Anonymous wrote:Seems like they should offer three pre-calc classes with following default pathways (setting aside other options like AP Stats):

Regular to Calc with Applications
AP Pre Calc to AB
Honors Pre Calc to BC

No. PreCal should ensure a student is prepared take Calculus. Period. It shouldn’t try to track you towards a particular course afterwards. That’s up to the student and teacher recommendation which should be based on performance, student desire, and speed of course.

Calc AB= Calc1
Calc BC = Calc 1 & 2
Calc w/ Application = Calc 1 with a more business focus and less abstract.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

I don’t understand the point of AP Pre-Calculus. Colleges don’t give credit for it. The district just needs a unified rigorous pre-calculus curriculum.

The weird thing is that MCPS does have a unified rigorous curriculum - it's called Honors Pre-Calculus. It's widely understood that this is the class where kids who were accelerated just because they were bright and hard working, rather than genuinely math-oriented, will start to struggle. For literal once, MCPS has something that is working but they are insisting on letting principals mess with it.

Not weird at all. MCPS families self segregate and that's why the W schools have so much more than the other schools.

Seems like they should offer three pre-calc classes with following default pathways (setting aside other options like AP Stats):

Regular to Calc with Applications
AP Pre Calc to AB
Honors Pre Calc to BC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

I don’t understand the point of AP Pre-Calculus. Colleges don’t give credit for it. The district just needs a unified rigorous pre-calculus curriculum.

Actually, some do but for intro math classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

then why are some schools replacing honors precalc with AP?

Perception and $.

AP is perceived to have a greater benefit in rigor and college credit just because of the "AP" attached to it. Communities less in tune with academic reality will buy that hook, line and sinker, and principals find it easier/less costly to offer just two variants -- on-level and AP.

Meanwhile, the more rigorous Honors PreCalc, where more might struggle but where more is learned, where those with math talent are met at their level, and where students are better prepared for AP Calc BC, might not be made available, absent large numbers of families pressing for it.

As a side-bonus for principals, they can then suggest a two-year progression of AP Calc AB and then AP Calc BC from the AP PreCalc, rather than having to offer Multivariable Calc after students follow PreCalc with AP Calc BC. Again, enough folks buy that line at these schools, and the several at each of these schools who are mathy enough to fit better in AP Calc BC (and whose families are willing to argue that with the adminiatration) can be told, "Well, OK, but don't say we didn't warn you, and, by the way, by getting this "exception" you'll need to arrange to take dual-enrollment MVC at MC rather than take it here if you are going that route."

Only the finest of systemic academic inequity is allowed within MCPS...

Offering AP PreCalc is fine (as is having the option to take AB afterwards as long as BC is made available for those needing that), but, among the PreCalc courses, MCPS should be ensuring that the most rigorous non-magnet variant is available at every school. If Whitman's A/E is yet more rigorous than the Honors PreCalc offered elsewhere, then that should become the uniformly available Honors course.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Regular precalculus is now remedial, "honors" is now regular, and "A/E" is what honors was before "equity."

The interesting thing is that not every school has the A/E, so honors is still honors at those schools. But Whitman for some reason felt the need to add a level, pushing the whole ranking "down" one notch. The only reason I can imagine is parents complaining that their kids "needed" honors for the GPA boost, but not being able to handle the rigor, Whitman decided to add a true honors class above it.

Ahhh, so at other schools, honors is what A/E is at Whitman?

Yes. At other schools, there are 2 levels. On-level and Honors. Plenty of kids who do not plan to major in STEM take on-level. There is genuinely no stigma to it, even among bright kids, particularly because you can still take Calculus after on-level Pre-Calculus. But Whitman kids (parents?) wanted the GPA boost of Honors without the workload, so they added a "Super Honors" variant.

And that should be stopped! Honors PreCal should be the same rigor across the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

I don’t understand the point of AP Pre-Calculus. Colleges don’t give credit for it. The district just needs a unified rigorous pre-calculus curriculum.

The weird thing is that MCPS does have a unified rigorous curriculum - it's called Honors Pre-Calculus. It's widely understood that this is the class where kids who were accelerated just because they were bright and hard working, rather than genuinely math-oriented, will start to struggle. For literal once, MCPS has something that is working but they are insisting on letting principals mess with it.

I agree that Honors PreCal is doing what it’s supposed to. On level PreCal should do the same and kids should be prepared for Calc AB, regardless of school.
I don’t agree that bright and hard working kids shouldn’t be able to take and pass.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regular precalculus is now remedial, "honors" is now regular, and "A/E" is what honors was before "equity."

The interesting thing is that not every school has the A/E, so honors is still honors at those schools. But Whitman for some reason felt the need to add a level, pushing the whole ranking "down" one notch. The only reason I can imagine is parents complaining that their kids "needed" honors for the GPA boost, but not being able to handle the rigor, Whitman decided to add a true honors class above it.

Ahhh, so at other schools, honors is what A/E is at Whitman?

Yes. At other schools, there are 2 levels. On-level and Honors. Plenty of kids who do not plan to major in STEM take on-level. There is genuinely no stigma to it, even among bright kids, particularly because you can still take Calculus after on-level Pre-Calculus. But Whitman kids (parents?) wanted the GPA boost of Honors without the workload, so they added a "Super Honors" variant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

I don’t understand the point of AP Pre-Calculus. Colleges don’t give credit for it. The district just needs a unified rigorous pre-calculus curriculum.

The weird thing is that MCPS does have a unified rigorous curriculum - it's called Honors Pre-Calculus. It's widely understood that this is the class where kids who were accelerated just because they were bright and hard working, rather than genuinely math-oriented, will start to struggle. For literal once, MCPS has something that is working but they are insisting on letting principals mess with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

I don’t understand the point of AP Pre-Calculus. Colleges don’t give credit for it. The district just needs a unified rigorous pre-calculus curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

then why are some schools replacing honors precalc with AP?

also, I am guessing this varies by school (unfortunately)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

then why are some schools replacing honors precalc with AP?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two honors options, honors precalc and the A/E pre calc referenced here which is also honors but is more likely to lead to BC calc. The A/E is a more theoretical class, that is my understanding

I have never heard of honors precalc A/E. Do all schools that offer honors have an A/E section? Or, more specifically, does B-CC offer this?

I've never heard of the A/E option either. It doesn't appear in the MCPS course bulletin. I think this might be Whitman going rogue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids school they only offer AP pre calc and on level.

My kid is taking calculus BC next year after taking AP pre calc

Our school doesn't offer AP precalc.

That's a good thing.... AP precalc is substantially less challenging than honors precalc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regular precalculus is now remedial, "honors" is now regular, and "A/E" is what honors was before "equity."

The interesting thing is that not every school has the A/E, so honors is still honors at those schools. But Whitman for some reason felt the need to add a level, pushing the whole ranking "down" one notch. The only reason I can imagine is parents complaining that their kids "needed" honors for the GPA boost, but not being able to handle the rigor, Whitman decided to add a true honors class above it.

Ahhh, so at other schools, honors is what A/E is at Whitman?