Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Middle Students receiving credit for HS course

At our very good public high school, they offer 30 Honors or AP classes. (Some are in topics like AP Chinese, which my kids will never take, LOL). Each is weighted to push the GPA above a 4.00. Our school only allows high schoolers to take one community college (or regular college) course for credit, period.
Why is that? Our California community colleges are woefully underfunded. They can't manage the college kids they have, much less high schoolers. Our high school also offers some fantastic classes- the mathy kids can take AP Calculus AB and BC and AP Stats. AP physics, chem, and bio. That would keep most even HG kids busy.

I found the anecdote I referred (not sure how long ago this was):

"We were both gifted children, who had teacher parents and went to school in a very small district. The resources for us were limited, but we did all that they offered us.
I could have gone to UCONN and started as a 2nd semester sophomore since I took so many classes through the UCONN co-op program (what they offered us instead of AP). But, I got into an Ivy league college, so I went there. You know what? I was a math major and a Spanish minor. In Spanish, I was about average for kids who went there. For math, I was LIGHT YEARS behind my peer majors. I had to take 4 pre-reqs before I could start my major. Why? Because in my district, the highest math I could take as a senior in high school was calculus 1 - UCONN's version. My college threw that in the trash (not challenging enough) and made me re-take Calc 1, plus Calc 2, 3 and Diff Eq before they let me start my major. I did it by doubling up, and was summa cum laude in my major when all was said and done, but I had to bust hump to do it - and it was difficult.
My sister went to another Ivy league college and wound up in a similar boat, as a biochem major. She made it, graduated high in her class, and is a surgeon now.
My point is, we were both at a significant disadvantage because there were no resources for us in our elementary/high schools as gifted kids. We took the hardest classes available to us and we were still behind. It left us with a ton of catch-up work to do when we got to college. Now, we are both ridiculous overachievers, so we did it - but not all kids are that motivated."

So my thought is who knows what school DD will end up at and how prepared she'll be taking whatever highest course offered to her at our local school. But seems like getting the grade/credit for a high school course maybe the least of her problems. I don't care much about the grade from our local high school. It's too easy for her anyway. By the time she gets to high school she should pursue something more challenging than our AP math courses.

Just make sure your daughter takes the AP courses and takes the Calc BC AP test. That is how she will receive credit/acceleration in college. Not sure where the story above came from, but very few kids - even Ivy League kids - take Calc 3 (Linear Algebra) and Diff Eq prior to college. While my middle kid may take Linear Algebra at the HS, I don't think there is a way to get credit for it in college, unless perhaps she took it at a respected local college (such as an Ivy or top LAC). Then again, she isn't interested in math or any technical major, so she probably doesn't need it. Most majors wouldn't require math beyond Diff Eq. Maybe try some math courses outside the norm, such as Number Theory.

And back to the original issue in this thread, make sure you know your state HS graduation requirements, so your daughter fulfills those with whatever courses she takes.

YES.

Nobody here (I think) would argue that children with high ability should be PREVENTED from taking algebra, etc. while not yet in high school.

Only that doing so shouldn't cause problems later in an administrative sense-- and that it can if those early high school courses aren't listed on high school transcripts.