Reply to Why Math is so weak in private schools?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Why Math is so weak in private schools? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]My kid's 99th percentile quantitative reasoning score on the ERB CTP was only a 96th percentile score by independent school norms, and 97th for Classical Christian ones, which suggests that relatively speaking there are a far more high-performing math kids in private.[/b]

I will note that he's only accelerated to the point of the 8th grade algebra track, but this seems fine, because the class goes deeper into the material. The school will accelerate further with serious math phenoms - but his 99% didn't cut it.

You do often get more specialized courses being offered in giant publics that cater to an educated populace, especially giant selective publics like TJ, because the population base is so much larger. But large privates with a sufficient quantity of elite students can offer quite advanced courses (Sidwell offers linear algebra, Heights multivariable calculus, Flint Hill has both in their catalog).
[/quote]

Given that public schools educate absolutely everybody, including special needs, economically disadvantaged, etc., it is not surprising that percentages shake out this way. When people say "public school math is better" they are clearly talking about the subset of students who would be able to go to either public or private.

There is so much variation, though, that it's hard to say which is "better." Is math education better at DC-area magnets than at top privates? Certainly you're more likely to run into an IMO qualifier at TJ, or other forms of non-contest-based awesomeness, so to the extent that peer group matters, there's that. Not sure how that generalizes outside the top places.

Bottom line, if private school kids are interested in math, they should know where the bar really is for excellence and seek resources elsewhere as necessary. The best kids at the top 3 can/should probably go a bit further than they're asked to.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics