Yes, our middle school has two classes in each grade one regular and one advanced, based on MAP scores. High school has regular, honors, and AP, depending on the course, like most high schools.
No. And sorry I didnât see the question above. But I think itâs fair to wonder if a school really needs to offer both standard, honors, AND AP American History, for example.
College Prep Algebra (and Geom & Algebra II) in middle school have always counted for UC admissions.
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Truly scary how on-topic that book is, particularly since it was written in 1961!
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Okay, but for elementary school?
Right but I believe that non Advanced kids under the old system were in âpre Algebra.â I might be wrong.
I donât have access to the article, but my thoughts⊠Districts are so different from each other that the same approach canât work for them all. If the parents are happy about the districtâs decision, more power to them.
Near me, class disciplinary issues that are common in the non-AP/honors classes are a driver of a lot of desire to get into the AP/honors. Many of the students that sign up are not truly ready, but they do so, anyway. This results in the difficulty of the class being adjusted downward. The kids on the AP level end up performing well, and the others donât.
This says to me that, theoretically, having one level can work. But parents here would erupt at such a plan because class discipline is such a big issue, and one that a lot of people jockey to avoid.
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This is part of the politicization. Itâs all part of the teacherâs union agenda. Which a new teacher is pretty much forced to join. Who wants their kidâs job to be teaching others when they need to be learning themselves? The end result is that those who can afford it move to private schools where one of the biggest plusses is the ability to fire teachers who donât give results. Where discipline and rules are present. Where the atmosphere is for learningâthe school is open for tutoring and after hour classes. Where there are exceptions made for an exceptional student and exceptional circumstances. Itâs not a matter of moneyâthe publics spend more money per student than many privates costâthey just yield worse results.
What happens though is that you donât have time nor energy to advocate for those changes in public schoolâyour kids keep growing and you donât have the time to fight for better teachers, better programs or better environments. They would be graduated before you ever saw any change at all. So you go private if possible.
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The entire rational for eliminating honors classes, according to these school districts, is for the students to be equally prepared for the AP classes. Itâs their hope that AP classes would be more equitably represented, after the elimination of honors classes. What Iâm saying is that if they donât achieve their goal (equitable representation in AP classes), wouldnât they want to eliminate the AP classes as well in the name of equity?
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In our district we have a LOT of kids in 12th grade still trying to pass Algebra I, Part I. Or not trying to pass for that matter. Putting them in Algebra I in 8th grade is laughable. One year, <10% of the regular 8th classes passed their standardized test. And you only need ~50% to pass!
I wish I could post a letter to the editor written years ago by a student in regular classes. I wonât since then itâd be obvious where I am⊠But it shocked many, many people who didnât have kids at the school just how bad the studentsâ behavior was. It wasnât just a few kids. It was the vast majority. Kids walking on desks, throwing things, curling their hair during class⊠Shouting/threatening teachers if they tried to get them to do anything. And this was several years ago. There was a definite decline in the quality of teaching when this was written and older S was there, to when my younger S graduated. And from what I hear, itâs definitely not any better. The teachers who had some control have since left/retired.
In this school, if you care at all about your education, you will be in advanced/honors/AP. For the most part, the quality of those classes isnât anywhere near as rigorous as I suspect elsewhere. But at least the kids care somewhat. Some classes - Spanish 2, Personal Finance, PE - donât have honors classes. I was OK with all the kids being mixed together for those. But math/english/science? I would have found a different school for sure. You canât learn well in that environment.
As for the solution. I do not know. So much seems to be broken.
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Not in my view, no.
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But again, it sounds like every single one of those kids is being let down by their educational district. Itâs not enough to give a way out to the best and brightest: all of those kids deserve better, not just the top 5% or however many get into honors/AP. The regular classes should be drastically restructured, imo, not just allowed to fester because the best students will have a way out of them and the rest are somehow less deserving of a solid high school education.
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3 tracks starting in 4th grade for reading and math. Look, youâre obviously trying to pick a fight here and Iâm simply relaying our experience. We live in the PNW, equity is everything here. The first time the kids here have a grade on their report cards is in high school. They arenât allowed to take advanced math in 8th grade any more, and AP and honors classes are open to everyone. A lot of people are unhappy, the wait lists for the few private schools are long.
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Terrific post.
Itâs interesting how abruptly people who believe it is unfair for their child to be slowed down by lower-performing peers in K-12 recalibrate their stance for college, when the schools with the highest concentrations of children smarter than theirs are the most coveted.
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I dont understand your post. In both situations parents want their kids to be with the âsmart kidsâ.
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It all goes back to elementary school for the most part. Kids need more time sometimes to learn the basicsâreading and math. Even when my kids were little the schools were loathe to hold kids back a grade even if the parents literally begged for it. One kid I worked with had just gotten his hearing fixed as well as eyesight. That was second grade and he was basically needing to start overâhe was just lost for two years but now had a chance to start fresh. Nope! He was promoted despite his mom pleading to have him repeat. Ridiculous. Iâm sure the same happens for many kids of second languages. Or many other scenarios. You canât move on without basics. Instead of âeveryone needs to be equalâ it needs to be âlife isnât a raceâ.
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Not by much, though. For Culver City itâs $105,000, and for Santa Monica-Malibu Unified, itâs $103,000. Not poor, but definitely not super-wealthy, despite the âMalibuâ in the title of the latter. The rest of the demographics are very different, though. In Culver City 55% of the students are either Black or Hispanic, while in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified, itâs less than 20%.
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My point is that these two school districts are well above average in the greater Los Angeles area. Santa Monica/Malibu is likely among the richest school districts in LA.
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California lost 500,000 residents the past two years. Texas gained 700,000 and Florida 900,000.
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Iâd say you understand it perfectly!
When other people want their lesser kids to be with my smart kid in K-12, the Wall Street Journal will write about it.
When I expect my childâs intellectually superior college peers to slow down and teach her, both actively and by osmosis, itâs unremarkable. I only want her to be with the smart kids, after all.
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