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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.
The public high school where my daughters attended offered AP classes, more when the second one was there than when the first attended. That was because 1) the oldest DD was a freshman the year the high school opened (1998) with just freshmen and sophomores. I don't think the school offered any AP classes the first year, and just a few the second year; 2) AP classes and other forms of college-credit type classes were becoming more popular by the time the second one was in HS (2001-2005). One HS in the district offered the IB at the time, but we did not live in the attendance area and neither DD had any interest in it. The teachers of the AP classes also taught other classes as tnff described.
Both my daughters took AP classes and got some college credit for them. The OP needs to know (since s/he is not familiar with the US system) that the college can decide what score to accept for credit and how much credit to give. Some will give a years' credit for a one year course, others will give a semester's worth. It's all up to the college.
My kids received college scholarships as well, and both are successful professionals. One has a doctorate and one a master's. It doesn't matter what they took in 2nd grade. One of my kids was one of these "slow to learn how to read" kids, and got extra help through elementary school. She has a master's in public health with a concentration in epidemiology from the Colorado School of Public Health.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 11-29-2018 at 09:13 PM..
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.
Here's my post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt
In public schools including charters, if more students apply for a program than there are spaces, most schools do a lottery. Sometimes, with AP courses, the school will offer an additional section. I've never heard of high schools "inviting" kids to be in IB programs. I have heard of teachers recommending a student for AP courses, but not guaranteeing them a spot.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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New thread where I can brag again.
Our's threatened to drop out of school in the 2nd grade, at Thanksgiving break. He told his 2nd grade teacher that he was tired of being set aside and not mainstreamed. We new he was sharp but not at this level. We just followed his lead.
School and administrators anticipated his unhappiness and were ready for him. He was placed into a 3-4 grade mixed class. We allowed 1 grade skip but he was already at 4th grade level and repeated that class the next year as a 4th grader (our bad but he did manage). He graduated top class of 400. Went on to private engineering school and again graduated at or near top of class with double engineering majors.
Now works at a popular company as internal consultant.
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.
You're right - I won't learn anything from them if I disagree.
If your child is going to a certain college as a legacy, you should have the money to send him or her to the same school you attended. Of course, this family tradition isn't that important if we're not talking about an Ivy League, Duke, or Stanford.
I am against college being pushed on kids immediately after high school IF finances don't allow. There are plenty of entry-level, full time jobs that pay tuition assistance while you attend part or full time. Will take a little longer, but you'll never have a house payment hanging over your head - with no house to show for it!
You're right - I won't learn anything from them if I disagree.
If your child is going to a certain college as a legacy, you should have the money to send him or her to the same school you attended. Of course, this family tradition isn't that important if we're not talking about an Ivy League, Duke, or Stanford.
I am against college being pushed on kids immediately after high school IF finances don't allow. There are plenty of entry-level, full time jobs that pay tuition assistance while you attend part or full time. Will take a little longer, but you'll never have a house payment hanging over your head - with no house to show for it!
Please document. I know Starbuck's gives some tuition assistance, but I don't know how much and what other restrictions they have. And I do not know anyone who ever worked full time for Starbuck's.
Please document. I know Starbuck's gives some tuition assistance, but I don't know how much and what other restrictions they have. And I do not know anyone who ever worked full time for Starbuck's.
AT&T and Verizon offer $5000 and $8000 annually, respectively, towards tuition, books, and fees. I see this trend with several large companies my friends work for (think Fortune 100) who extend these benefits to hourly associates.
Nothing preventing an eager young adult from working in a cell phone store - above minimum wage base wage, plus commission, and then the tuition assistance on top of that.
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.
LOL you think classes only run at full capacity?
We would find the smallest section of the general class typically half capacity or so, and spread them out to the other classes. Then offer two smaller sections of the AP. Schools want AP course to run. It is to their direct benefit to have more students in AP. They will absolutely make general classes bigger (even substantially bigger) to run another AP section.
Quote:
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).
No I am not assuming extra teachers. As a matter of fact I am not assuming anything as I actually do this every year.
As for the notion that the same teacher can teach AP classes in bio and physics I call bologna. College board requires AP teacher to have a degree (or equivalent credits) in their field. Not a teaching degree, an actual biology degree or physics degree. So for a single teacher, in todays schools, to be scheduled for AP classes in bio and physics would be so unusual as to be meaningless when talking about generalities of scheduling.
As for the notion that the same teacher can teach AP classes in bio and physics I call bologna. College board requires AP teacher to have a degree (or equivalent credits) in their field. Not a teaching degree, an actual biology degree or physics degree. So for a single teacher, in todays schools, to be scheduled for AP classes in bio and physics would be so unusual as to be meaningless when talking about generalities of scheduling.
Actually that's somewhat incorrect. The CollegeBoard® has no requirements for teacher qualification, only recommendations. The main one is that the teacher had at least three years of teaching experience. Certifications are phrased as "or related field".
And again, not requirements, only recommendations.
We would find the smallest section of the general class typically half capacity or so, and spread them out to the other classes. Then offer two smaller sections of the AP. Schools want AP course to run. It is to their direct benefit to have more students in AP. They will absolutely make general classes bigger (even substantially bigger) to run another AP section.
No I am not assuming extra teachers. As a matter of fact I am not assuming anything as I actually do this every year.
As for the notion that the same teacher can teach AP classes in bio and physics I call bologna. College board requires AP teacher to have a degree (or equivalent credits) in their field. Not a teaching degree, an actual biology degree or physics degree. So for a single teacher, in todays schools, to be scheduled for AP classes in bio and physics would be so unusual as to be meaningless when talking about generalities of scheduling.
Yes, you are assuming excess teachers because if the extra section of general classes was that small, they wouldn't have run it anyway. It seems many on here work or live in districts with deep pockets and that can run all sorts of programs. You have described your own school system in such a way that it is way outside the normal range of the vast majority of schools. What you work in as normal is in an extreme tail end for most schools in the country. The statement that teachers in today's schools have a degree in subject is simply incorrect. For example AIP in 2009 stated:
To educate those students, schools hire about 1200 new physics teachers each year; approximately three-fourths of them teach mathematics and other science courses in addition to physics. Only a third of the new hires have a degree in physics or physics education (see figure 1(b)). Many of the remaining 800 new teachers lack formal training in how to teach physics concepts and are often deficient in physics knowledge. The American Association for Employment in Education reports that with the exception of special-education instruction, physics teacher positions are the most difficult to fill in high schools.
and in 2017:
although only around 30% of US physics teachers have a bachelor’s or master’s degree with a major field of study in physics,a narrow majority of that group stated on recent surveys that their physics degrees were awarded by schools or colleges of education.
That says that less than 15% have a degree in the field from a physics institution. Many schools have no qualified physics teachers. Someone else gets assigned the task. My daughter for example just graduated with a degree in physics and was recruited by several schools just in our local area because they had no physics teacher, but she turned them down and went into industry because they couldn't come close on pay.
While you may call "bologna," that simply says that just because you haven't personally experienced something doesn't mean others haven't. That's why I can't discount MITSGUY; my experiences match his in many ways as do that of many of my friends.
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