<p>Advice to parents of freshmen and 8th graders: </p>
<p>1) Understand the criteria that the school will employ in evaluating your child. Every school is different, and you need to know what the rules are in your school. </p>
<p>2) Help your child discover extra-curricular activities that he/she enjoys. Nurture that interest. But do not force your own extra-curricular interests on your child.</p>
<p>Kelowna:</p>
<p>I'm not sure when to petition CB. You could check, since there is plenty of time.
My S had no trouble at all being an 8th grader in a class of juniors or seniors, although some did grumble a bit to the teacher that he was doing better than they (because he'd begun AP-Calc before them--they were studying it concurrenty). He even got roped into their academic EC and had a great time besides making friends. So I would not worry too much. S did not find it too much of a transition.</p>
<p>Just be really careful when they are in any kind of EC with older kids. In 6th grade, a friend of my daughter's was in an academic EC with kids a few years older than her. She wanted to hang out with them exclusively, and sometimes high schoolers think it's okay for the little kid to tag along but other times they want to get rid of the little kid. She also wanted to date the older boys. She's now in 10th grade and still doesn't have a geat "fit" with the kids her age.</p>
<p>A few thoughts (my S is now a junior) ....</p>
<p>My S takes his sport (water polo, swim team depending on the season) as a 6th period class that then rolls into the after school period. ALL the athletes on HS sports teams do this schedule. The HS offers some classes in the 0 period that starts at 7:05, so some of the academically oriented athletes will take a class then or, alternatively (as my S did) take some academically oriented class in the summer to compensate. Our athletes have not been harmed by this schedule. Last year, three of them got into Ivies.</p>
<p>Yes, it does appear that public HS are more attuned for allowing advanced placement in the math/science area, possibly because it's easier to test in the earlier grades for the ability to do the advanced work. (In the case of our school district, this is also the case for Spanish and Japanese, since one of the elementary schools has these in its language immersions program, which is kind of like a magnet school.) If you are so lucky (as my S was) the MS will be in close proximity to the HS, in case they need to take a HS only level class as an 8th grader. (The issue he had to deal with, which he did successfully, was that the MS was on a block schedule and the HS was not.)</p>
<p>The earlier posts about watching for the best times to take the SATII subject tests are excellent, as well as the posts that suggest to get the testing (SAT II and SAT I) by the end of the junior year. This allows the student the option for a re-take on the SAT I if desired, and/or the option of taking the ACT, which for certain types of students tends to produce better equivalent scores than on the SAT. (There is info available that gives SAT I and ACT score equivalents.) </p>
<p>I can't tell you yet, but I expect this will be especially valuable to my S (or any student) who has the bulk of their EC activities in the fall, which is right when, as a senior, they will be expected to fill out their college applications. Caveat for those students and their parents: Get as MUCH done as you can the summer before. Think about how you might approach the essays and jot your thoughts down. Guess what? The Common Application usually comes out in July. Think about getting it under your belt before classes start in September.</p>
<p>See if there are any ECs your student is interested in that carry forward from MS to the HS. Sports are obviously one, but there are some academic ones as well, like Mock Trial. If your child is really into one of these, then their college application will show real dedication. Ditto for Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts for those leadership skills.</p>
<p>Okay, that's WAY beyond a few thoughts, sorry. I'm done.</p>
<p>We are heading to an open house at the IB HS my S is interested in. I am trying to compile a list of questions we should be asking. Any help would be appreciated :)
So far I have:
* does the school rank
* what is the weight of Honor/AP/IB classes
* are the courses taken in middle school counted towards the GPA (S is currently in pre-cal and doing physics course online)
* how many kids are admitted each year to the IB program, how many graduate with an IB diploma
* percentage of students going to college OOS (important to us)
* amount of scholarship money raised for the graduating IB class</p>
<p>Please brainstorm with me :)</p>
<p>My Ss were not in an IB program, so our concerns were different. Here are some that might apply to you: GCs: how many students per GC; did the GCs stay with the same student all four years? what were the responsibilities of GC for each student? class size; compatibility of curriculum with college admission requirements (SATIIs, in particular).</p>
<p>Other possible questions:
Percentage of kids going to 2 year, 4 year and no college at all.
What ECs are available?
What academic honors have kids gotten - Davidson Scholars, Intel, Science Fair etc.
What sort of music programs are there - orchestra, band, chorus - as classes or ECs?</p>
<p>ask for a copy of the curriculum guide/course offerings. Find out what the min/max # of courses a student can take, and how often scheduling conflicts occur to shut a student out of a first choice class. What are the pre-requisites to get into certain advanced classes, do they only take so many students or are all able to enroll. If there are any additional graduation requirements outside of the IB and state requirements. Find out about college counseling and if there is a formal process what is the timeline.</p>
<p>for the IB classes, do students also take AP and/or SAT II tests in the same subjects and how do they perform? How much attention is given to prep for these and other standard tests, such as SAT, ACT, and any required state tests. It might be premature but see if you can get a copy of the "school profile" that is sent along with a student's transcript to colleges to see how the school portrays itself.</p>
<p>Excellent points! Keep them coming please. I appreciate all help.
The meeting is tomorrow (Wednesday), so I still have some time :)</p>
<p>Is the high school all IB, or is it an IB school within a regular public school? Two of our local schools have IB programs within rather rough public schools....I've always wondered about the interaction between groups.</p>
<p>It is within a regular public.</p>
<p>So I'd ask about interaction....and what social status do the IB kids have? Higher or lower? Are there some ECs that IB kids just don't join (because they aren't wanted)?</p>
<p>The IB program within this HS is quite large. The students form a group within the school. I believe that the school admist close to 200 students to the pre-IB program (grades 9-10) and then since a lot of courses are labelled AP/IB some students choose to stick to AP only, some choose to do both AP and IB. Each year the school has close to 50 IB diploma candidates.</p>
<p>Our public school district has slightly over 10,000 students each year (excluding students in private schools). We have three (used to be two) public schools with IB programs inside large public schools. Approximately 110-120 students are in IB program in each of the three schools. Admission to IB is based on academic performance. Roughly top 5-6% students in the county (GPA, standard tests, on site writing, and teachers recommendation) have a shot at gaining the admission. The district admits about 350 students, distributes them among three schools based on each students residential location. Pre-IB is 9-10 grades. You have to be admitted to Pre-IB program to have a chance to earn IB diploma. If a qualified student decides not to apply to IB program while in eighth grade and starts high school at any other type of schools (public or private), he cannot transfer into IB program later on. Most students in pre-IB do move on to IB after two years. Each year, about 76-82% IB students earn IB diplomas based on the final IB tests and other requirements.</p>
<p>IB program is more vigorous than the best private prep school in our region. The most competitive private prep school in our region with a graduating class of 125-130 students had 8 students qualified for semifinalist in national merit/ national achievements/ national Hispanic scholar program. My D1 graduated from IB with a graduating class of 115 students in the IB program and more than 20 students qualified for semifinalists. However, the private school had proportionally more students entered elite (top Ivy/ Ivy-like) colleges for class 2012. Less than 25% of IB classmates of D1 went to out state colleges while over 60% of the private prep school graduates went to out state schools.</p>
<p>If you are considering IB you might want to ask how many canidates earn their diplomas....they get the test results after graduation. We were recently told the North America average is 78%, our high school averages 91%. Also ask how many classes are "different" for the IB students as compared to AP students. It may not be as many as you think. Our D was very interested in this program, and is loving the special attention given to the pre IB group by the guidance counselors and some of the teachers--they really are taking an interest in this group of students. </p>
<p>The high schools in our rather small district each offer a different "special" program--one has MUN, one has IB and one has a few community college classes on campus. This way students can pick the program they want, and transfers are approved accordingly. I suspect there are not too many transfer requests, but the potential is there.</p>
<p>IB meeting answered a lot of our questions.
Wanted to share something different here...</p>
<p>Yesterday, the middle school that my kid will be most likely leaving next year, had a parent/student college info night. The school will be expanding through a HS within the next few years, and since they already have 9th graders, they have begun working on a college prep process. Great idea! So all the 7-9 students with their parents were invited.
The info presented was great!!! They were telling us how important it is in terms of college selection, to start the whole process early. In order to make certain classes in HS you have to begin thinking about it in middle school - take proper pre-req. Think about foreign language - selective colleges will require more than 2 years.
I was actually shocked that they have mentioned selective colleges! The info about timing for SAT/ACT was very acurate , including the talk about SAT II. I was really pleasantly surprised, since some people here have mentioned that GC have no clue about SAT subject tests.
One very important think that GC has aked all the kids to do now - go to her will all their functions and EC they are involved in now. She will put everything in the computer and will keep adding to it over the years.Do not wait for brainstorming your senior year!
I know that here on CC that info is like your daily coffee, but I was really surprised that in my little town in the middle of nowhere there are 2GC who are really serious about their job!</p>
<p>Marite- You mentioned that in districts you are familiar with, kids take Algebra I, Algebra II and then Geometry. It seems like most districts in the country have the students take Geometry after Alg I and before Alg II. What is the benefit/detriment of taking both Algebras first, and then Geometry?</p>
<p>Off-topic but boy all this language you share and understand about Alegbra I, II, pre-calculus throws me for a loop. Up here in Canada, we have math 8, 9, and so on. I just looked up the topics for alegbra I, II and pre-cal to make it make sense, but not possible to align it with my D's courses in math. Its apparent that the order of things here is entirely different (e.g. some topics in pre-cal are dealt with in 7th grade, others not until 11th). Or as another example, geometry here isn't a separate course, but is covered every year, just differing in level each year.</p>
<p>Another interesting difference is American schools seem to give kids a lot more flexibility (especially in Texas MissyPie!). Here, its the same at any school- public or private- throughout the province. Same texts, same topics, same standardized exams: you take math, english, social studies (which combines history, geography, civics), french, science (which combines topics), and PE up to 10th grade, with more flexiblity re: which science courses in latter grades.</p>
<p>That's interesting starbright. It must make it more challenging if your child is going to look at US colleges and take the standardized tests. Although going by the general guidelines such as SAT I after Alg II is completed might not be as cut and dried, hopefully a review of the topics covered would give a good enough sense.</p>
<p>Kelowna- that is an extraordinary school system, or the GCs are so outstanding. Too bad you won't have these people who are this up on the process in HS (hope you have equally engaged people) maybe these just had family members go through the process and are imparting their own personal wisdom with the community? In any case, what a treat!</p>
<p>In my S's public district in CA, the math progression is as follows: Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, (honors) Trigonometry & Math Analysis, AP Calculus (AB or BC), AP Statistics. This is the high level math route; there are other math classes for the lower math route.</p>
<p>My S is now taking an on line class in Linear Algebra, so we've had the question: "Doesn't Multivariable Calculus come before that?" According to my H, the math professor, the more current model is to do MC before LA, but in the no so distant past in was LA before MC, so apparently the course contest has been adjusted here. Perhaps this explains some of the variance between the US and Canada as well.</p>