What do we think about Latin second campus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what you're getting at. Some of the 5th graders at Latin who started Spanish immersion programs in PreS4 or PreK4 speak significantly better Spanish than Latin high school students who didn't start Spanish until 8th or 9th grades.

I'm speaking to the poster who was arguing that since Wilson can put 9th graders in advanced/senior spanish, that its no big deal to put 10 year olds in more advanced spanish classes too. The thing is, the gulf of maturity, ability to manage workload, behavior, etc., is such that you just can't take a newly minted 5th grader and put them in an upper middle or high school spanish class regardless of where their language skills are. Latin would have to have a special advanced spanish class only for 5th and/or MAYBE 6th graders. It's a non starter anyway you slice it.

¿Por qué no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what you're getting at. Some of the 5th graders at Latin who started Spanish immersion programs in PreS4 or PreK4 speak significantly better Spanish than Latin high school students who didn't start Spanish until 8th or 9th grades.

I'm speaking to the poster who was arguing that since Wilson can put 9th graders in advanced/senior spanish, that its no big deal to put 10 year olds in more advanced spanish classes too. The thing is, the gulf of maturity, ability to manage workload, behavior, etc., is such that you just can't take a newly minted 5th grader and put them in an upper middle or high school spanish class regardless of where their language skills are. Latin would have to have a special advanced spanish class only for 5th and/or MAYBE 6th graders. It's a non starter anyway you slice it.

New to this conversation, why is it a non-starter? Every middle school class Latin does or doesn't teach is set in stone?

Didn't Latin resist teaching Spanish for over a decade but climbed down from that position recently, under pressure from the DCPCSB, to attract more Latino families? Serious question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Latins "model", Boston Latin, is a test in school. Since WL is not, there has been a tension in its mission/vision since it's inception. This is not new. It's the plus and minus of being far more equitable (in one way - lottery based with weighted preferences that are not academic) than BL. If you disagree with that, you would need to change its structure to test in - like a Walls, Ellington, Banneker, TJ or Boston Latin. It is what it is.

I don't agree. This view of how Washington Latin must work--shared by the program's leadership-- is a cop out. Latin's leadership and teachers could offer far more rigor to the most advanced students. At BASIS, another DC charter school, seniors can't graduate unless they've passed at least half a dozen AP exams.

For example, admins won't permit 5th and 6th graders to take languages other than Latin, although a good many come in from DC public school language immersion programs for Spanish, Chinese and French. Some of the UMC parents of language immersion graduates team up to hire pricey tutors to help kids retain language skills, meaning that it's mostly the former low SES language immersion students at Latin who lose their skills. This policy could easily be changed. Also, math is tracked at Latin in middle school, but not humanities subjects, another policy that could be changed. Social promotion could also be jettisoned to help support more advanced academics.

Latin requires significantly more credits than other DC High Schools in order to graduate. Administration has purposefully chosen which AP classes are offered based on their academic/intellectual value. A teacher not bound by the AP US History course curriculum, for example, has much more leeway to create a meaningful course that's more than a collection of facts to be tested. A thing about Latin is you have to trust the administration and teachers to be professionals and have student's best interests in mind; with the mission and vision-statement always at the forefront. So far, they have earned my trust--more than the AP momey-making machine has!

Fabulous in theory, not so hot in practice. It's useful for kids to have a clutch of high AP scores under their belts when applying to colleges, no matter what sort of schools they attended.

Just so you know: college admissions offices receive what's know as a school "snap shot" from the high school guidance department with every application. This snapshot lays out the courses available in the school and ranks them according to difficulty. The most difficult course at Latin is not an AP course. College admissions staff want students who have taken the most difficult classes available at their school and will compare this snapshot with the students' transcripts. A raft of AP's with high scores is not an entrance ticket by any means--money: tutors and a good zip code can buy all that. Have you been through this before?

I work in college admissions and don't agree.

Which course at Latin is tougher than...Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus, AP languages?

Interviewing applicants for your alma mater does not count as working in admissions.

I concur. I'm an admissions officer at a university in the District. My children attend a DC public charter school.

Cool. And as an admissions officer, you are telling me that you consider the raw number of APs a student takeswithout considering the profile that comes from the high school? Are you telling me a student applying to your school gets dinged in admissions if their school doesn't offer your list: Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many ways outside of school for a motivated kid to carry on in Spanish if that's their be all, end all - or - choose a school that offers Spanish. Meanwhile Latin offers many things others schools don't. I am curious if they will one day offer Spanish... I think it could be done starting in Grade 5. But can't say I'm sympathetic to this line of critique over the school making other choiçes.

There is some support for offering Spanish ( instead of French ) as a language at the second campus. We’ll see if it happens.

Latin already teaches Spanish.

???????NO. They don't. They offer Latin, Greek, Arabic, French and Mandarin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many ways outside of school for a motivated kid to carry on in Spanish if that's their be all, end all - or - choose a school that offers Spanish. Meanwhile Latin offers many things others schools don't. I am curious if they will one day offer Spanish... I think it could be done starting in Grade 5. But can't say I'm sympathetic to this line of critique over the school making other choiçes.

There is some support for offering Spanish ( instead of French ) as a language at the second campus. We’ll see if it happens.

You'd think that Latin, campus 1,2 or both, would offer advanced Spanish and maybe Mandarin to the middle school kids who can handle it simply to improve the program's AP language scores down the track.

At Wilson, Oyster-Adams grads routinely take AP Spanish Language in 9th grade and AP Spanish lit in 10th grade and score 5s. The practice can't be hurting Wilson in college admissions. It's not as though Latin doesn't already teach Spanish.

9th graders taking 11th grade spanish is not nearly the same as a 5th grader taking 8th grade spanish. Come on.

Right---and those 9th graders would be coming from Deal where the International Baccalaureate program requires the language instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many ways outside of school for a motivated kid to carry on in Spanish if that's their be all, end all - or - choose a school that offers Spanish. Meanwhile Latin offers many things others schools don't. I am curious if they will one day offer Spanish... I think it could be done starting in Grade 5. But can't say I'm sympathetic to this line of critique over the school making other choiçes.

There is some support for offering Spanish ( instead of French ) as a language at the second campus. We’ll see if it happens.

You'd think that Latin, campus 1,2 or both, would offer advanced Spanish and maybe Mandarin to the middle school kids who can handle it simply to improve the program's AP language scores down the track.

At Wilson, Oyster-Adams grads routinely take AP Spanish Language in 9th grade and AP Spanish lit in 10th grade and score 5s. The practice can't be hurting Wilson in college admissions. It's not as though Latin doesn't already teach Spanish.

Latin does not already teach Spanish. You are misinformed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Latins "model", Boston Latin, is a test in school. Since WL is not, there has been a tension in its mission/vision since it's inception. This is not new. It's the plus and minus of being far more equitable (in one way - lottery based with weighted preferences that are not academic) than BL. If you disagree with that, you would need to change its structure to test in - like a Walls, Ellington, Banneker, TJ or Boston Latin. It is what it is.

I don't agree. This view of how Washington Latin must work--shared by the program's leadership-- is a cop out. Latin's leadership and teachers could offer far more rigor to the most advanced students. At BASIS, another DC charter school, seniors can't graduate unless they've passed at least half a dozen AP exams.

For example, admins won't permit 5th and 6th graders to take languages other than Latin, although a good many come in from DC public school language immersion programs for Spanish, Chinese and French. Some of the UMC parents of language immersion graduates team up to hire pricey tutors to help kids retain language skills, meaning that it's mostly the former low SES language immersion students at Latin who lose their skills. This policy could easily be changed. Also, math is tracked at Latin in middle school, but not humanities subjects, another policy that could be changed. Social promotion could also be jettisoned to help support more advanced academics.

Latin requires significantly more credits than other DC High Schools in order to graduate. Administration has purposefully chosen which AP classes are offered based on their academic/intellectual value. A teacher not bound by the AP US History course curriculum, for example, has much more leeway to create a meaningful course that's more than a collection of facts to be tested. A thing about Latin is you have to trust the administration and teachers to be professionals and have student's best interests in mind; with the mission and vision-statement always at the forefront. So far, they have earned my trust--more than the AP momey-making machine has!

Fabulous in theory, not so hot in practice. It's useful for kids to have a clutch of high AP scores under their belts when applying to colleges, no matter what sort of schools they attended.

Just so you know: college admissions offices receive what's know as a school "snap shot" from the high school guidance department with every application. This snapshot lays out the courses available in the school and ranks them according to difficulty. The most difficult course at Latin is not an AP course. College admissions staff want students who have taken the most difficult classes available at their school and will compare this snapshot with the students' transcripts. A raft of AP's with high scores is not an entrance ticket by any means--money: tutors and a good zip code can buy all that. Have you been through this before?

I work in college admissions and don't agree.

Which course at Latin is tougher than...Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus, AP languages?

Interviewing applicants for your alma mater does not count as working in admissions.

I concur. I'm an admissions officer at a university in the District. My children attend a DC public charter school.

Cool. And as an admissions officer, you are telling me that you consider the raw number of APs a student takeswithout considering the profile that comes from the high school? Are you telling me a student applying to your school gets dinged in admissions if their school doesn't offer your list: Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus?

I am not the PP, but I think he thought you were saying that Latin had harder classes than *any* AP class. So he was asking what the magic class was that was harder than the above classes. If Latin doesn't offer any of the above classes, though, then there's obviously a real problem with its difficulty in STEM. Does Latin seriously not offer any of those classes?

And, also, FWIW, a kid will absolutely get credit for taking the hardest courses his school offers AND will absolutely get dinged if the school doesn't have hard enough classes. There's a reason that most schools get no one into HYPSMC ever and it's not that they have never had a kid capable of it... It's that they don't adequately prepare their kids for admissions. One way they don't do that is that they don't have hard enough courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Latins "model", Boston Latin, is a test in school. Since WL is not, there has been a tension in its mission/vision since it's inception. This is not new. It's the plus and minus of being far more equitable (in one way - lottery based with weighted preferences that are not academic) than BL. If you disagree with that, you would need to change its structure to test in - like a Walls, Ellington, Banneker, TJ or Boston Latin. It is what it is.

I don't agree. This view of how Washington Latin must work--shared by the program's leadership-- is a cop out. Latin's leadership and teachers could offer far more rigor to the most advanced students. At BASIS, another DC charter school, seniors can't graduate unless they've passed at least half a dozen AP exams.

For example, admins won't permit 5th and 6th graders to take languages other than Latin, although a good many come in from DC public school language immersion programs for Spanish, Chinese and French. Some of the UMC parents of language immersion graduates team up to hire pricey tutors to help kids retain language skills, meaning that it's mostly the former low SES language immersion students at Latin who lose their skills. This policy could easily be changed. Also, math is tracked at Latin in middle school, but not humanities subjects, another policy that could be changed. Social promotion could also be jettisoned to help support more advanced academics.

Here's some info:

"There are 38 AP courses offered by the College Board but very few schools offer even half that number. Over 80% of U.S. high schools offer AP classes on site and out of those, the average number of course offerings is eight. If you hail from an under-resourced high school that offers a limited number of APs, this will not be held against you as long as you take advantage of the opportunities that are accessible. Attending a high school teeming with Advanced Placement options means that the expectations for participation are raised."

Latin requires significantly more credits than other DC High Schools in order to graduate. Administration has purposefully chosen which AP classes are offered based on their academic/intellectual value. A teacher not bound by the AP US History course curriculum, for example, has much more leeway to create a meaningful course that's more than a collection of facts to be tested. A thing about Latin is you have to trust the administration and teachers to be professionals and have student's best interests in mind; with the mission and vision-statement always at the forefront. So far, they have earned my trust--more than the AP momey-making machine has!

Fabulous in theory, not so hot in practice. It's useful for kids to have a clutch of high AP scores under their belts when applying to colleges, no matter what sort of schools they attended.

Just so you know: college admissions offices receive what's know as a school "snap shot" from the high school guidance department with every application. This snapshot lays out the courses available in the school and ranks them according to difficulty. The most difficult course at Latin is not an AP course. College admissions staff want students who have taken the most difficult classes available at their school and will compare this snapshot with the students' transcripts. A raft of AP's with high scores is not an entrance ticket by any means--money: tutors and a good zip code can buy all that. Have you been through this before?

I work in college admissions and don't agree.

Which course at Latin is tougher than...Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus, AP languages?

Interviewing applicants for your alma mater does not count as working in admissions.

I concur. I'm an admissions officer at a university in the District. My children attend a DC public charter school.

Cool. And as an admissions officer, you are telling me that you consider the raw number of APs a student takeswithout considering the profile that comes from the high school? Are you telling me a student applying to your school gets dinged in admissions if their school doesn't offer your list: Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus?

I am not the PP, but I think he thought you were saying that Latin had harder classes than *any* AP class. So he was asking what the magic class was that was harder than the above classes. If Latin doesn't offer any of the above classes, though, then there's obviously a real problem with its difficulty in STEM. Does Latin seriously not offer any of those classes?

And, also, FWIW, a kid will absolutely get credit for taking the hardest courses his school offers AND will absolutely get dinged if the school doesn't have hard enough classes. There's a reason that most schools get no one into HYPSMC ever and it's not that they have never had a kid capable of it... It's that they don't adequately prepare their kids for admissions. One way they don't do that is that they don't have hard enough courses.

Here's some balanced info

https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/a-guide-to-high-school-course-planning

"There are 38 AP courses offered by the College Board but very few schools offer even half that number. Over 80% of U.S. high schools offer AP classes on site and out of those, the average number of course offerings is eight. If you hail from an under-resourced high school that offers a limited number of APs, this will not be held against you as long as you take advantage of the opportunities that are accessible. Attending a high school teeming with Advanced Placement options means that the expectations for participation are raised."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Latins "model", Boston Latin, is a test in school. Since WL is not, there has been a tension in its mission/vision since it's inception. This is not new. It's the plus and minus of being far more equitable (in one way - lottery based with weighted preferences that are not academic) than BL. If you disagree with that, you would need to change its structure to test in - like a Walls, Ellington, Banneker, TJ or Boston Latin. It is what it is.

I don't agree. This view of how Washington Latin must work--shared by the program's leadership-- is a cop out. Latin's leadership and teachers could offer far more rigor to the most advanced students. At BASIS, another DC charter school, seniors can't graduate unless they've passed at least half a dozen AP exams.

For example, admins won't permit 5th and 6th graders to take languages other than Latin, although a good many come in from DC public school language immersion programs for Spanish, Chinese and French. Some of the UMC parents of language immersion graduates team up to hire pricey tutors to help kids retain language skills, meaning that it's mostly the former low SES language immersion students at Latin who lose their skills. This policy could easily be changed. Also, math is tracked at Latin in middle school, but not humanities subjects, another policy that could be changed. Social promotion could also be jettisoned to help support more advanced academics.

Latin requires significantly more credits than other DC High Schools in order to graduate. Administration has purposefully chosen which AP classes are offered based on their academic/intellectual value. A teacher not bound by the AP US History course curriculum, for example, has much more leeway to create a meaningful course that's more than a collection of facts to be tested. A thing about Latin is you have to trust the administration and teachers to be professionals and have student's best interests in mind; with the mission and vision-statement always at the forefront. So far, they have earned my trust--more than the AP momey-making machine has!

Fabulous in theory, not so hot in practice. It's useful for kids to have a clutch of high AP scores under their belts when applying to colleges, no matter what sort of schools they attended.

Just so you know: college admissions offices receive what's know as a school "snap shot" from the high school guidance department with every application. This snapshot lays out the courses available in the school and ranks them according to difficulty. The most difficult course at Latin is not an AP course. College admissions staff want students who have taken the most difficult classes available at their school and will compare this snapshot with the students' transcripts. A raft of AP's with high scores is not an entrance ticket by any means--money: tutors and a good zip code can buy all that. Have you been through this before?

I work in college admissions and don't agree.

Which course at Latin is tougher than...Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus, AP languages?

Interviewing applicants for your alma mater does not count as working in admissions.

I concur. I'm an admissions officer at a university in the District. My children attend a DC public charter school.

Cool. And as an admissions officer, you are telling me that you consider the raw number of APs a student takeswithout considering the profile that comes from the high school? Are you telling me a student applying to your school gets dinged in admissions if their school doesn't offer your list: Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus?

I am not the PP, but I think he thought you were saying that Latin had harder classes than *any* AP class. So he was asking what the magic class was that was harder than the above classes. If Latin doesn't offer any of the above classes, though, then there's obviously a real problem with its difficulty in STEM. Does Latin seriously not offer any of those classes?

And, also, FWIW, a kid will absolutely get credit for taking the hardest courses his school offers AND will absolutely get dinged if the school doesn't have hard enough classes. There's a reason that most schools get no one into HYPSMC ever and it's not that they have never had a kid capable of it... It's that they don't adequately prepare their kids for admissions. One way they don't do that is that they don't have hard enough courses.

They offer

AP Stats
AP Calc AB
AP Calc BC
Linear Algebra

AP Bio
AP Physics
AP Environmental Science
AP Computer Science

AP Human Geography
AP Language and Composition
AP Literature

AP Latin
AP French Language and Culture
AP Chinese

Plus, their honors and advanced seminar classes in various disciplines.

Pretty good for an open-enrollment high school of about 350 students. They are hustling.

Source
https://latinpcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Washington-Latin-Course-Guide-2019-2020-fmt.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Latins "model", Boston Latin, is a test in school. Since WL is not, there has been a tension in its mission/vision since it's inception. This is not new. It's the plus and minus of being far more equitable (in one way - lottery based with weighted preferences that are not academic) than BL. If you disagree with that, you would need to change its structure to test in - like a Walls, Ellington, Banneker, TJ or Boston Latin. It is what it is.

I don't agree. This view of how Washington Latin must work--shared by the program's leadership-- is a cop out. Latin's leadership and teachers could offer far more rigor to the most advanced students. At BASIS, another DC charter school, seniors can't graduate unless they've passed at least half a dozen AP exams.

For example, admins won't permit 5th and 6th graders to take languages other than Latin, although a good many come in from DC public school language immersion programs for Spanish, Chinese and French. Some of the UMC parents of language immersion graduates team up to hire pricey tutors to help kids retain language skills, meaning that it's mostly the former low SES language immersion students at Latin who lose their skills. This policy could easily be changed. Also, math is tracked at Latin in middle school, but not humanities subjects, another policy that could be changed. Social promotion could also be jettisoned to help support more advanced academics.

Latin requires significantly more credits than other DC High Schools in order to graduate. Administration has purposefully chosen which AP classes are offered based on their academic/intellectual value. A teacher not bound by the AP US History course curriculum, for example, has much more leeway to create a meaningful course that's more than a collection of facts to be tested. A thing about Latin is you have to trust the administration and teachers to be professionals and have student's best interests in mind; with the mission and vision-statement always at the forefront. So far, they have earned my trust--more than the AP momey-making machine has!

Fabulous in theory, not so hot in practice. It's useful for kids to have a clutch of high AP scores under their belts when applying to colleges, no matter what sort of schools they attended.

Just so you know: college admissions offices receive what's know as a school "snap shot" from the high school guidance department with every application. This snapshot lays out the courses available in the school and ranks them according to difficulty. The most difficult course at Latin is not an AP course. College admissions staff want students who have taken the most difficult classes available at their school and will compare this snapshot with the students' transcripts. A raft of AP's with high scores is not an entrance ticket by any means--money: tutors and a good zip code can buy all that. Have you been through this before?

I work in college admissions and don't agree.

Which course at Latin is tougher than...Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus, AP languages?

Interviewing applicants for your alma mater does not count as working in admissions.

I concur. I'm an admissions officer at a university in the District. My children attend a DC public charter school.

Cool. And as an admissions officer, you are telling me that you consider the raw number of APs a student takeswithout considering the profile that comes from the high school? Are you telling me a student applying to your school gets dinged in admissions if their school doesn't offer your list: Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus?

I am not the PP, but I think he thought you were saying that Latin had harder classes than *any* AP class. So he was asking what the magic class was that was harder than the above classes. If Latin doesn't offer any of the above classes, though, then there's obviously a real problem with its difficulty in STEM. Does Latin seriously not offer any of those classes?

And, also, FWIW, a kid will absolutely get credit for taking the hardest courses his school offers AND will absolutely get dinged if the school doesn't have hard enough classes. There's a reason that most schools get no one into HYPSMC ever and it's not that they have never had a kid capable of it... It's that they don't adequately prepare their kids for admissions. One way they don't do that is that they don't have hard enough courses.

That's not a problem at Latin--hard enough classes, and good record of admissions to HYPSMC . I had to look that up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Latins "model", Boston Latin, is a test in school. Since WL is not, there has been a tension in its mission/vision since it's inception. This is not new. It's the plus and minus of being far more equitable (in one way - lottery based with weighted preferences that are not academic) than BL. If you disagree with that, you would need to change its structure to test in - like a Walls, Ellington, Banneker, TJ or Boston Latin. It is what it is.

I don't agree. This view of how Washington Latin must work--shared by the program's leadership-- is a cop out. Latin's leadership and teachers could offer far more rigor to the most advanced students. At BASIS, another DC charter school, seniors can't graduate unless they've passed at least half a dozen AP exams.

For example, admins won't permit 5th and 6th graders to take languages other than Latin, although a good many come in from DC public school language immersion programs for Spanish, Chinese and French. Some of the UMC parents of language immersion graduates team up to hire pricey tutors to help kids retain language skills, meaning that it's mostly the former low SES language immersion students at Latin who lose their skills. This policy could easily be changed. Also, math is tracked at Latin in middle school, but not humanities subjects, another policy that could be changed. Social promotion could also be jettisoned to help support more advanced academics.

Latin requires significantly more credits than other DC High Schools in order to graduate. Administration has purposefully chosen which AP classes are offered based on their academic/intellectual value. A teacher not bound by the AP US History course curriculum, for example, has much more leeway to create a meaningful course that's more than a collection of facts to be tested. A thing about Latin is you have to trust the administration and teachers to be professionals and have student's best interests in mind; with the mission and vision-statement always at the forefront. So far, they have earned my trust--more than the AP momey-making machine has!

Fabulous in theory, not so hot in practice. It's useful for kids to have a clutch of high AP scores under their belts when applying to colleges, no matter what sort of schools they attended.

Just so you know: college admissions offices receive what's know as a school "snap shot" from the high school guidance department with every application. This snapshot lays out the courses available in the school and ranks them according to difficulty. The most difficult course at Latin is not an AP course. College admissions staff want students who have taken the most difficult classes available at their school and will compare this snapshot with the students' transcripts. A raft of AP's with high scores is not an entrance ticket by any means--money: tutors and a good zip code can buy all that. Have you been through this before?

I work in college admissions and don't agree.

Which course at Latin is tougher than...Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus, AP languages?

Interviewing applicants for your alma mater does not count as working in admissions.

I concur. I'm an admissions officer at a university in the District. My children attend a DC public charter school.

Cool. And as an admissions officer, you are telling me that you consider the raw number of APs a student takeswithout considering the profile that comes from the high school? Are you telling me a student applying to your school gets dinged in admissions if their school doesn't offer your list: Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus?

You might be surprised how many families have their high school students prep for AP examinations independently these days, mostly on-line. Some high school students prepare for the AP exams above via Khan Academy. The college where I work gets hundreds of applications from students who took AP exams that were not subjects taught at their high schools. Here in 2021, students can easily register for AP tests given at schools they do not attend. Increasingly, ambitious high school students do AP work during summer breaks. We also get a good many applications from homeschooled students who took a slew of APs. School profiles just aren't as relative as they were a decade ago, at least not for affluent urban and suburban families with the resources to round out a school's curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Latins "model", Boston Latin, is a test in school. Since WL is not, there has been a tension in its mission/vision since it's inception. This is not new. It's the plus and minus of being far more equitable (in one way - lottery based with weighted preferences that are not academic) than BL. If you disagree with that, you would need to change its structure to test in - like a Walls, Ellington, Banneker, TJ or Boston Latin. It is what it is.

I don't agree. This view of how Washington Latin must work--shared by the program's leadership-- is a cop out. Latin's leadership and teachers could offer far more rigor to the most advanced students. At BASIS, another DC charter school, seniors can't graduate unless they've passed at least half a dozen AP exams.

For example, admins won't permit 5th and 6th graders to take languages other than Latin, although a good many come in from DC public school language immersion programs for Spanish, Chinese and French. Some of the UMC parents of language immersion graduates team up to hire pricey tutors to help kids retain language skills, meaning that it's mostly the former low SES language immersion students at Latin who lose their skills. This policy could easily be changed. Also, math is tracked at Latin in middle school, but not humanities subjects, another policy that could be changed. Social promotion could also be jettisoned to help support more advanced academics.

Latin requires significantly more credits than other DC High Schools in order to graduate. Administration has purposefully chosen which AP classes are offered based on their academic/intellectual value. A teacher not bound by the AP US History course curriculum, for example, has much more leeway to create a meaningful course that's more than a collection of facts to be tested. A thing about Latin is you have to trust the administration and teachers to be professionals and have student's best interests in mind; with the mission and vision-statement always at the forefront. So far, they have earned my trust--more than the AP momey-making machine has!

Fabulous in theory, not so hot in practice. It's useful for kids to have a clutch of high AP scores under their belts when applying to colleges, no matter what sort of schools they attended.

Just so you know: college admissions offices receive what's know as a school "snap shot" from the high school guidance department with every application. This snapshot lays out the courses available in the school and ranks them according to difficulty. The most difficult course at Latin is not an AP course. College admissions staff want students who have taken the most difficult classes available at their school and will compare this snapshot with the students' transcripts. A raft of AP's with high scores is not an entrance ticket by any means--money: tutors and a good zip code can buy all that. Have you been through this before?

I work in college admissions and don't agree.

Which course at Latin is tougher than...Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus, AP languages?

Interviewing applicants for your alma mater does not count as working in admissions.

I concur. I'm an admissions officer at a university in the District. My children attend a DC public charter school.

Cool. And as an admissions officer, you are telling me that you consider the raw number of APs a student takeswithout considering the profile that comes from the high school? Are you telling me a student applying to your school gets dinged in admissions if their school doesn't offer your list: Physics 2, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, BC Calculus?

You might be surprised how many families have their high school students prep for AP examinations independently these days, mostly on-line. Some high school students prepare for the AP exams above via Khan Academy. The college where I work gets hundreds of applications from students who took AP exams that were not subjects taught at their high schools. Here in 2021, students can easily register for AP tests given at schools they do not attend. Increasingly, ambitious high school students do AP work during summer breaks. We also get a good many applications from homeschooled students who took a slew of APs. School profiles just aren't as relative as they were a decade ago, at least not for affluent urban and suburban families with the resources to round out a school's curriculum.

But do these independent ( expensive ) efforts seem to buy them admission at your college?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, our admissions committee members appreciate go-getters, resourceful and intellectually curious students who take the initiative to work beyond the curricula offered at their high schools and standard homeschooling programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely, our admissions committee members appreciate go-getters, resourceful and intellectually curious students who take the initiative to work beyond the curricula offered at their high schools and standard homeschooling programs.

So this is an argument against a school like Latin offering more APs and rather people going after them independently? Those who can afford it, I mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely, our admissions committee members appreciate go-getters, resourceful and intellectually curious students who take the initiative to work beyond the curricula offered at their high schools and standard homeschooling programs.

So this is an argument against a school like Latin offering more APs and rather people going after them independently? Those who can afford it, I mean?

I'm not sure I like how your admissions office operates tbh.