APS BTS Night - Shocked

[Anonymous]

Went to elementary back to school night and was surprised by how much academics have been watered down.

No homework?

No grades, some kind of meets expectations?

Gifted has been rebranded to AAC, and it’s on the over worked classroom teacher to execute along with mainstreaming ESL and special needs along with teaching mainstream?

We are in 2nd - will there be homework by 4th?

[Anonymous]

This is why so many turn to private/parochial schools or even homeschooling.

[Anonymous]

Is this your first year in APS? Other than the AAC rebranding (?), none of this is new to me and has been standard practice for several years.

[Anonymous]

What grade is your child in OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Went to elementary back to school night and was surprised by how much academics have been watered down.

No homework?

No grades, some kind of meets expectations?

Gifted has been rebranded to AAC, and it’s on the over worked classroom teacher to execute along with mainstreaming ESL and special needs along with teaching mainstream?

We are in 2nd - will there be homework by 4th?

Homework started in 3rd for our DC. We support it as it provided a key window of insight into our child's strengths and weaknesses that we did not otherwise have prior to working through homework with them.

Agree re: the stupid "meets expectations" and whatever this standards based grading or whatever it is. How do we ever clearly identify a benchmark? Is this the way all of APS is going? What will colleges use for reviewing high school transcripts???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What grade is your child in OP?

First kid in APS. Going into 2nd.

Glad to hear homework will start in 3rd, thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade is your child in OP?

First kid in APS. Going into 2nd.

Glad to hear homework will start in 3rd, thank you!

It really depends on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade is your child in OP?

First kid in APS. Going into 2nd.

Glad to hear homework will start in 3rd, thank you!

It really depends on the school.

Do they publish a policy per school?

[Anonymous]

Yawn.

Many schools give homework by 4th or 5th. Homework in 2nd would be dumb.

Their gifted program has not changed at all. Did you even look into the school district before purchasing a home?

If you want full pull out in elementary move to Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade is your child in OP?

First kid in APS. Going into 2nd.

Glad to hear homework will start in 3rd, thank you!

It really depends on the school.

Do they publish a policy per school?

It’s typically driven by the principal and even the individual grade level or teacher. Most of them by 4th/5th will at least be giving you optional homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yawn.

Many schools give homework by 4th or 5th. Homework in 2nd would be dumb.

Their gifted program has not changed at all. Did you even look into the school district before purchasing a home?

If you want full pull out in elementary move to Fairfax.

+1

[Anonymous]

Well our kid will have homework, but it does vary by school. My kids had HW starting in second grade (aside from random projects here and there in K and first).

I really don't think standards-based grading is that weird /horrible or complicated. First, anyone who has gotten APS elementary school report cards know that they are generally meaningless even with grades. But that is beside the point. First if your kid meets standards then you know that they fully and consistently understand the material and don't need support (congrats your kid is doing really well!).

Developing and approaching standard? Your kid needs a bit of help. But guess what! Because (in theory) the standards now break things down by topic you now that your kid is struggling in multiplication but doing really well in addition. Prior to this my kid gets a B or a C and I had zero idea why and had to email the teacher and ask them what they could do to improve. I mean even the yearly assessments don't tell me how my kid is doing by topic/subject.

Furthermore, by the time my kid was in 5th and now is in 6th. They get their individual assignment and tests graded. So, you can look at those and say okay every assignment and test my kid got an A so now that he gets meets standards, I know that this is an A.

Anyway, I basically had no homework all the way through college (outside papers in college, which were once a semester). Somehow, I became a lawyer and successful adult. My kid is in school for a lot of hours a day? Why do they need to do MORE work at home (just so I feel better about what they are learning?). I hate working outside my workday too.

[Anonymous]

This is nothing new. Why do you think so many people have left in recent years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yawn.

Many schools give homework by 4th or 5th. Homework in 2nd would be dumb.

Their gifted program has not changed at all. Did you even look into the school district before purchasing a home?

If you want full pull out in elementary move to Fairfax.

My kid had optional homework beginning in kinder (not ATS). I really liked it. Short reading or math assignments that gave my kid some practice of the concepts. Gave me insight into what they were working on, gave some structure to the early evening. But there wasn't pressure if we didn't get it done. It was about practice, and insight into what they were learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yawn.

Many schools give homework by 4th or 5th. Homework in 2nd would be dumb.

Their gifted program has not changed at all. Did you even look into the school district before purchasing a home?

If you want full pull out in elementary move to Fairfax.

And here, OP, is your true "welcome to Arlington."
First advice, avoid DCUM.