@cpmum no I wasn’t thinking that. Auditing the portion of the class he needs for the ACT just seems to be the most direct approach and it would save him time. I think the school would have to say yes to that - cannot think of much justification for them denying that request and your son only devotes the hours he needs to make up the deficiency.
Think you need to figure out the easiest path to get to your goal of having him learn the additional material. If you do not want to invest in a tutor then auditing is the next best thing.
I agree that in public schools you seem to get farther when you won’t take no for an answer. I just won’t deal with their nonsense when they are filling our schools with school of choice kids. Go above the person if they won’t email you back.
I also would have him audit the class. I can’t imagine that would be a huge problem.
I can understand the school declining to have a kid take a “regular” course and then the honors or advanced version of it the following year, particularly if the kid earned an “A” the first time around. I don’t see the conspiracy thinking that others are seeing here.
I see no conspiracy, and if I were the OP I certainly wouldn’t care. OP wants her son to make up the missing material- the motivations or reasoning behind the counselor’s pushback wouldn’t interest me in the slightest if this were me. I’d just be trying to figure out the easiest way for my kid to fill the gap.
I’m thinking the GC doesn’t want to see a kid getting credit/grades in a class twice. So auditing might be your best option.
Perhaps you should ask to make an appointment to see the GC in person. Email sometimes gets in the way of a resolution.
I did read your thoughts on tutoring, but I always like to think about all my options when I have a problem I want to solve. If you ultimately can’t get your son into the class, could you talk to the teacher about what areas specifically he needs to learn? You might want to check out if the school has a peer tutoring program. I think NHS kids have to do peer tutoring as part of that group. My daughter is a peer tutor in math at her school. It is free! If you combined a free peer tutor - who may have taken the class in question - and a plan of action from the teacher - your son might not need to take the class anyway.
One of my kids was struggling in math at one point and the teacher’s suggestion was to join the math club (which I thought was odd since it was known as where the math brainiacs congregated). After the first session, my kid had a free math tutor (one of the brainiacs) and a short, 8 week remedial curriculum designed by the teacher who supervised math club.
Free, easy, no hassles with the administration who likely would have argued themselves into a snit if I had asked for a different type of solution. No guidance counselor involvement at all. Path of least resistance and all that…
@Ruby789 “I’m thinking the GC doesn’t want to see a kid getting credit/grades in a class twice. So auditing might be your best option.” Can you please explain what this means. The math credit wouldn’t be double-dipping to achieve math grad requirements, as he will be taking two math classes concurrently, and still take a math class next year. And he will end up with more than enough overall credits because I won’t let him take study hall, which most students take every semester. Perhaps I’m overlooking where you’re coming from.
If this is a problem with the regular Geometry curriculum, then I would expect that the other 20-30 kids in your son’s class last year similarly tanked the math section of the ACT (and ALL the other kids from ALL the other sections of regular geometry last year, and the year before that, and the year before that). Seems unlikely. I think the school would make a similar point. Your best bet is for him to self-study.
Edited to add: Doesn’t your state have curriculum guidelines that outline the topics that need to be covered? Of course an honors level class will cover more material, but that doesn’t mean that the work covered in the regular class is below standard.
^^It sounds like the geometry class is taken either as geometry (which he took) or advanced geometry. Not both. You can’t take world history and AP world history as they are, in effect, the same class it’s just that one covers more. In the stone age when I was in geometry, I was in an honors class (no extra credit or boost to the gpa, just a class that was going to move faster). We used the same book as the regular class, we just covered 2-3 extra chapters by the end of the year, and the teacher didn’t stop to explain everything for students who needed more time. Your son taking the advanced geometry would be the same as retaking geometry as in the curriculum; the two are the same class.
I do think he should should try to audit (and it may only be for a few sections during the year?), ask for a school tutor, or use Khan Academy. If there are several students from the geometry class who need this instruction, maybe the teachers could put together a unit on it and teach just the sections needed. It’s worth asking.
@cpamum I might have just missed this in your posts, so sorry if I am asking you to repeat yourself. What year is your s? Does he want to double up on math?
This is a private school. They do not have a mandate to adhere to state standards. They also don’t have to continue to enroll a student if his needs can’t be met.
I would ask the school to provide tutorial services. Every private school around here has them…sometimes it’s upperclassmen, and sometimes faculty.
And as noted, if this is an issue of inadequate material presented, then every student taking the test would have similarly tanked, right?
Does something like Kahn Academy have geometry? That could be an option.
What year in HS is this student?
Also, what was his abnormally low math score on the ACT?
Another option: There are tutors in India and China who tutor U.S. students via Skype for $15/hour. I know someone who used that option with great success.
I just reread the OP’s original post. It does not appear the student has yet taken the ACT. The concerns have been raised during practice tests in an ACT prep class.
You said he missed the questions in a prep course, not on an actual ACT. That suggests he is just entering junior year. According to the ACT website, the geometry section include trig, which he may not have had yet. I find it hard to believe that a private school (assuming it is of good quality) would have a regular geometry course that did not include the geometry that is on the ACT.
It doesn’t necessarily make sense for him to repeat geometry if he is just missing 30% of the topics. And it is not clear in what you have said as to whether what he missed by not being in the advanced class was actually the geometry that was covered on the ACT. If he took a prep class, did he complain that the geometry being reviewed was material he had never seen before? Why didn’t he take the advanced class? Which math is he in this year?
I would agree with using a tutor. Preferably another older student through NHS or other program which would be cheaper. If he is only missing a small portion of knowledge, he could learn that in relatively short order with a tutor, even if you are paying a higher price.
My kid’s HS would not allow a kid to essentially re-take a class for credit, regardless of whether or not the he took the regular and now wants to take honors. Much of the material will be review for the re-take student. He or she is more likely to get an A than the kids taking the honors class for the first time. I can understand why this is not allowed. I don’t see where “telling” the school this is going to happen will work in this case. Guidance counselors are now working with kids with real schedule problems. Your son’s issue is likely minor compared with others, and the GC basically gave you the answer on retaking the class. But I certainly would try to find out if other kids from his geometry class had the same issues and if so, then raise a much bigger stink.
IIRC, Burger wrote the Holt textbook, so I would suspect there is overlap. But, if this is just to supplement the course he already completed, I wouldn’t even bother with a textbook and just use Thinkwell’s course.
For those of you who are saying the "repeat" is the issue: I'm wondering how it's any different from students taking Psych in the fall and then AP Psych in the winter. It's more or less the reversal of that, which is standard procedure for half of the AP Psych students. I've been told Psych covers about 50% of the AP course's material.
He's an 11th grader.
The math sub score breaks down geometry and trig. In two practice tests he's missed nearly half of the geometry. I am not factoring in the trig.
I think self-teaching 30-40% of geometry is completely unrealistic. But I do believe after Advanced Geometry he'd be in position to self teach himself the few trig problems on the ACT (I think there are 3-5).
@mom2and highlights an important point. My s took Algebra 2 as a sophomore, trig/pre Calc as a jr. He is now in AP Calc BC as a Sr.
The math ACT is divided into 3 subparts: pre-Algebra/elementary algebra; Intermediate Algebra/coordinated geometry; plane geometry/trigonometry.
What level geometry does your student appear to be missing? There actually may not be an “inadequacy” since he has not yet completed algebra 2 and begun trig. But I defer to the math experts here on CC.
While I think tutoring at the school will be helpful, it ignores the impact to my schedule as well his commitments after school. Going early or picking him up late a few days a week is a tall order, especially when he can learn this material via a licensed teacher during school hours.
@goldensrock I don’t have the specifics with me, but it was half of the geometry overall. I am not concerned with the advanced algebra, since he obviously hasn’t seen much of it yet. Or the trig, since he’s seen none of it. Elementary algebra was sound, geometry was an obvious gap … 50%. When the teacher said they cover 30-40% more material in Advanced Geometry, it seems we’ve teased out the issue.