Anonymous wrote:Higher GPA with AP Precalc (+1) vs Honors Precalc (+0.5)?

Possibly. The current approach also gets around the optical problem of assigning AP Precalculus the +1 AP course bump when the more rigorous honors Precalc Trig only gets a + 0.5 bump. The GPA bump for APs was not designed to handle an AP course that is not the most rigorous course in the main HS sequence. However, there are simpler ways around this problem. FCPS could just have acknowledged that AP Precalculus was different from other APs and was not recognized as a college level course by some colleges; as such, split the difference and award AP Precalculus a +0.5 bump. Or, give honors Precalc Trig a +1 bump. Either of those would have 1) saved the contortions of putting honors kids in a course that does not fit them and then retro-fitting the course to try to meet their needs and 2) allowed AP Precalculus to be better targeted to 9th grade Algebra 1 students, giving them greater opportunities and helping bring down achievement gap.

There's another possible motivation for the change too. Although VMPI imploded over its advocacy for heterogenous classes, support for heterogenous classes remains strong amongst the regional districts. It would be difficult to get rid of honors Precalc Trig outright. However, the introduction of AP Precalculus shakes things up and provides the opportunity to get rid of the course with little fanfare. Now a greater number of students are all housed in AP Precalculus -- the former honors Precalc Trig kids and potentially some of the non-honors Precalc Trig kids. While there will be different sections for now, might districts begin to blur these section distinctions down the road if they want more heterogenous classes?

On balance, you are likely right. This change may well have been driven by the GPA bump. However, even so, realize that once honors PreCalc Trig is gone, it is very unlikely to ever return. Kids have given up a dedicated honors course that had a clearly defined and public course description (where any watering down would be visible year to year) and now have an AP Precalculus course with a (so far) sparsely defined honors section whose syllabus/content may differ at each school which makes it easier to change/water down content. That is unfortunate in the current environment.

Higher GPA with AP Precalc (+1) vs Honors Precalc (+0.5)?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's wait for more info, which will likely come during curriculum night this week. Hold your fire...

OK. The info provided at curriculum night was limited. Basically, the math chair/teachers said that the AP Precalc class is going to cover the same material as Trig/Precalc HNs, and it will prepare a student for AB or BC. No further explanation was offered to the question about why the better math students are being directed to AP Precalc when College Board said that it was created to pull in the less-math-friendly kids into the calculus track.

It is what it is. And at Madison, it is AP Precalc for the honors math kids.

I can't think of a reason why my kid would take the AP exam, though. There is no chance of college credit. It uses up one of the pre-paid AP exams. Seems like his grade in the class would tell colleges how capable he is, as much or more than the AP exam score b/c the class grade will apply to more content than the exam score (i.e. the AP exam only covers 3 units, while the class grade will cover 4 AP units +). Am I missing something?

Agreed, the exam seems pointless for calculus-bound kids.

Good that you asked them why they were putting honors PreCalc Trig kids into AP Precalculus. It's unsurprising they had no response; it's an illogical move even if they have jerry-rigged a way to hold these kids harmless from the change. If FCPS is going to make a major switch in math courses and implement it in a way that goes against the course creators' intentions, they need to provide the rationale for why they're doing this. Hopefully if FCPS keeps getting asked, they'll finally have to answer.

Anonymous wrote:Let's wait for more info, which will likely come during curriculum night this week. Hold your fire...

OK. The info provided at curriculum night was limited. Basically, the math chair/teachers said that the AP Precalc class is going to cover the same material as Trig/Precalc HNs, and it will prepare a student for AB or BC. No further explanation was offered to the question about why the better math students are being directed to AP Precalc when College Board said that it was created to pull in the less-math-friendly kids into the calculus track.

It is what it is. And at Madison, it is AP Precalc for the honors math kids.

I can't think of a reason why my kid would take the AP exam, though. There is no chance of college credit. It uses up one of the pre-paid AP exams. Seems like his grade in the class would tell colleges how capable he is, as much or more than the AP exam score b/c the class grade will apply to more content than the exam score (i.e. the AP exam only covers 3 units, while the class grade will cover 4 AP units +). Am I missing something?