In theory, most HS calculus teachers teach classes other than calculus and any HS math teacher should be able to teach basic calculus.
My 10th grader is currently in AB and will take BC in 11th… her school does not allow skipping AB. I think she could have handled going straight to BC, however.
“You all are not taking in to account that with the shift to common core, the math sequence has slowed down, not sped up.”
Ok, but despite that, the number of kids taking the Calc AP exams have gone up, in 2014, 406K took it and in 2017, 448K took it, according to college board. BC went from 112K to 132K, and given that high school enrollment has declined or been flat, I think it would be reasonable to say that students know the importance of the class and the test. Again that’s because selective colleges are not shy about saying that’s one of the classes they look for in a transcript, stem or non-stem. Of course your high school has to offer it.
@theloniusmonk the kids who fully started the common core sequence in late elementary school are just now hitting grade 10 in our district My D20 was in sixth grade the year it started and had already accelerated, the years just after her were much more restricted in how much they could do so. Unless we are a aberration, the effects are going to be evident soon. I tutored a sixth grade student last year whose parents wanted her to skip ahead to math 8 in seventh grade and the school district was requiring her to get a 95 or higher on the end of Math 7 exam to do so.
Note this only put her on track to take Algebra 1 in 8th grade. A normal sequence just a few years ago.
This is the +1 math track:
8: algebra 1
9: geometry
10: algebra 2
11: precalculus
12: calculus
About 22% of high school students in the US take calculus, so it is far from the norm, except in high schools heavily loaded with strong math students.
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/elementary-and-secondary-mathematics-and-science-education/high-school-coursetaking-in-mathematics-and-science shows some information from 2013, when 19.3% of 2013 high school graduates took calculus. It does shows that calculus completion is strongly associated with SES. By race/ethnicity, only among Asian students is reaching calculus (barely) the norm (at 50.3%)*, with all others at 22.0% or lower.
*Perhaps not too much of a surprise, since many of them are kids of parents who were selected by the immigration system as skilled workers or PhD students in computing, engineering, etc… So if your high school is in an area populated by people working in computing, engineering, etc., its norm for kids’ math achievement may not be the same as the overall norm.
@ucbalumnus sorry, I should have clarified. The girl I was working with to be placed in A1 in eighth is in GATE. And, yes she is Asian with STEM parents.
When my kids went through all GATE kids took A1 and Geometry in middle school. So that is a change for here.
I.e. your district put all GATE kids in the +2 math track. Did your district require slow calculus (AB and BC over two years, resulting in +1 at the end) for them, or offer fast calculus (BC in one year after precalculus, staying in +2 if there were more advanced math courses available after BC) to them?
@ucbalumnus said:
According to the internet 70% of all HS students go to college, so of the college bound kids calculus is common. Especially among the top students.
If 70% HS students go to college and 22% HS students study calculus, so studying calculus in high school remains uncommon although not exceptional. Most college bound students take algebra2+ statistics or algebra2+Precalculus.
@ucbalumnus most of the advanced math studenta go in to IBHL math for 11/12th grade. If not doing that Calc AB is one year and Calc BC is one semester and combines with the HL kids in spring semester.
This is apparently all changing next year with the new IB sequence but I have no idea how.
There is no math on campus more advanced than HL and BC.
“About 22% of high school students in the US take calculus, so it is far from the norm, except in high schools heavily loaded with strong math students.”
Sure, but my initial comment was on selective colleges:
“BC in 11th is one year ahead, and in some places, one year behind the top of top stem students,Many, maybe most of the non-stem students applying to the selective colleges take AB/BC in 12th, so I don’t see how AB/BC in 11th is two years ahead.”
MIT and Cornell recommend (which means require) calculus for both engineering and econ/mgmt.
Harvey Mudd, Cal Tech do not mince words:
“At least one yearlong high school course in calculus is required. Otherwise, you must take a semester-long college course.”
“You must have either completed the following courses or be enrolled in them at the time of your application.”
When words like required and must are thrown around for just Calculus (no other course, stem or non-stem get this respect), you better take it. Most CalTech, Harvey Mudd, and MIT students will have taken Calculus in 11th, if not 10th.
The number of colleges that require or recommend calculus in high school for frosh admission is quite small in comparison to the number of selective colleges in the US
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21642599/#Comment_21642599
I posted the stat about 70% of HS kids go to college with 22% take calc because I’m surprised it’s that high. Especially when I consider how many schools don’t offer calc or kids who were unable to get on the calc track because of the quality of their elementary school.
I think not having calc in HS does impact the chances of getting accepted to an engineering school. It doesn’t equal an auto reject, but it does raise eyebrows.
Finally, my kid’s school has Calc AB and BC plus IBHL. There is an IB track for HL Math that the 11th grade class is pre calc with some extra and the 12th grade class is the equivalent of calc BC. AP kids will mostly take AP AB eleventh grade and AP BC 12th grade, or pre calc 11th grade and AP AB calc 12th grade. The state flagship is in town so taking higher math fairly easy, but it’s not recommended.