some academies have AP classes in 10th grade. For example, the comp sci academy class in 10th grade is AP comp sci principles.

[Transplant_1]

At last night's session, I think they said that the CompSci academy is the only one with AP in its course requirements/sequencing, and a kid can tak AP Comp Sci ONLY if they are in the academy.

[Anonymous]

Transplant_1 wrote:At last night's session, I think they said that the CompSci academy is the only one with AP in its course requirements/sequencing, and a kid can tak AP Comp Sci ONLY if they are in the academy.

Really?! That's insane if other kids can't take AP Comp Sci!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:At last night's session, I think they said that the CompSci academy is the only one with AP in its course requirements/sequencing, and a kid can tak AP Comp Sci ONLY if they are in the academy.

Really?! That's insane if other kids can't take AP Comp Sci!

I was thinking the same thing. Is it true they won’t let you take AP CS Principles and AP CSA if you are not in the IT Academy? That sounds unnecessarily restrictive

[Anonymous]

My DCs took AP CS and were not in the academy. Many students take AP physics as their first physics but if you aren’t in an engineering pathway I’d suggest algebra based physics vs physics c.

[Anonymous]

WISP is another academy with APs in its requirements-- they require AP HUG in 10th grade, and both AP US Govt and Comp Govt in 12th grade. An AP foreign language is not required but strongly recommended.

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that kids outside of the academies are not barred from taking courses in the academies, but rather that kids in the academies will get first preference.

[Anonymous]

Like it or not, J-R is moving toward an academy tracking system. (I don’t like it and I encourage parents to push back against this.) But if they keep going down the path the school is taking about this year, t is going to be increasingly difficult to get some of the more popular electives (like engineering and computer science) if you aren’t in the academy - and then they are trying to force the students to take all of the courses in that pathway. I think it’s absurd to ask 8th graders to basically select a minor for HS, but that’s what is happening. So, while you push back on this, I encourage all 8th graders to sign up for an academy if you think you might be interested in the electives in that academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like it or not, J-R is moving toward an academy tracking system. (I don’t like it and I encourage parents to push back against this.) But if they keep going down the path the school is taking about this year, t is going to be increasingly difficult to get some of the more popular electives (like engineering and computer science) if you aren’t in the academy - and then they are trying to force the students to take all of the courses in that pathway. I think it’s absurd to ask 8th graders to basically select a minor for HS, but that’s what is happening. So, while you push back on this, I encourage all 8th graders to sign up for an academy if you think you might be interested in the electives in that academy.

That's discouraging to hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like it or not, J-R is moving toward an academy tracking system. (I don’t like it and I encourage parents to push back against this.) But if they keep going down the path the school is taking about this year, t is going to be increasingly difficult to get some of the more popular electives (like engineering and computer science) if you aren’t in the academy - and then they are trying to force the students to take all of the courses in that pathway. I think it’s absurd to ask 8th graders to basically select a minor for HS, but that’s what is happening. So, while you push back on this, I encourage all 8th graders to sign up for an academy if you think you might be interested in the electives in that academy.

This is true. They are now trying to force all kids to select an academy and then complete the entire track.
I guess this is partly why they are paying big bucks to 3 academy directors. I am not sure why 3 academy directors are needed at one school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like it or not, J-R is moving toward an academy tracking system. (I don’t like it and I encourage parents to push back against this.) But if they keep going down the path the school is taking about this year, t is going to be increasingly difficult to get some of the more popular electives (like engineering and computer science) if you aren’t in the academy - and then they are trying to force the students to take all of the courses in that pathway. I think it’s absurd to ask 8th graders to basically select a minor for HS, but that’s what is happening. So, while you push back on this, I encourage all 8th graders to sign up for an academy if you think you might be interested in the electives in that academy.

This is true. They are now trying to force all kids to select an academy and then complete the entire track.
I guess this is partly why they are paying big bucks to 3 academy directors. I am not sure why 3 academy directors are needed at one school

Why?! Why do they want force academies?!

[Transplant_1]

+1. So be it if they are focusing on academies, but why? What are they doing in terms of educational purposes? And then, how does this feed into academic excellence, achievement, college application / selection, APs, etc. Can all this be tied together coherently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like it or not, J-R is moving toward an academy tracking system. (I don’t like it and I encourage parents to push back against this.) But if they keep going down the path the school is taking about this year, t is going to be increasingly difficult to get some of the more popular electives (like engineering and computer science) if you aren’t in the academy - and then they are trying to force the students to take all of the courses in that pathway. I think it’s absurd to ask 8th graders to basically select a minor for HS, but that’s what is happening. So, while you push back on this, I encourage all 8th graders to sign up for an academy if you think you might be interested in the electives in that academy.

This is true. They are now trying to force all kids to select an academy and then complete the entire track.
I guess this is partly why they are paying big bucks to 3 academy directors. I am not sure why 3 academy directors are needed at one school

I have a 9th grader (and 11th grader) and have seen no evidence that they are trying to force all kids to select an academy. The academies exist, and my kids are aware of them, but that’s it. I agree that they seem to be investing in them more—they were a totally confusing mess when my older kid started, and the academy he would have been interested in (HAM) no longer exists—but my kids have experienced no pressure to join one.