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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]

It is not just acceleration.  If a class is tuaght correctly, there is also depth and challenging problems.

As to AP Calculus.  It depends how the class was taught.  Some kids actually do skip Calcukus and go into more advanced math.  Some kids don’t but they have an advantage because the material is familiar from high school.

BTW, taking AP Calculus is the floor for STEM majors for any competitive school.  It’s not absolutely required but you are the outlier if you have not taken it.  Even non-STEM majors manage have taken it at competitive colleges.

It’s easy to see how low PP’s standards are here excusing not taking AP Calculus.
j
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Taking AP Calculus in HS is not acceleration. Taking Calc AB your senior year would be a standard track (non-mathy kids might skip AP math altogether, or take AP statistics). A moderately advanced track would take Calc AB junior year and Calc BC senior year. That would be for kids who are very good at math from a young age and can bump into next-grade math classes starting in middle school. Makes sense for some kids. In either case, most kids will do best not to skip any college level math classes and treat any AP math classes as a good introduction to college level math so they aren't entering it cold.

The above post is talking about the parents pushing aggressive acceleration with the goal of taking Calc AB sophomore year of high school. These are parents determined to max out AP classes (both AP Calc, AP Statistics, plus max out AP science classes which will be easier if you've already completed both calc classes prior to senior year). This has absolutely been a push among some parents in recent years and it complicates the conversation about improving math curriculum in the US. Because parents get distracted by "accelerated" math tracks when really we should be addressing depth and fluency, starting in elementary school. There is no point in developing accelerated tracks when kids' math fluency is shallow and many students have a weak grasp of basic math facts and functions. I'd rather have my kid on a standard track with Calc AB senior year and no other advanced math, but getting a really strong math education *at school* (not at an after school tutor). I don't care if my kid goes into STEM or not. But for instance I work in the humanities and use statistics daily and regularly encounter young people in my field who can't do extremely basic statistical analysis even with custom tools to help them. Math education in the US is broken, and it's not due to lack of acceleration.[/quote]

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