captainsblog | Once again, do not adjust your monitor.

I saw that as the headline on Eleanor's post just now and thought she was mentioning this, but it looks like I get to pass out the good news.

Emily just got her AP scores. Which included a 4 (out of 5) in Calculus. Which places her out of having to take it at RIT and, along with some college credits she got for two years of high school French, basically starts her a full semester closer to graduation than a freshman typically is.

We are damn proud of her accomplishment. In third grade, she blew the doors off a state math assessment, and she was interviewed for a Gifted Math program at UB, but those assessments have become somewhat suspect over the intervening years as colleges are increasingly reporting that the gifted ones warn't so gifted, after all. (If you're really an academic purist, do not read this recent discussion of "holistic rubrics," which are accounting for a lot of grade inflation at the lower-grade levels).

Emily didn't get chosen for that program, and instead just worked hard, always a grade level ahead from eighth grade on, in her own middle and high school programs. Pre-calc proved to be enough of a challenge that she almost begged out, but we encouraged her to keep at it, and with a lot of hard work on her part, and seeking out extra help from her teachers, she carried the day, even if she's not supposed to carry the one anymore;)