Vancouver/Camas Area Middle & High Schools

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Texasdiver,

UW definitely supports RunningStart students and accepts credits, especially for the first two years of general education. Its true that everyone must do their own research. And acceptance into *any* capacity constrained, competitive program is never guaranteed regardless of number of APs, college courses or GPA alone. They're looking at the whole person. So even with a boat load of APs, they are still getting rejected. There is no single path or simple formulas like this that lead to admissions.

That said, there are definitely current UW CS and other STEM majors who did RunningStart and received credit for those courses. It doesn't always mean they will finish in 2 years since the majors have certain courses they still prefer them to take. But it does reduce their load significantly allowing them to focus on major courses vs. all the GE and other large weeder classes where 500+ freshman students are normally subjected to attend.

I won't quote directly from current RuningStart students at UW. But you can easily go to their reddit page forum and others where they share their direct experiences. One current student is finishing in two years and continuing on for a third year masters in CS.

In addition, since our son is a CS major, we have met with an advisor in their Paul Allen School and never once did they say they would not recognize his many CC courses he took while attending college in high school. They do however perform an 'academic review' of computer science courses taken to ensure equivalency which includes asking for detailed information on them.

UW actually has a page on Running Start stating:



In addition, UW offers UW in High School to gain college credit while in high school.



So, while RuningStart and other college level courses taken in high school are not a guarantee into any competitive program, they are definitely of value providing a wide variety of benefits. A big one is in reducing one's load as an underclassman with generic, overpriced, overcrowded 101 courses.

Derek

I would expect for an ambitious future computer scientist the best route is going to depend greatly on their own high school and running start options. Many of the smaller high schools in the region have seen their science and STEM programs atrophy due to running start. For example, Ridgefield only offers 2 out of (I think) nine possible AP science classes. They have one section of AP Bio and one section of AP chem and that's it. if you take those your 10th and 11th grade years there's nothing left to do on campus your senior year. None of the AP Physics options (there are 4) are offered and no AP Computer Science offerings either. Also no advanced Calculus (AP Calculus B/C). It becomes a vicious cycle. Ridgefield has a lot of seniors doing running start sciences so they don't have enough science-oriented seniors left on campus to offer full sections of other AP classes. They can't attract seniors back to campus without offering more advanced electives but they can't offer more advanced electives unless they have more seniors back on campus. And, until recently they didn't have enough room for them anyway as the HS was already overcapacity.

By contrast, larger schools like Union and Camas have multiple sections of the all the main AP science classes and at least one section each of the really advanced and most difficult 2nd year offerings like AP Physics BC and AP Calculus B/C. So it is much easier to specialize and put together a really competitive portfolio at those schools with a suite of advanced science and math classes. I expect what Running Start really does is help level the playing field between large and small schools. Without Running Start, a kid at a small school like say La Center with 500 students really has no chance of putting together a HS portfolio equivalent to one from a larger wealthier school like Camas or the big affluent schools in the Seattle suburbs like Bellevue and Mercer Island.

I would be interested to see the percentage of running start students at each school and district across the county. My guess is that the smaller and less highly-rated schools are going to have a higher percentage of students in running start compared to the more affluent schools with more advanced offerings like Union and Camas. But that's just a guess. I haven't seen any data.

It is a better situation than in some states like say Texas where kids in small rural schools are basically stuck with what they have as there is no equivalent to running start.

[MtnSurfer]

Interesting about the competition with Running Start. I would think there is also competition with other college courses even outside RS such as the ones offered through UW linked above as well as online providers. If a parent and student really want an AP or college course, I think they can find it beyond the standard local offerings. It just takes some research on their part.

While we homeschooled our son through high school, he took AP Calculus AB though an online academy which he thoroughly enjoyed. He then took Calculus 2 through the local college. While visiting UW and discussing his courses with an advisor, the only comment made was that they needed to see his AP Calc test scores. But they didn't question the college calculus.

Hockinson, though a smaller campus, has 11 APs with ~ 5 STEM including computer science. So that's not bad if one wants to go the more traditional route. Though I know there are those who either do a combination of RunningStart with regular/AP classes or they go full-time RS.

I would think in the really small schools parents/students would look to some accredited online AP courses such as these:
Washington Online High School Classes

K12 Advanced Placement (AP®) Courses

There are many other online AP providers as well which aren't free but of high quality such as the academy our son attended.

Derek

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Interesting about the competition with Running Start. I would think there is also competition with other college courses even outside RS such as the ones offered through UW linked above as well as online providers. If a parent and student really want an AP or college course, I think they can find it beyond the standard local offerings. It just takes some research on their part.

While we homeschooled our son through high school, he took AP Calculus AB though an online academy which he thoroughly enjoyed. He then took Calculus 2 through the local college. While visiting UW and discussing his courses with an advisor, the only comment made was that they needed to see his AP Calc test scores. But they didn't question the college calculus.

Hockinson, though a smaller campus, has 11 APs with ~ 5 STEM including computer science. So that's not bad if one wants to go the more traditional route. Though I know there are those who either do a combination of RunningStart with regular/AP classes or they go full-time RS.

I would think in the really small schools parents/students would look to some accredited online AP courses such as these:
Washington Online High School Classes

K12 Advanced Placement (AP®) Courses

There are many other online AP providers as well which aren't free but of high quality such as the academy our son attended.

Derek

My experience with my daughter doing online courses (math and Spanish) is that there seems to be only one or two major online curriculum providers that most of the online schools use. So while you may have a choice of dozens of different online academies, they are mostly using the exact same online curriculum. So it's really just how much personal attention you get from the individual teacher who is managing the online class. I have heard that some of the private online academies really stretch their teachers way too thin to keep costs down.

Here in WA there are a variety of public schools that provide online offerings, or school districts that have dedicated online academies. Federal Way and Spokane School Districts are the two largest I think. Due to open enrollment rules, any HS students in WA should be able to us these for free or low cost. We had to pay but that was for summer school courses. Regular courses during the school year may be free. The list of approved online schools is on the WA State Dept. of WA Web site. There, are, of course, many many private online schools mostly located outside of WA but they will charge more. The big ones like k12.org have hundreds of (relatively mixed or mediocre) reviews online and always cost more than local online public offerings so buyer beware.

Before doing any online courses it is prudent to talk to the local HS counselors to find out their process for approving and granting credit (assuming the online courses are going to be used towards meeting graduation requirements). Usually there is some form to fill out to request credit for online courses. For standard recognized courses from known WA online academies it is probably pro-forma. For more eclectic stuff they may take a closer look.

If you are using online coursework to meet HS graduation requirements then it is up to the home HS to grant the credit at put it on the transcript (unless you are doing 100% home schooling)
If you are using online coursework for college credit then it would be up to the future college or university program to grant transfer credit and the local HS may not care or be involved.