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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If acceleration doesn't produce kids that are better at math, what does? Seems like most ppl here are often complaining there isn't enough acceleration.[/quote]

People overly fixate on acceleration in math. The push comes from a small subset of overzealous parents who (1) expect kids to go into STEM subjects in college no matter what, (2) believe that more APs is always better for college admissions, and (3) think additional AP math in HS will result in kids skipping a year or more of college math.

These are all myopic and incorrect ideas. First off, go ahead and talk to some of those kids who got pushed hard into computer engineering over the last decade or so, about whether they are happy about it in light of what AI is doing to that job market. Second, talk to actual college admissions officers about how many math APs they want to see -- you won't find a single AO who will tell you that 3-4 math APs is necessary or even desirable, especially if it comes at the expense of taking other academic courses or a more balanced app. Most AOs will tell you that for the kids who are genuinely really good at math and want more, taking classes at an actual college their junior or senior year is a better option, which means high schools really do not need to be offering this special accelerated track with all the APs -- they can just let advanced kids take class with older students and then pick up classes at a local college/university if they want to continue.

And that's because it turns out that AP classes rarely actually save kids a year of college math. [b]It is common for kids in STEM majors to have to retake calculus in college because the AP classes simply do not adequately cover the material or get kids to the necessary fluency, even with a good AP score. It's because HS is structured too differently from college. You can't go into the same depth, and HS kids often have too much else going on. It's not the same thing.
[/b]
But just try to tell the acceleration people this. They are convinced that RSM staring in 1st grade plus hyper-accelerated math tracks at school will be the key to their child's future success, and there's no dissuading them. Not even a bunch of unemployed coders or kids getting Cs in college math because there accelerated track went too fast and too shallow.[/quote]

I agree with the bolded.

However everything else sounds like a way to excuse bad schools.

Sometimes parents in DC get wound up about math acceleration because they really just how badly math is being taught. And math acceleration seems like one way to push schools to actually provide rigorous math instruction. [/quote]

Except those of us who understand math know that this isn’t true, because all you are doing is accelerating through poorly taught classes. Math is best learned in programs outside of school, unless you are lucky enough to have great teachers in your school.[/quote]

Nope.  Math is just so badly taught in DCPS.  I know a kid who went to school in the burbs and he took advance math courses including AP Calculus and past that.  Tested out of Cal and is killing it as an engineering major in his math courses at a well known school.[/quote]

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