"Four in ten NYC high schools don't offer Algebra 2 and both Physics and Chemistry." At least that's what this article and linked report say. The implication is clear - many of our students don't have the opportunity to advance in math and the sciences. The truth though is much more disturbing. The reason why these schools aren't offering Algebra 2 is very simple - the kids aren't ready for it.

Today was the last day of SHIP 2015, CSTUY's summer immersion program. I was blown away by the projects. The shipmates and the stewards all did tremendous work. All through the reception parents would come up to me and rave about the job I did with the program. They'd thank me, tell me how exited their child was every day, how proud they were of what they were learning and on and on.

This image has been making its rounds. Largest expansion is pretty clear but are the largest gain in 3+ scores mean a higher percentage of 3+ scores or merely the result of more test takers? I'm curious, but that's not what I wanted to talk about. Looking at our AP results from this year we had: For the past two years we've been allowed to run 7 sections of AP Computer Science with about 30 kids per class.

It's Wednesday morning. I'm sitting in an unairconditioned room. I really shouldn't be writing this since we were told "NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES!!!" Where am I? Up at a school on East 96th street grading the geometry regents. Back in the day schools gave exams then schools graded exams. Typically by committee. You'd get a room full of math teachers, each teacher would take a problem or two and we'd work through class envelopes.

Back in April, I was at the second annual "Dream It, Code It, Win It!" awards. Some of our kids had submitted work and were selected as awardees in the high school division. It was great to see Jack and David Cahn there. Jack and David were both members of winning high school teams last year and they were back as college winners this time around. It was great to see them.

Today marked the last day of classes and time for the 8th annual Stuy CS Semi Formal. What's the Stuy CS Semi Formal? It's another bad idea that we refuse to let die. Eight years ago JonAlf joked that someone in class joked that they should have a party and they should all get dressed up. My thought? "YEAH!!! LET'S DO IT!!!!!" Eight years later, still going strong. We cleaned out and decorated the room - classed things up by serving cheese, dried fruits, nuts and the like.

The StuyCS Semi Formal, Clyde "Thluffy" Sinclair, and other assorted silliness - one of the reasons StuyCS is a family is that we try to have fun. Jazz Hands day was the latest. I got the idea at JonAlf's wedding. The wait staff were all wearing white gloves - all of a sudden it hit me - Jazz Hands!!!! and Jazz Hands day was born. The idea: All of our Junior and Senior CS students, around 350 or so, along with their teachers would wear white gloves on a specified day.

or: what to watch out for in after school and summer programs CAVEATS: In writing this post I do not mean to say that there aren't some great programs out there - there are. I also know that most of the programs I'm aware are being developed by people who are really trying to do some good. Since I wrote a post on my problem with drop in curricula on March 4 (http://cestlaz.

This past Saturday, 50 high school students, 10 high school mentors, and 10 more post high school mentors headed down to SumAll to participate in def hacks(2015): CSTUY's first hackathon. The fifty participants, came from all over the city, Long Island, and New Jersey. They ranged from having never programmed to three or four years experience. Projects ranged from web sites to full stack applications. After workshops run by CSTUY teachers and mentors and also by Codesters.

Quick post on why I love the Unix command line. We're busy organizing CSTUY's first hackathon. It's going to be at SumAll, where we hold our weekly hacking sessions but while taking registration, we had a little program. The kids signed up on a Google doc but we all know the story – when people sign up for a free event, even one with free food and t-shirts, many don't show.