When will Hardy Middle School be as attractive as Deal Middle School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

Curriculum matters but labelling also matters for GPA weighting.

[Anonymous]

Hardy as attractive as Deal?

Hardly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

Uh, admissions officers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

And an education geared to the weakest students sucks for the rest.

Which is what Wilson has decided to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

And an education geared to the weakest students sucks for the rest.

Which is what Wilson has decided to do.

Cynical, I know, but is it possible Wilson is doing this in hopes that some of the higher SES families will go private, thus helping solve the overcrowding problem without having to take measures like adjusting boundaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

And an education geared to the weakest students sucks for the rest.

Which is what Wilson has decided to do.

Or, maybe looking at their demographic changes, they realize that there are fewer students enrolled who can't handle the Honors level material?

While economically disadvantaged is not a perfect proxy, the number of economically disadvantaged students at Wilson is falling quickly suggesting that the school is changing. See below from the OSSE enrollment audit data https://osse.dc.gov/enrollment

Wilson

2015-16
1791 students
563 economically disadvantaged students (29.8%)
234 students with disabilities (13.1%)

2016-17
1749 students
423 economically disadvantaged students (24%)
204 students with disabilities (11.6%)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what advanced classes does Deal have? Apparently they don't even have honors and Wilson no 8longer does either? How DCPS just remove all honors classes without parent input?

This is so stupid. Wilson changed their default curriculum for all Freshmen to the honors curriculum for biology and English. Honors and AP classes beyond freshman year are unchanged.

DS will be a sophomore next year and is in all honors and AP core classes. In fact, since he's an athlete, he took one less AP class than teachers recommended.

What is stupid PP?

Everyone knows this is what was done. Some disagree because they are concerned some students aren't ready academically for the work, or have behavioral issues. Right or wrong, they wanted their kids in honors 9th grade classes because of who else was, and wasn't, enrolled in those classes.

Saying "Wilson no longer has honors classes" because you disagree with how two freshman classes are set up. That's what's stupid.

You are a fool. It is not possible for a class with some kids performing multiple-years below grade level to be considered an "honors" class.

First, kids "multiple years below grade level" will not be in honors classes. Kids at grade level will. That's pretty clear from the communications about this.

Second, Wilson has lots of honors and AP classes. They changed two freshman classes. People saying "Wilson has no honors classes" because of two classes are simply wrong.

Have a nice day.

Yes, "Honors for All" affects only Freshman at Wilson. But it does represent a reckless and unnecessary change that will result in the elimination of two of the three Freshman honors courses. As a result, for top performing students this academically could be a lost year in high school. It is a shame because one of the benefits of attending a huge high school is the ability to offer courses at different levels to better customize the experience for each student. If Principal Martin thought eliminating honors courses was such a good idea she could have proposed eliminating just one-third of the Freshman honors courses and used it as a test case to argue for elimination of additional honors courses. But instead she recklessly forced the double elimination onto incoming students, and of course only after all of the Wilson open houses for incoming students had taken place. Not cool.

PP mentioned "communications" regarding Honors for All. Please elaborate on what you have heard and the form of those communications. Thx.

Have to agree. 9th grade was already a lost year, academically-speaking, for many Wilson students before this change. Hard to see a way in which this helps the widely-acknowledged "Wilson 9th grade cakewalk" problem. Aside from the advanced math or language track (student must arrive already on that track), there is no differentiation of the curriculum in 9th at Wilson, which is a crying shame for students who are ready to be challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

And an education geared to the weakest students sucks for the rest.

Which is what Wilson has decided to do.

Or, maybe looking at their demographic changes, they realize that there are fewer students enrolled who can't handle the Honors level material?

While economically disadvantaged is not a perfect proxy, the number of economically disadvantaged students at Wilson is falling quickly suggesting that the school is changing. See below from the OSSE enrollment audit data https://osse.dc.gov/enrollment

Wilson

2015-16
1791 students
563 economically disadvantaged students (29.8%)
234 students with disabilities (13.1%)

2016-17
1749 students
423 economically disadvantaged students (24%)
204 students with disabilities (11.6%)

Interesting viewpoint. If that's the case, Wilson has a long, long way to go to catch up to the academic expectations and opportunities in more advanced schools. This is particularly true for 9th grade (expectations and coursework would be more appropriate for middle school) and for 12th, when many Wilson students have few classes, because DCPS graduation requirements are so lenient that most work can be done in 3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

And an education geared to the weakest students sucks for the rest.

Which is what Wilson has decided to do.

Cynical, I know, but is it possible Wilson is doing this in hopes that some of the higher SES families will go private, thus helping solve the overcrowding problem without having to take measures like adjusting boundaries?

As someone who has been part of these conversations at Wilson, I can tell you this is absolutely not the case. The objective of the honors initiative is to encourage and set high expectations for all students from the beginning of their high school experience. The instructional approach is not to teach to the bottom. As a long-time DCPS parent, I share PP's general general reaction of cynicism to many things. But there is no malicious or suspicious intent with this initiative. Whether it will be successful remains to be seen, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

And an education geared to the weakest students sucks for the rest.

Which is what Wilson has decided to do.

Cynical, I know, but is it possible Wilson is doing this in hopes that some of the higher SES families will go private, thus helping solve the overcrowding problem without having to take measures like adjusting boundaries?

Well, not many of us have a spare $90K/year laying around so that won't work very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it say honors on the transcript?

Who cares what is on the transcript? What matters is what kind of education is happening in the classroom.

Uh, admissions officers?

Not if they know it is a sham because EVERY student has the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Well, rising 9th graders to Wilson could simply decide to home school their kids for one year. The self-study subject books are readily available, and grade-level-or-above kids could arguably learn more through self-study than the nothingburger they're going to get in a mainstream class. Weekly Science and Art self-study are right there at the Smithsonian. Then re-enter at 10th grade for the AP courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, rising 9th graders to Wilson could simply decide to home school their kids for one year. The self-study subject books are readily available, and grade-level-or-above kids could arguably learn more through self-study than the nothingburger they're going to get in a mainstream class. Weekly Science and Art self-study are right there at the Smithsonian. Then re-enter at 10th grade for the AP courses.

The fact that that is a serious option is an indication of a failure on the part of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, rising 9th graders to Wilson could simply decide to home school their kids for one year. The self-study subject books are readily available, and grade-level-or-above kids could arguably learn more through self-study than the nothingburger they're going to get in a mainstream class. Weekly Science and Art self-study are right there at the Smithsonian. Then re-enter at 10th grade for the AP courses.

The fact that that is a serious option is an indication of a failure on the part of the school.

+1 absolutely ridiculous