Reply to What is normal for 9th grade math

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think we are wasting too much time arguing with one mom who wants to flex and start an irrelevant public vs private school debate.

My DD is transitioning from a MD public school to a private school in 9th. She is pretty math-oriented and does mathcounts, math club, etc. I know what a lot of her peers are up to at both private and public school, which appears to be similar.

There is the standard track:
8th grade algebra I
9th grade geometry
10th grade algebra II
11th grade precalc
12th grade calc

There is a honors/GT/advanced track:
8th grade geometry
9th grade algebra II
10th grade precalc
11th grade calc

And of course, there are always some kids who are ahead of this schedule. And there are some private schools which like to do algebra I as the normal 9th grade math class. My impression is that this is more common in Catholic schools which like to pride themselves on tradition and old fashioned rigor, but I could be wrong.

Schools and districts seem to vary on whether they have kids jump right into calc BC from precalc, or whether they make kids take calc AB before taking calc BC.

Our public school system does not offer multivariable and beyond, so these kids who finish calc before 12th grade would have to take additional classes at a community college for credit unless they are satisfied with AP stats as the only other option. Our private school does offer courses beyond calc bc and AP stats.

I do not think it really matters if you finish calc in your 11th or 12 grade year. This will not make you a better mathematician in college. In fact, some colleges strongly suggest you take their own calc classes instead of using AP credit to skip them. See this opinion piece on why its not good to rush through the math curriculum towards calculus:

https://phys.org/news/2015-11-calculus-bad-students-futures-stem.html

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As the linked article shows, high school calculus is not "standard", but it is at the high end of "common".

Only 15% of students take AP calculus. Throw in some more who do IB or private non-AP, or public non-honors calculus (almost always a mistake).

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