<p>I was not impressed with this teacher who was appointed on a contingency basis to principal at a very small Seattle high school- then managed to get appointed to one of the largest and most popular schools in the district.</p>
<p>I also am not impressed with his decision to require all students to take the same AP class as 10th graders.</p>
<p>My daughter took an AP test as a 10th grader ( and wasnt required to take the exam)- but her teacher made himself available at home and after school in order to support her- is Vance going to require all AP teachers to do that or is he going to require parents to pay for tutoring as they do to support the math curriculum in the district?</p>
<p>I’m wondering if this includes the students who were assigned to special education because they are in wheelchairs and are given worksheets to color in for their academics?</p>
<p>I agree - stupid. If the problem is that the public school’s curriculum is not rigorous enough, then fix that, don’t force every 10th grader to take a college course.</p>
<p>Are they trying to weed out kids who think they might fail the class and as the result enroll at another school? Wait, don’t schools’ ranks in the infamous list depend on the number of AP exams taken?</p>
<p>AP calss and WASL! Poor Roosevelt sophmores…</p>
<p>“Why on earth would high school sophomores be REQUIRED to take a college class?!”</p>
<p>This policy seems absurd to me, too, but … any course 10th graders are required to take will not be a college class. They may use a college textbook and a college curriculum, but I don’t think there’s any danger that that’s going to be a college class.</p>
<p>I wonder how this is going over.
I know from talking to parents- that teachers at Roosevelt are already not happy with the amount of APs that parents and the district expect to be taught.
While this may be a reasonable step for students who are high perfomers at the middle school that feeds into Roosevelt ( and serves the wealthiest section of city- except for outer Mongolia), what about students who attend other schools or who haven’t have the level of preparation that is needed to be successful?</p>
<p>I agree that all students should be encouraged to try an AP class at some time during high school, if it is available ( or an IB), but it should be a class in their interest, and they may need extra supports to be successful. ( which cost money)</p>
<p>The schools around here that offer 10th graders an AP usually offer them APUSH. I have no problem with sophomores taking AP classes (any they are ready for) … I just have a problem requiring them to do so. Sure, some 10th graders are ready for the challenge. Many are not, though, and will not be ready for college-level courses until college. And I think that is absolutely fine.</p>
<p>My sophomore son is in AP World History this year. It’s a great course. But honestly, it’s not quite college level. He’s writing his first serious research paper now - due Monday! I’ll be happy if he does well on the AP, but it’s more about being with top kids and with a teacher who really stretches them. The kids in regular global history have been amazed that while they are learning facts and dates, the AP kids are concentrating on big ideas and different interpretations. Today he said he thought he’d learned more history today than he had in all his years of studying history in school! But only 60 out of approximately 600 kids are in the course.</p>