It is the middle of March, and you are looking to take Math 2 over the summer to get ahead of your peers. However, on the course sign-up form, you notice something. A large number of math courses, including Math 2, aren’t available to be taken over the summer. The competitive nature of Jefferson motivates students to take classes in various forms, such as extra periods, double math or science classes, dual enrollment classes and most commonly, summer classes. A wide array of classes are offered to take virtually over the summer, such as Honors Chemistry, Math 5 and Health and Physical Education (HPE). However, students will notice a large group of classes are missing from summer class catalogs: Math 2, 3 and 4. Is there a good justification for the restriction on taking these classes over the summer?
According to the Jefferson Summer Class Catalog, the only Jefferson-exclusive classes that are allowed to be taken as a summer class are TJ Math 5, Foundations of Computer Science, and Chemistry 1. This is a shock because in the competitive environment at Jefferson, students in Math 2, Math 3 and Math 4 could want to get ahead to take more rigorous classes, or meet prerequisites for Senior Research Labs that are a key part of the Jefferson experience. Yet, they are left disappointed by the current class offerings.
This system is very confusing as rising freshmen can take any math class over the summer and have it meet the Jefferson requirements, but other Jefferson students must take the Jefferson-specific math classes. For example, a rising freshman can take Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Geometry over the summer before attending Jefferson and have it fill the TJ Math 1 and 2 requirements, but a rising sophomore cannot take any FCPS math courses over the summer and be able to meet Jefferson requirements.
I believe that Jefferson has a good reason for not allowing Jefferson students to take FCPS summer math classes, as these would not be as rigorous as a Jefferson math class, and would not prepare them to use their knowledge at Jefferson. However, Jefferson does not offer a large proportion of their own Jefferson math classes to be taken over the summer. This is a problem for a large number of students in the school, since many are interested in pursuing a higher level of math, but are not able to get ahead as much as they want to.
A reason commonly mentioned for this is because it would interrupt Jefferson’s math track. For example, if a student took Research Statistics 1 in the first semester of freshman year and Math 1 in the second semester, and was able to take Math 2 over the summer, they would have to take Math 3 and 4 in their Sophomore year, and Math 5 in the first semester of their Junior year, splitting up calculus into two semesters and therefore interrupting the math track.
However, there is a solution to this issue. If students take one Jefferson math class, they are required to take it in their first summer session, and the following math class in the second session. For example, if a student took Math 3 in their freshman year, they could take Math 4 and 5 over the summer, and head into calculus in their Sophomore year. This would be a large advantage for the more competitive students at Jefferson.
Jefferson students should be able to accelerate their math track over the summer as they please. There are solutions available that could solve the problem of the predefined math tracks being interrupted. Jefferson administration should instate policies to allow Math 2, 3 and 4 to be taken over the summer through an online class, or potentially find another solution for acceleration.