Ronak Bhatt

School founder. Physicist taking a first-principles approach to K-12 education. Believer that children can do hard things. My job is building heroes.

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@MichaelPetrilli @JoanneLeeJacobs 86 factorial is a lot of straight A students.

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@mbateman Fun to compare the responses of different AIs. Or maybe this is more telling about how I use them.

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@suekhim Multiple kids with multiple needs: algebra, essay composition, and MV calculus.

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@SiliconForested @sarah_cone Is the reading app available for others to try out?

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@tracewoodgrains @educprogress 90% of "gifted and talented education funding" will go to fluffy enrichment, socio-emotional pablum, feel-good PD on differentiation, or on identifying which lucky children gain the benefits of the above. Adding or reallocating funding toward this current concept of G&T is ⬇️

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

Update: our HS has a 25% graduation rate so far. That might not sound too good, but our highest grade is 10th.... And that stat refers to college graduation (Associates degrees)

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

This is the way. Telra is normalizing 10th graders earning Associate Degrees.

[Matt Griswold @griswold]

Hot take: eliminate AP classes and credits entirely.

Instead, teens that want college credit should have free access to dual enrollment programs under their state university system to earn college credit via college classes.

AP test incentives are misaligned in the worst way:

"Students and families are happier because they get college credit. . . . Schools are happier because they look good. Governors and state agencies are happier because they get to brag about it.”

Dual enrollment does not resolve every incentive problem, but it at least eliminates one layer of abstraction. It also can help reduce the cost of college by shifting some general requirements into the academic stagnation that is high school.

This could be the simplest way to pivot American high schools toward tracking, too, so long as students not looking at college are also able to access courses that lead toward interests and industry certification.

To anyone who defends AP classes are the last leg of meritocracy in schools, I'd argue it's more meritocratic to not gate keep the real thing just because someone is slightly younger than a college freshman. The ceiling can be much higher.

It is possible, as the College Board suggests, that "AP standards for qualifying scores remain more stringent than grading standards in many college classrooms." Sure; but that's an issue for the state colleges to resolve. College students regularly transfer in with community college credits for these introductory courses, so the colleges have already determined that AP tests are unnecessary.

AP tests are the signature of a decades-long evolution of high schools choosing college prep over life prep, so it's not a unqualified scapegoat to begin moving in another direction.

I welcome any steel man against this idea.

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@teachthemx3 How did you pose this as a research question?

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@tracewoodgrains @KelseyTuoc People don't know what they want until you show it to them. Value statements inspire, but implementation requires specificity and a thousand compromises. Parents want to see how that plays out before they can say, "I want that for my child." We need school choice + new ideas.

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@KelseyTuoc What about a school that offer Precalculus in sixth grade?

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

If you let our children and their funding go into a school of their choice, that'll be the end of it. We will not look for you. We will not oppose you.
But if you don't...

We will look for you.
We will find you.
And we will free our children ourselves.
@NCACPS
@charteralliance

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

I don't know who you are.
I don't know what you want.
If you're looking for more money, more control, more of my child's life - I can tell you I have nothing left to give. 🧵(1/x)

#NationalCharterSchoolWeek
#SchoolChoice

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

Skills that make me a nightmare for every bureaucrat standing between my child and a real education. (3/x)

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@LearnLead_ @MrZachG *Someone* in a child's life needs to be focused on their academic proficiency. If not their teacher, then who?

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@LearnLead_ @MrZachG If your pediatric dentist announced she cared more about "the people my patients become" than their cavities and gum health, you'd recognize it for what it is: a shirking of her core responsibilities. 1/2

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@MrZachG Was this a dig at me?

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@HippyMomPhD @FadingFreedoms I am toying with the same combination but in a school setting. I'd love to get your tips about making them work well together!

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@saurabhmundra1 @greg_ashman 700 students K-10. Age variance regularly 2-3 years in the same classroom.

[Ronak Bhatt @RonakAtHome]

@greg_ashman @saurabhmundra1 I can attest: removing age-based grouping works fine.