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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DE is generally regarded as a way to inflate HS grades. They aren’t as hard or rigorous as AP classes/curriculum but they get the bump in GPA. This is because they are still taught by HS teachers (as are the AP courses but the AP courses follow a curriculum and have the accountability and measure of an exam). This is how my kids who took AP courses explained it to me. The “gen Ed” track kids boost their GPAs this way but generally lacked rigor in their transcript.

There are exceptions, I suppose, for novelty classes. But most of the “advanced” courses the selective university will want students to take from them anyway and won’t be impressed by someone taking a substandard offering in HS.

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I find opinions like this obnoxious. First of all, my junior has several AP classes already. DC took DE English Composition this year instead of AP (whatever the language art equivalent is). And it is an excellent class. DC has done more writing in a semester than has been done the entirety of the 10 years in FCPS. Getting good -and timely- feedback. And it will only benefit DC in college so, yes, it is absolutely worth the +1 bump.

I have been way less impressed with DC's AP classes which are rigid, unimaginative, and fairly high level reviews of the subject matters. Not all of the teachers should be teaching AP classes, frankly, whereas the DE teacher teaches at NOVA regularly. And does it well.

I realize there is this AP arms race around here and anyone who doesn't take as many as offered as viewed as an inferior student. But that is wrong. And unfair. [/quote]

What you think of as an "excellent" class may not impress the college admissions folks--especially a community college level English composition class which often is viewed as remedial instruction.  And, yes, consistent writing with feedback is a hallmark of those kinds of classes--it's how colleges get kids up to writing speed if they haven't done that already.  The class size and professor schedules are geared to make that work far more than a K-12 settings.  But the fact is that the academic cohort is often lower at a community college than in the AP program at a high school and the grades reflect that.  If your kid hasn't done AP in language arts, this will be looked at as dodging harder content/competition rather than more advanced content.  But it sounds like you've gotten what the actual value of the course is -- more practice writing and more feedback on writing.  [/quote]

You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. A student could have all Northern VA Comm College classes for 2 years and get a guaranteed ticket into UVA. Does UVA think those classes are inferior?

Please, stop. [/quote]

Of course UVA thinks the community college classes are likely to be inferior, because they likely are.

The community college instructor might be a smart, dedicated person who gives a bright student a lot of nurturing and one-on-one support. The class might be a wonderful experience for that student.

But of course being a student with 1550 on the SATs, in a class where the average score is 900, is a lot different and, in some important ways, worse, than being in a brutal, sink-or-swim class, with an average student SAT score of 1500, with a UVa. professor who’s the middle of titanic battles over the future of a major line of research.

The bright community college student learned the class content.

The UVa. student learned the content and how to swim with sharks. [/quote]

I’ve taught at NOVA and have had many, many UVA students who take the courses and transfer them over. Did they just learn the content or were the swimming with sharks?

You’re embarrassing yourself. [/quote]

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