Reply to How a Florida math teacher turns smart kids into champions

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We attended MathCounts for the FCPS divisons this year, our child was a participant. There were three chapters there. Not one private school kid made it to State and none of the private school teams placed in the top 2 teams. Two of the FCPS chapters are large enough that they send 2 teams and 8 individuals, yet not one kid from a NOVA private made it.

It is less about the school and more about the parents who are interested in enrichment early on and kids who love academics or tolerate their parents pushing them in academics.

And I don’t think programs based on kids taking summer school and not having a chance to enjoy summer vacation are things I would tout.[/quote]

This isn't true: at least private school kid (from Westminster) made it to state.

That aside, you can't use NOVA Mathcounts chapter stats, which are dominated by 2-3 public schools that are among the best in the country, to say that private schools are not as good as public schools. [/quote]

The whole point of the article and school that the OP is pushing, is that this charter school does a better job of teaching to academic competitions then the public schools. I have no clue what the Florida competition scene looks like, but I doubt that the kids at that school would be cruising in our area. The school in the article sounds a lot like BASIS in McLean and I don't see them doing all that great in the various academic competitions in this area.

Westminster sent one private school kid. Carson sent 5 kids. Cooper and Longfellow sent 5 or 6 kids each. Katherine Johnson, a solid school but not seen as one of the TJ feeders, sent a good number of kids, I think 3 but it might have been 5. An Elementary school sent a team. I can't access the results website at work.

The entire premise of the article is that the private school will have better results than the public schools. But in this area, the public schools regularly wipe the floor with the private schools in the NOVA chapters. I love seeing the private schools that boast programs for kids gifted in math posting about their kids that finished 16th in the chapter. Yes, it is a competitive chapter, but they didn't make the state cutoff. And it isn't just mathcounts, that is the example I know off the top of my head.

The top public kids in this area are stronger than the top privates in STEM. And they get to take electives and fun classes at HS if they want.

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