Reply to MS/HS recommendations for artsy kid

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]einstein parent here, and I agree that the lack of science AP's is the weak spot. Math is great, however! We love the AP Calc teacher who is also head of the department.

it's true there is no MV calc or higher--but there aren't close to enough kids to fill a class. 30 kids have taken the BC exam in the past three years combined, and of those, only 5 students got a 4 or 5. Just one five. In three years.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/data/LAR-charts/AP-Exam-by-Subject.html

It's trending upwards, and that's good. But it's wise to ensure the existing options are serving students before considering options that would serve only a tiny minority--and I say that as the parent of one of that tiny minority.

Class offerings notwithstanding, we really like the community at Einstein. For my student, the low-key vibe and supportive, relatively low-drama, chill social environment has been as instrumental to their success as this or that course offering. That might just be us, but I'm really glad my kid is there. [/quote]

There are a handful of kids to take Mv.  They don’t allow kids to take BC without AB in less you fight for it.  If they offered it, more smart kids might choose Einstein.   [/quote]

There are smart kids at Einstein.  They just don't get their needs met.[/quote]

I do think a lot of the bright kids at Einstein are doing the IB diploma. My non-IB kid is doing a weird mix of IB and AP classes as a junior. The school has to support the IB diploma, so if there aren’t enough kids to need both AP and IB courses in a subject, they drop the AP. [/quote]

There aren’t enough as many switch to others schools because they don’t offer it. [/quote]

For years they offered both AP and IB sciences, but they didn't have enough of a cohort to keep each class running, so they stayed with IB.[/quote]

No, they do IB because its an IB school even though few kids graduate IB and many families and students would prefer AP.[/quote]

Yes...the fact that it's an IB school is why they offer IB classes. Everyone understands that. But the point stands that they used to offer AP and IB science classes, but did not have [b]the interest to sustain both[/b].[/quote]

They did not [i]cultivate[/i] it.  They made choices that disfavored rigor/advanced study and consequently/increasingly saw students who would seek that look to other school options.  Families have moved over this.[/quote]

Do you work for the College Board or something? [/quote]

Probably MCPS which is ironic as the preach equity.   If they had rigour at all schools it would improve test scores and open more opportunities not just to the elite. [/quote]

AP and IB are both rigorous.[/quote]

Not in math.[/quote]

OK, but Einstein offers BC Calc, which is the most advanced[b] AP[/b] math course.[/quote]

...and 4 courses short of the most advanced [i]college-level[/i] course offered in-person at some other MCPS non-SMCS-magnet high schools:

Multivariable Calculus
Differential Equations (bundled in a year with MVC)
Linear Algebra
Complex Analysis

As importantly, if not more so, 1 year's worth of courses short of providing 4 years of progressive Math instruction for students placed in the standard high acceleration classes (Math 4/5, Math 5/6 & AIM/AMP7+/PreAlgebra) that lead to Algebra in 7th grade:

7th -Algebra 1
8th - Geometry
9th - Algebra 2
10th - PreCalculus
11th - AP Calculus BC
12th - ???

12th should have available MVC/DE in the above model.  As it stands at Einstein and some other schools, the choices appear to be:

Take IB Math in 11th/12th (repeats content of earlier courses & doesn't achieve the same level of instruction as MVC/DE)

Take AP Stats in 12th (loses continuity of progression from Calc BC to MVC/DE and can be seen as a step back from rigor by college admissions offices, even if the "most rigorous available" due to the hair-splitting comparisons that need to be made by admissions officers among students of similar profiles across schools that offer different courses)

Take AP Calc AB in 11th and BC in 12th (repeats pretty much the entirety of AB content and is subject to the same college admissions relative bias)

Take MVC & DE via Dual Enrollment (creates a logistical burden on the student's schedule)

Then there's the non-option of attending Wheaton or Blair instead if the student has been in that track.  Notwithstanding the OP's topic, here ("artsy kid"), as the conversation has moved more generally to equity of  access to classes, it's a non-option because each of those is overbooked such that there is not a reasonable chance for an Einstein-in-bounds student to be placed there via the DCC "school choice" process.

This gap will be compounded in a couple of years with the MD state standard changing from the 3-year sequence of Algebra 1/Geometry/Algebra to a 2-year sequence of Intergated Algebra 1 & 2.  At the time current 4th graders hit HS, those in the standard high accleration path will hit Calculus as a sophomore, leaving 2 years afterwards needing to be filled by post-Calc BC courses to continue progression.

Meanwhile, BCC, the neighboring IB school, has had this figured out for a long time, utilizing APs for higher-level math.

As a side note, given the parallel conversation in another thread, BCC also has AP CS Java A coded as fulfilling the MD state Technical Education requirement, where most other schools offering it do not, allowing access to this more advanced course without "wasting" a schedule slot on a less meaningful one just to check the TE box for graduation.  Einstein's catalog on the MCPS site doesn't even offer AP CS, whether the less-rigorous Principles or the more rigorous Java/A.[/quote]

Einstein in fact offers both AP CS classes, and has for many years.

[url]https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ahQmKa3acSRnJPnTI4UnQ23eQj5GXYUFaBQio0PtgfI/edit?usp=sharing[/url]
[/quote]

Your math is off with the course sequence.  There is ap cs but not other classes and no science ap.  [/quote]

Your reading comprehension is off. A PP claimed that Einstein offered neither of the two AP Computer Science classes, but that is false. Einstein offers both AP Computer Science Principles and AP Computer Science A.[/quote]

The claim, which was a side note to the much more thoroughly discussed situation with Math at Einstein not adequately addressing student need in comparison to some other MCPS high schools, was that the courses were not offered in Einstein's catalog on the [i]MCPS site[/i].  That claim, in fact, is true:

https://coursebulletin.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/SchoolCourseCatalogs/Index/All

https://coursebulletin.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/SchoolCourseCatalogs/School/04789/top

https://coursebulletin.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/SchoolCourseCatalogs/School/04789/CS

The Einstein google doc link showing the available CS AP's that the other poster noted may be the catalog provided by the school directly to students in the late fall, as they start the planning cycle for the following year.

Given that the Einstein catalog on the MCPS site lists IB Theory of Knowledge & TOK Essay as the only 2 courses in the CS/IT domain, it might stand to reason that whoever was responsible for populating courses on that site made a mistake.  At the same time, one wonders if the Einstein google doc catalog shows courses that only [i]might[/i] be available the following year if enough students request it, and that this was, then, not the case when it came to populating the MCPS-site catalog.[/quote]

This is incorrect and they offer a few cs classes.  [/quote]

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