<p>I agree that it isn't helpful for those who are being pushed faster than they can go, nor is it helpful for those who are being held back.
I am very sensitive in regards to math. Our district uses TERC and Connected math and from what I can tell, the way it is being taught sets the stage for everything that comes after. For the students at my daughters high school who had very good teachers in middle school ( who not only were experienced, but able and willing to supplement the district approved curriculum), they come into the high school ready to take on high school level math. <a href="http://www.nychold.com/testim-bailey-04xx.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nychold.com/testim-bailey-04xx.html</a>
But for students like my daughter, who have a disability combined with years of teachers who didn't make sure she understood things before they went on, struggle and some have already identified themselves as failures.
I see families in my area looking for outside resources to either stimulate or aid their students. This takes money, and a lot of hard work. Why are tutoring programs becoming more and more popular and why are so many students having to go to school and then come home and be tutored?
We can't afford tutoring, but after years of waiting for the school day to make a difference, we can't afford not to either. She already had a bad self image from years of special ed pullout where she was told how smart she was, but they didn't address the way she needed to learn. She is starting to make up a lot of lost ground, but I am deeply concerned about students who are falling between the cracks and families that are unable to help them.</p>
<p>I am not arguing for them to be forced together. I am just sharing a concern for students who are capable and smart but who were not given an opportunity to progress during middle school, so they enter highschool with a handicapped situation.</p>
<p>Before I began teaching at my school, no student finished Algebra (a high school requirement) so even the smartest student had to begin highschool taking Algebra, which made it hard to get to AP classes as quickly as the kids coming from the suburban middle school that entered highschool with Algebra and sometimes Geometry requirements already met. An admission officer might look at two students and think that one (from the middle school without algebra) hadn't tried to take the hardest course requirement offerred, when in reality they took the hardest one they were allowed to take, starting in 7th grade. Some of my Hmong and Hispanic students do not have parents who advocate strongly enough to get the advanced classes placed in the low achieving schools where the focus is on raising the bottom not on serving the top students.</p>
<p>What needs to be done is to give</a> parents buying power and then let their choices influence changes in high schools that are useful to learners. My prediction is that if learners could choose, not all high schools would be the same size, because different learners have different needs. But it would improve educational outcomes to let learners pick and choose among the available high schools.</p>
<p>Marite - in reply to your post #50 -- my son's small high school was the most racially diverse & balanced in the district. It had an academics-only focus, but was NOT an academically competitive school aimed toward high achievers.</p>
<p>And going to your post #60 -- what is the point of diversity/integration if the school itself is segregated into different honors tracks -- so there is one set of students who are filling all the honors/AP courses & advanced math & science, who look nothing at all like the students who are in the remedial and regular classes? In that environment, what ends up happening is that there is very little interaction between the groups - the AP kids just end up associating with other AP kids -- and sometimes there can be a good deal of resentment and mistrust among the different groups. So the situation can be polarizing rather than unifying. </p>
<p>I agree that it's unfair to put students in courses that are too difficult for them, but I'd rather have my kids in schools that offered courses that weren't quite as challenging as my kids could manage, then to have them sitting in AP classes where all the faces are white and asian - especially at a large high school which lacks the feeling of cohesiveness that exists at a small school.</p>
<p>Calmom: I completely agree. I once asked a student whether he'd rather flunk honors chemistry or pass general science. (He ended up with a C, BTW.) His reaction: I'd rather not be belittled and bored.</p>
<p>calmom:</p>
<p>The self-segregation was a feature of the pre-restructuring hs. Students were given a choice as to which house they wished to join, and their wishes were usually honored. Although an attempt was made to achieve racial and gender balance, students who found themselves assigned to a house that was not their first choice could petition to move. Usually, these were the savvy kids (read high SES).
The school has made great efforts to get more kids into AP classes, in particular minority students. Next year, it will introduce some pre-AP program to help prepare more kids for APs. </p>
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<blockquote> <p>but I'd rather have my kids in schools that offered courses that weren't quite as challenging as my kids could manage,>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>We've been through that with my S. He was in danger of becoming a delinquent from sheer boredom. As well, "students who are not quite as challenged as they could manage" get enrichment outside school--it happens with my S and many of his friends who take college classes. He does have friends of various ethnic backgrounds and SES and academic abilities. Some of his friends have never been in any of his classes. They meet together for lunch and after school.</p>
<p>Our HS has 1800 kids. Coming from an independent school experience, S had trepidation going in but has flourished wonderfully there. I could not be happier with the school, and I did not have high expectations at the beginning so the quality of the place was a very pleasant surprise.</p>
<p>Class size ranges from 10 for less usual classes to up to 30. There are 430 seniors. HS offers 25 AP classes, all the usual sports, multi-cultural celebrations, It's Academic, Model UN, advanced offerings in fine arts, great theatre, and very strong orchestra, jazz band, marching band, and choral program (including barbershop quartets and a top-scoring show choir). Enough ECs abound so that every student can find at least 2-3 interests easily, parents support the school very strongly, strong school spirit and is quite diverse (50% Caucasian - please never say "white" - it reminds me of Sly and the Family Stone's "Don't call me N****r, Whitey!"). </p>
<p>As far as the size being an advantage or disadvantage, I would say it depends entirely on the student. If a student is shy, timid in the classroom, has learning disabilities, etc., small classes can greatly improve their experience. For most students, I would say size is a plus because there are always new people to meet and the opportunities tend to be more plentiful.</p>