 |
| TEA Curriculum |
By Rajkamal Rao
In most school districts around the country, high school Math classes are offered for six years. The traditional sequencing is Algebra I, Geometry I, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Statistics. Students can take these courses at varying degrees of difficulty: On level, Advanced/Honors, Dual Credit, Advanced Placement, or IB.
How can one fit six years of study into just four years of high school?
How can one fit six years of study into just four years of high school?
The easiest way is to begin high school Math courses in middle school. If a student takes Algebra I in the 7th grade, he/she will progress to Statistics by the time they get to the 12th grade.
Summer acceleration
But starting Math in the 7th grade may not always be feasible. Summer acceleration programs can help solve this problem.
We recommend that each student be at a Pre-Calc level of competency in the 10th grade. This will allow students to prepare better for the SAT/ACT/PSAT-11 in the summer between 10th and 11th. If students are taking AP Physics in the 11th (Physics is a requirement in most states), taking AP Physics concurrently with AP Calculus will boost student performance.
All course enrollments include an online proctored final exam using the Proctorio service and the student's home computer. Proctorio includes an identification process, requires a webcam for video recording, and uses a lockdown browser to ensure a secure testing experience. Now that pandemic-era restrictions are gone, a student can also take the test at brick-and-mortar testing centers.
In general, a student taking a course and completing it at UT High School gets full course credit that can be applied to the student's GPA/Weighted Average GPA/Class Rank metrics back in the student's home school district. Frisco ISD includes the credit for class rank computation. Coppell ISD only provides on level credit even if you take an Honors class. Rules vary, so check with your counselor.
UT High School online follows TEA standards for course length - and replicates what is offered in schools. The Texas calendar is 180 days for the school year - 90 school days for the Fall, 90 for the Spring. The A and B courses represent the Fall and Spring courses respectively.
If you sign up for the A course, your registration for the course will immediately begin. You will then have 90 days to complete the course. This is state law. But you also have to complete B (again, you are permitted 90 days) in time for your fall classes to start at your regular high school. The whole idea of summer acceleration is to complete 180 school days of coursework for both A and B courses in about 75 calendar days (May 18 - Aug 3).
Completing an exam on your own has several advantages. We recommend that students should start preparing in late January or early February of the school year to take the tests concurrently with other courses in their grades.
1. Time savings. For children who are already strong in Math, studying for the content with a professional tutor can speed up the time required to pass the tests. Often a 10-session burst of 1-hr tutoring lessons is all a student needs to complete the tests.
We have developed lesson plans for Algebra 1A, Algebra 1B, Geometry A, Geometry B, Algebra 2A, and Algebra 2B. Contact us for more information. With the tests completed, students can engage in other activities during the summer to strengthen their roadmap (Cylinder 3 Extracurricular Activities or Cylinder 4 Volunteering).
2. On-level training. Exams are always on-level so the material is relatively easy to master.
3. Exams are multiple choice. Exams are multiple choice, so students do not have to worry about writing long answers in the Free Response Questions format. For example, the Algebra 2A test has 42 multiple-choice questions worth a total of 100 points. The Algebra 2B test has 71 questions.
4. No GPA impact in most schools. To ease families' concerns that taking an on-level course would impact their students' GPA/Weighted Average GPA/Class Rank, CBE grades in most schools will have no grade impact, allowing the student to progress to the next higher level class in sequence (Katy ISD and Fort Bend ISD are exceptions). Please check with your school district to understand CBE policy.
Completing a course through CBE can actually balance out your GPA trajectory if it allows you to move into more advanced weighted math courses earlier. The key question is what course replaces the skipped class.
Consider a student who is taking Algebra I in the 8th grade. Assume that the student earns a perfect credit for each course on the 4 (on-level), 5 (advanced), and 6 (AP) scale. The school's recommendation would be:
9th: Geometry Advanced (5 points)
10th: Algebra II Advanced (5 points)
11th: AP Precalculus (6 points)
12th: AP Calculus AB/BC OR AP Statistics (6 points)
The weighted GPA would be 5 + 5 + 6 + 6 divided by four courses = 5.5 points.
But if the student completes Geometry CBE, it will allow the student to take an additional weighted Math course. This can compensate for the on-level weighting for Geometry. More importantly, it will show to colleges that the student has a solid Math career and took the effort to complete all six Math courses offered by the Texas Education Agency.
Geometry on-level CBE (4 points)
9th: Algebra Advanced (5 points)
10th: AP Precalculus (6 points)
11th: AP Calculus AB or BC (6 points)
12th: AP Statistics (6 points)
The weighted GPA would be 4 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 6 divided by five courses = 5.4 points (in districts where the grade counts, such as Katy or Fort Bend), 0.1 points lower. But if the CBE grade doesn't count, the weighted GPA will significantly improve to 5.75 points (5 + 6 + 6 + 6 divided by four courses).
The minimum Pass threshold is 80, the maximum score is 100. A student can obtain any score within this range and still earn the pass credential. This lowers the tension for a student taking the test.
Purists may argue that taking the Geometry course online can also improve the weighted GPA and they are correct. If a student gets a perfect score at UT High School online, the computation would change to 5 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 6 divided by five courses = 5.6 points.
However, the lift is not as much as taking a CBE course with no grade impact (5.75 points). Besides, the CBE option is a lot more convenient. Should a student have to endure 8 weeks of a summer online course? Could the student be doing something else during this time by engaging in an extracurricular or volunteering activity instead? Or simply have fun in the summer?
We recommend that each student be at a Pre-Calc level of competency in the 10th grade. This will allow students to prepare better for the SAT/ACT/PSAT-11 in the summer between 10th and 11th. If students are taking AP Physics in the 11th (Physics is a requirement in most states), taking AP Physics concurrently with AP Calculus will boost student performance.
Online Courses or Summer School
In Texas, UT High School Online offers several Math courses to take during the summer. Courses are offered on-level, honors, or even AP. The "A" designation is equivalent to the Fall term, the "B" designation is equivalent to the Spring term. So, a student wishing to accelerate through Geometry I in the summer would have to take both Honors Geometry A and Honors Geometry B.All course enrollments include an online proctored final exam using the Proctorio service and the student's home computer. Proctorio includes an identification process, requires a webcam for video recording, and uses a lockdown browser to ensure a secure testing experience. Now that pandemic-era restrictions are gone, a student can also take the test at brick-and-mortar testing centers.
In general, a student taking a course and completing it at UT High School gets full course credit that can be applied to the student's GPA/Weighted Average GPA/Class Rank metrics back in the student's home school district. Frisco ISD includes the credit for class rank computation. Coppell ISD only provides on level credit even if you take an Honors class. Rules vary, so check with your counselor.
UT High School online follows TEA standards for course length - and replicates what is offered in schools. The Texas calendar is 180 days for the school year - 90 school days for the Fall, 90 for the Spring. The A and B courses represent the Fall and Spring courses respectively.
If you sign up for the A course, your registration for the course will immediately begin. You will then have 90 days to complete the course. This is state law. But you also have to complete B (again, you are permitted 90 days) in time for your fall classes to start at your regular high school. The whole idea of summer acceleration is to complete 180 school days of coursework for both A and B courses in about 75 calendar days (May 18 - Aug 3).
Credit By Exam (Preferred)
If students do not wish to sit through an entire summer course and wish to take an exam for credit (Credit By Exam), they have to check with their school district for when the exams are offered. UT High School Online is the official provider of CBE exams, so check the exam schedule to get an idea. However, your district has the final say.Completing an exam on your own has several advantages. We recommend that students should start preparing in late January or early February of the school year to take the tests concurrently with other courses in their grades.
1. Time savings. For children who are already strong in Math, studying for the content with a professional tutor can speed up the time required to pass the tests. Often a 10-session burst of 1-hr tutoring lessons is all a student needs to complete the tests.
We have developed lesson plans for Algebra 1A, Algebra 1B, Geometry A, Geometry B, Algebra 2A, and Algebra 2B. Contact us for more information. With the tests completed, students can engage in other activities during the summer to strengthen their roadmap (Cylinder 3 Extracurricular Activities or Cylinder 4 Volunteering).
2. On-level training. Exams are always on-level so the material is relatively easy to master.
3. Exams are multiple choice. Exams are multiple choice, so students do not have to worry about writing long answers in the Free Response Questions format. For example, the Algebra 2A test has 42 multiple-choice questions worth a total of 100 points. The Algebra 2B test has 71 questions.
4. No GPA impact in most schools. To ease families' concerns that taking an on-level course would impact their students' GPA/Weighted Average GPA/Class Rank, CBE grades in most schools will have no grade impact, allowing the student to progress to the next higher level class in sequence (Katy ISD and Fort Bend ISD are exceptions). Please check with your school district to understand CBE policy.
Completing a course through CBE can actually balance out your GPA trajectory if it allows you to move into more advanced weighted math courses earlier. The key question is what course replaces the skipped class.
Consider a student who is taking Algebra I in the 8th grade. Assume that the student earns a perfect credit for each course on the 4 (on-level), 5 (advanced), and 6 (AP) scale. The school's recommendation would be:
9th: Geometry Advanced (5 points)
10th: Algebra II Advanced (5 points)
11th: AP Precalculus (6 points)
12th: AP Calculus AB/BC OR AP Statistics (6 points)
The weighted GPA would be 5 + 5 + 6 + 6 divided by four courses = 5.5 points.
But if the student completes Geometry CBE, it will allow the student to take an additional weighted Math course. This can compensate for the on-level weighting for Geometry. More importantly, it will show to colleges that the student has a solid Math career and took the effort to complete all six Math courses offered by the Texas Education Agency.
Geometry on-level CBE (4 points)
9th: Algebra Advanced (5 points)
10th: AP Precalculus (6 points)
11th: AP Calculus AB or BC (6 points)
12th: AP Statistics (6 points)
The weighted GPA would be 4 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 6 divided by five courses = 5.4 points (in districts where the grade counts, such as Katy or Fort Bend), 0.1 points lower. But if the CBE grade doesn't count, the weighted GPA will significantly improve to 5.75 points (5 + 6 + 6 + 6 divided by four courses).
The minimum Pass threshold is 80, the maximum score is 100. A student can obtain any score within this range and still earn the pass credential. This lowers the tension for a student taking the test.
Purists may argue that taking the Geometry course online can also improve the weighted GPA and they are correct. If a student gets a perfect score at UT High School online, the computation would change to 5 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 6 divided by five courses = 5.6 points.
However, the lift is not as much as taking a CBE course with no grade impact (5.75 points). Besides, the CBE option is a lot more convenient. Should a student have to endure 8 weeks of a summer online course? Could the student be doing something else during this time by engaging in an extracurricular or volunteering activity instead? Or simply have fun in the summer?
A Note About Rao Advisors Premium Services
Our promise is to empower you with high-quality, ethical and free advice via this website. But parents and students often ask us if they can engage with us for individual counseling sessions.
Individual counseling is part of the Premium Offering of Rao Advisors and involves a fee. Please contact us for more information.
Our promise is to empower you with high-quality, ethical and free advice via this website. But parents and students often ask us if they can engage with us for individual counseling sessions.
Individual counseling is part of the Premium Offering of Rao Advisors and involves a fee. Please contact us for more information.
