Anonymous wrote:DC is a Freshman in the TC/Minnie Howard STEM program which is all honors classes. The average class size is 20-25 kids. One section of Algebra II has 30 kids (which is above the norm).

Really? Did they change the program this year?

Last year the students in the program performed pretty poorly overall. I didn't think they were honors classes they were taking but just regular classes.

Anonymous wrote:For parents who currently have kids at TC: what is your impression of the school? The two negatives I have heard are overcrowding in AP classes, including kids who should not be in the more advanced classes at all, and grade inflation leading to too many kids with super high GPAs who are then not getting into the colleges of their choice.

Interesting. From what we've seen, grade inflation is definitely not a problem. The school board creates problems, especially at the middle and high school levels, so that they can justify the real havoc they've accomplished, but TC is largely well-regarded and the kids in the AP and honors classes are run ragged by the work.

For parents who currently have kids at TC: what is your impression of the school? The two negatives I have heard are overcrowding in AP classes, including kids who should not be in the more advanced classes at all, and grade inflation leading to too many kids with super high GPAs who are then not getting into the colleges of their choice.

I have heard gripes about the size of the math classes - as PP said, some classes have around 30 kids. I think the push to get more kids into AP classes is the cause. You now have kids in some AP classes who really should not be there - the push for inclusiveness seems like a good idea but in reality often is not as you then have unqualified kids in the classes (I have this from teachers not just kids). This is not the case in all AP classes but certainly some of them.

DC is a Freshman in the TC/Minnie Howard STEM program which is all honors classes. The average class size is 20-25 kids. One section of Algebra II has 30 kids (which is above the norm).

From what we've seen, it really ranges. Popular AP classes, like in social sciences, are nearly as large as regular classes but are very extremely serious. Unusual courses and language programs can be relatively small, like a handful of students per teacher. But we know of no parents with merits gripes about the honors or AP programs in general so I don't think the class sizes have produced anything problematic.

Could anyone tell me? thanks!