APS MS ELA curriculum and differentiation?

[Anonymous]

We are looking to move from DCPS to NOVA, preferably APS but open to others, for middle school, in part because DCPS won't differentiate/accelerate in anything but math. Our DD is really strong in ELA, would prefer to read over most other activities, and isn't really learning to write here. I'd like to get her somewhere she can be challenged more and isn't having tons of independent reading time while the teachers help the kids who are several grade levels behind. How's the ELA curriculum in APS middle schools and does it differ from school to school? Are they reading full books and are they writing more than a paragraph or two? Will they differentiate and place a strong kid in a different ELA/English class? What about social studies/history? If anyone has a kid like this and has been happy with the ELA experience, please let me know.

[Anonymous]

APS has teachers using their full names on Facebook, stating they have too many students to provide meaningful feedback on writing assignments. Even 5 minutes per paper with that many students is like another full time job.

You’re gonna need private school to get what you want.

[Anonymous]

Pro: they offer intensified ELA courses
Con: Anyone can sign up for them and they can still have students who are struggling and need a lot of teacher assistance, which means less time for feedback and "going deeper" though this is more of a problem in Science and Math in our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are looking to move from DCPS to NOVA, preferably APS but open to others, for middle school, in part because DCPS won't differentiate/accelerate in anything but math. Our DD is really strong in ELA, would prefer to read over most other activities, and isn't really learning to write here. I'd like to get her somewhere she can be challenged more and isn't having tons of independent reading time while the teachers help the kids who are several grade levels behind. How's the ELA curriculum in APS middle schools and does it differ from school to school? Are they reading full books and are they writing more than a paragraph or two? Will they differentiate and place a strong kid in a different ELA/English class? What about social studies/history? If anyone has a kid like this and has been happy with the ELA experience, please let me know.

Don't take this as a slight because I say the same thing to every parent who says something like this. If your kid is actually this outstanding (i.e., truly gifted in any subject), teach them yourself in that subject or find someone who can properly plan a curriculum to accelerate them. Most schools, including most privates, are unable to accommodate them and your kid, if resourceful, will need to use YT and other sources to learn anyway. For something like English, even the majority of kids are weak in writing, reading comprehension, and vocabulary these days. One of our kids pretty much maxed out (figuratively) the lexile test in elementary school and never learned to write as strongly as they should have (still probably better than most high school kids) because they were never challenged at school.

Also, what used to be general is becoming more representative. APS is a terrible school district that's run poorly and most of the truly smart kids have either gone private or moved to other schools district in the area. Just the loss of a handful of kids to TJ is consequential. People are going to defend APS but look at the paltry 1% (?? not interested in crunching the numbers, but correct me if I'm wrong) of kids that get admitted to HYPSM. This is a sheer percentage thing. There are always going to be that many because of legacy and sports. If you take those kids out, the actual number of merit-based kids would be much smaller. APS should overrepresent the national average attending elite colleges due to its per capita income, per capita expenditures on education, and given the large numbers of Ph.D., professionals, and alumni living in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking to move from DCPS to NOVA, preferably APS but open to others, for middle school, in part because DCPS won't differentiate/accelerate in anything but math. Our DD is really strong in ELA, would prefer to read over most other activities, and isn't really learning to write here. I'd like to get her somewhere she can be challenged more and isn't having tons of independent reading time while the teachers help the kids who are several grade levels behind. How's the ELA curriculum in APS middle schools and does it differ from school to school? Are they reading full books and are they writing more than a paragraph or two? Will they differentiate and place a strong kid in a different ELA/English class? What about social studies/history? If anyone has a kid like this and has been happy with the ELA experience, please let me know.

Don't take this as a slight because I say the same thing to every parent who says something like this. If your kid is actually this outstanding (i.e., truly gifted in any subject), teach them yourself in that subject or find someone who can properly plan a curriculum to accelerate them. Most schools, including most privates, are unable to accommodate them and your kid, if resourceful, will need to use YT and other sources to learn anyway. For something like English, even the majority of kids are weak in writing, reading comprehension, and vocabulary these days. One of our kids pretty much maxed out (figuratively) the lexile test in elementary school and never learned to write as strongly as they should have (still probably better than most high school kids) because they were never challenged at school.

Also, what used to be general is becoming more representative. APS is a terrible school district that's run poorly and most of the truly smart kids have either gone private or moved to other schools district in the area. Just the loss of a handful of kids to TJ is consequential. People are going to defend APS but look at the paltry 1% (?? not interested in crunching the numbers, but correct me if I'm wrong) of kids that get admitted to HYPSM. This is a sheer percentage thing. There are always going to be that many because of legacy and sports. If you take those kids out, the actual number of merit-based kids would be much smaller. APS should overrepresent the national average attending elite colleges due to its per capita income, per capita expenditures on education, and given the large numbers of Ph.D., professionals, and alumni living in the county.

Not at all a slight. It's hard to figure out what do with a kid like mine when schools are pulling back on writing and reading and only demonstrably accelerate in math. She's fine in math but has to work at it (which really highlights how strong she is in ELA) and will be just fine with what's on offer in math in terms of AP courses at any big local HS. We do supplement reading/writing on our own and she benefits from having two educated nerdy readers as parents. If all else fails, I can teach her how to write. But I'd love to put her at a decent school for this and don't want to go private if we can avoid it.

[Anonymous]

APS does have intensified classes in middle school now, so there is some differentiation. My 7th grader is in Intensified English. The teacher said they read materials at a higher lexile level, do more analysis and write more than in the non-intensified class. So far, in Q1, they did a short story unit and are now reading The Outsiders as a class. That's the only whole class novel of the year, but they get to pick other books from a selection. So yes they do read books and your kid can choose more challenging options, if that's their preference.

APS has emphasized writing and analysis in all intensified classes, so there should also be more writing in classes like history/civics and science, than in the non-intensified versions. In 6th grade Intensified History, for instance, my kid had to write a fictional narrative from the first person perspective of an immigrant and do research to support the details in their account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS does have intensified classes in middle school now, so there is some differentiation. My 7th grader is in Intensified English. The teacher said they read materials at a higher lexile level, do more analysis and write more than in the non-intensified class. So far, in Q1, they did a short story unit and are now reading The Outsiders as a class. That's the only whole class novel of the year, but they get to pick other books from a selection. So yes they do read books and your kid can choose more challenging options, if that's their preference.

APS has emphasized writing and analysis in all intensified classes, so there should also be more writing in classes like history/civics and science, than in the non-intensified versions. In 6th grade Intensified History, for instance, my kid had to write a fictional narrative from the first person perspective of an immigrant and do research to support the details in their account.

The intensified section reads ONE full novel the entire year? Jfc

[Anonymous]

Because you know the elective books aren’t happening.

[Anonymous]

FCPS is not better than APS, despite all the marketing about AAP.... These challenges are in most public schools in the country.

Private schools nationwide are more variable, some better at ELA and others worse at ELA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does have intensified classes in middle school now, so there is some differentiation. My 7th grader is in Intensified English. The teacher said they read materials at a higher lexile level, do more analysis and write more than in the non-intensified class. So far, in Q1, they did a short story unit and are now reading The Outsiders as a class. That's the only whole class novel of the year, but they get to pick other books from a selection. So yes they do read books and your kid can choose more challenging options, if that's their preference.

APS has emphasized writing and analysis in all intensified classes, so there should also be more writing in classes like history/civics and science, than in the non-intensified versions. In 6th grade Intensified History, for instance, my kid had to write a fictional narrative from the first person perspective of an immigrant and do research to support the details in their account.

The intensified section reads ONE full novel the entire year? Jfc

No, your reading comprehension sucks. They read one book where the whole class reads the same book. For other books they are either in book groups (so they get to choose between 2-3 books) or pick from a longer list/selection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS does have intensified classes in middle school now, so there is some differentiation. My 7th grader is in Intensified English. The teacher said they read materials at a higher lexile level, do more analysis and write more than in the non-intensified class. So far, in Q1, they did a short story unit and are now reading The Outsiders as a class. That's the only whole class novel of the year, but they get to pick other books from a selection. So yes they do read books and your kid can choose more challenging options, if that's their preference.

APS has emphasized writing and analysis in all intensified classes, so there should also be more writing in classes like history/civics and science, than in the non-intensified versions. In 6th grade Intensified History, for instance, my kid had to write a fictional narrative from the first person perspective of an immigrant and do research to support the details in their account.

Intensified classes in MS are a joke. I think the average APS parent has a low IQ and/or is delusional in their glowing praise of the schools. Kids should be reading a book every month or two at the very least and doing group discussions and writing critical analysis papers on them. The fact that kids are allowed to submit alternative assignments in almost every social science class (at least in our experience) is appalling. I'm talking about drawings, powerpoints, fake instagram pages, posters, etc., in lieu of writing a paper that already requires a paucity of words to begin with. And imagine getting a lower score for attempting to write a paper instead of having submitted some cut and paste bullet points. Many high school classes seem to be exactly the same. On a side not: in every case where a parent has some advanced degree or went to some name brand college and their normal kid does poorly on the SAT, I squarely place the blame on the parents every time because you let this happen.

[Anonymous]

there is no meaningful differentiation for humanities in APS other than AP classes (and even for those classes, students can pretty much self-select as far as I can tell). My kids only read one book in 8th grade intensified English (The Giver - other classes read Animal Farm) and they do not necessarily read full books independently. This is not just an APS problem though - see this article: https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/03/children-reading-books-english-middle-grade/673457/

It is something that makes me wish I switched my kids to private but there really are not a lot of strong non-denominational private schools close to Arlington and my kids really did not want a long commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS does have intensified classes in middle school now, so there is some differentiation. My 7th grader is in Intensified English. The teacher said they read materials at a higher lexile level, do more analysis and write more than in the non-intensified class. So far, in Q1, they did a short story unit and are now reading The Outsiders as a class. That's the only whole class novel of the year, but they get to pick other books from a selection. So yes they do read books and your kid can choose more challenging options, if that's their preference.

APS has emphasized writing and analysis in all intensified classes, so there should also be more writing in classes like history/civics and science, than in the non-intensified versions. In 6th grade Intensified History, for instance, my kid had to write a fictional narrative from the first person perspective of an immigrant and do research to support the details in their account.

A fictional narrative. How cute. Really prepares one for academic writing in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS does have intensified classes in middle school now, so there is some differentiation. My 7th grader is in Intensified English. The teacher said they read materials at a higher lexile level, do more analysis and write more than in the non-intensified class. So far, in Q1, they did a short story unit and are now reading The Outsiders as a class. That's the only whole class novel of the year, but they get to pick other books from a selection. So yes they do read books and your kid can choose more challenging options, if that's their preference.

APS has emphasized writing and analysis in all intensified classes, so there should also be more writing in classes like history/civics and science, than in the non-intensified versions. In 6th grade Intensified History, for instance, my kid had to write a fictional narrative from the first person perspective of an immigrant and do research to support the details in their account.

I’m as liberal as they come and my spouse is an immigrant, but this feels like a poor use of an assignment. Do they at least say like an immigrant arriving in America in 1889 or something like that? Or is it a contemporary immigrant?

As for novel reading, reading a novel as a class allows for deeper discussions, and the analysis that students submit can be more careful scrutinized by the teacher — it’s not like they are reading 150+ random novels to critique their writing assignments?! My neighbors private told me they were assigned about 5 novels.

But obv the SOL and SAT are not having students read novels for the test, so the emphasis for APS is reading passages and responding to those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does have intensified classes in middle school now, so there is some differentiation. My 7th grader is in Intensified English. The teacher said they read materials at a higher lexile level, do more analysis and write more than in the non-intensified class. So far, in Q1, they did a short story unit and are now reading The Outsiders as a class. That's the only whole class novel of the year, but they get to pick other books from a selection. So yes they do read books and your kid can choose more challenging options, if that's their preference.

APS has emphasized writing and analysis in all intensified classes, so there should also be more writing in classes like history/civics and science, than in the non-intensified versions. In 6th grade Intensified History, for instance, my kid had to write a fictional narrative from the first person perspective of an immigrant and do research to support the details in their account.

The intensified section reads ONE full novel the entire year? Jfc

No, your reading comprehension sucks. They read one book where the whole class reads the same book. For other books they are either in book groups (so they get to choose between 2-3 books) or pick from a longer list/selection.

PP already anticipate your response and stated the elective books “aren’t happening” and maybe they do or don’t, but there can’t be much accountability for them.