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Why are you so hung up on this "behind the scenes"/"hidden" stuff? I do not want my name attached to any such notion.
I'm not hung up on behind the scenes / hidden stuff. My point is that, whatever criteria is used to determine who gets into a program is going to seem unfair and random to whoever loses. Your post said that every school uses a lottery. My school did not explicitly use a lottery, but whatever methods they used seemed fair to whoever won and seemed unfair and random to whoever lost.
I'm surprised you didn't get it since I dropped a couple clues.
" Nontraditional students": Blacks, especially Black males. Hispanics, especially Hispanic males. Girls in AP Math and Sciences not Biology. Students who have permanent residence status. Students who are ESOL. Students who receive FARM.
That may be a problem for the OP if his/her son does not meet those "diversity" requirements but is more qualified academically than others.
I'm not hung up on behind the scenes / hidden stuff. My point is that, whatever criteria is used to determine who gets into a program is going to seem unfair and random to whoever loses. Your post said that every school uses a lottery. My school did not explicitly use a lottery, but whatever methods they used seemed fair to whoever won and seemed unfair and random to whoever lost.
I don't feel like going back through all my posts here, especially since I'm in a hospital room all gloved up in isolation gear on my phone. However, I generally don't use absolutes.
That may be a problem for the OP if his/her son does not meet those "diversity" requirements but is more qualified academically than others.
They're not "requirements" per se to take AP classes, just internal CollegeBoard® statistics. Having said that, there is money attached to meeting whatever target has been set. Not much in the grand scheme of things but dollars nonetheless. No school is going to tell an otherwise qualified kid he can't take an AP class because he'll screw up the numbers.
Now, for a lottery or test into program some school systems may have some diversity guidelines from either the state or, in my (former) system's case, a Court order.
Oh he does. But where he runs aground is that he's not yet a resident in the district. Many, if not most, school systems won't make out of district exceptions for a lottery/admission by testing program.
There are just too many people out there who would game the system.
Just wish to correct that I am a resident of the lottery district. But I am still displeased by the timing of the requirement.
Everyone is getting wrapped up in "labels" and they shouldn't be. Nor should anyone think that required participation in a gifted program or a magnet school is a do or die, sink or swim, succeed or fail scenario.... IT IS NOT!!! Our kids went to regular schools and we compensated in other ways. They all turned out great with advanced degrees and careers they enjoy and find interesting. They all had different ways of learning, they all had different degrees of ambition, they were all extremely different in every way.
Having a high IQ or NOT having a high IQ or what the school you do or do not attend does not guarantee any particular outcome in life. Parents, you are getting too wrapped up for all the wrong reasons. JMHO and research.
If your goal is to get into a certain college, it would absolutely behoove a parent to look into funnel schools. Labels tell you what's what - this isn't shirt shopping.
If your goal is to get into a certain college, it would absolutely behoove a parent to look into funnel schools. Labels tell you what's what - this isn't shirt shopping.
Good Grief...no wonder kids are a mess and in life-altering debt these days if you are a current example of parenting. You didn't learn a darn thing from reading my last post..or any of my posts it seems.
Because having been a student, parent, and now a chair of the scheduling committee in multiple schools I see how those same preconceptions I had were complete and utter nonsense.
The notion that there are 26 students qualified from an AP class, and instead of making two sections they just put them in another class is not believable. No teacher has one single class of AP and no other classes. Likely the have a mixture of AP and regular classes. So instead of 5 sections of general whatever and 1 AP they would have 4 sections of the general class and 2 of the AP. It is near universal that classes will run if there are enough students to meet the minimum class size (usually half capacity). For example in my school seniors are usually split into two sections of AP English and two of Honors English. More kids wanted AP than could fit, so there where three sections ranging from 14-20 in size and one largish Honors English 24.
Even in your example, if what he was saying was correct did they hire a new bio teacher to take on the extra students? Was the physics teacher fired?
The answer is actually within your question. "No teacher has one single class of AP and no other classes. Likely the have a mixture of AP and regular classes. So instead of 5 sections of general whatever and 1 AP they would have 4 sections of the general class and 2 of the AP." If they have 5 general and 1 AP, they can't go down to 4 general and 2 AP because what do you do with the students that would have been in that general class that got dropped to create the extra AP? You're not going to drop 20-30 students in a general class to accommodate a handful that want AP.
In my example, no that was not an extra teacher hired just for physics nor was there a physics teacher fired. Your assuming there were more teachers than classes so that if a class didn't make they had an extra teacher. Nope, fewer teachers than classes, so if a class didn't make then that teacher had time for something else. In this specific case the bio teacher and physics teacher were the same person, so he got an extra study hall so the principal didn't have to cover it (though he'd usually delegated to either the librarian or his secretary).
One of mine graduated from a regular rural high school with approx. 150 kids in the class and entered a medical school program right out of high school. IB is not remotely necessary to achieve. We are personally opposed to the IB program and its agenda.
The public high school where my daughter attended offered AP classes and the International Baccaulaureate (IB) program, and she took it all. She began as a freshman. The teachers who taught these classes taught nothing else, and had classrooms in a certain section of the very large suburban high school she attended, so it was almost like a separate, private school setting. She had already started taking IB classes at the charter school she attended for middle school
I would recommend both programs. My daughter received multiple academic scolarships from every university she applied to, went on to grad school of her choice and is now a successful professional. It started with the AP/IB programs in high school. The teachers were supportive and enthuastic and great mentors.
Also, for the 2 high schools in our district, the one in our area did not offer this program, so you better believe I put in for an intradistrict transfer for her on the first day that transfer applications were allowed. If she hadn’t gotten the transfer, she would have continued high school at the charter school, which did AP and IB.
Just start your planning early (like before middle school) to give your child the best possible outcome.
Last edited by happygrrrl; 11-29-2018 at 07:09 PM..
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