APS Neighborhood HS - Teachers know all students

[Anonymous]

With APS high schools averaging 2,200–2,700 students, I’m curious about the reality of the student-teacher connection. If a teacher is responsible for ~150 students (with classes of 22–30), how well do they actually get to know individual kids?

Specifically, for quiet students or those with inattentive ADHD, is teacher follow-up proactive, or is it mostly handled through automated gradebook alerts?

Also, I’ve heard about "school-within-a-school" cohorts—do these clusters keep students and teachers together for all four years to ensure kids don’t get lost in the shuffle?

[Anonymous]

I have a sophomore.

I think a kid who is tries to make a connection with an academic teacher can definitely have one. I don’t think teachers are particularly seeking out quiet kids or seeking contact with kids who don’t approach them. They are responsive is my student’s general experience.

Having an elective series where you stay with same teacher for 4 years…band, choir, theater, newspaper, yearbook, etc makes a huge difference. Those teachers will get to know the kids extremely well.

[Anonymous]

Teacher followup is NOT proactive for a kid with ADHD. It is on the kid! They are very responsive if a kid requests a retake or submit a late assignment, but they are not chasing your kid around. They send a blanket email "all missing assignments due Friday at 4pm".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With APS high schools averaging 2,200–2,700 students, I’m curious about the reality of the student-teacher connection. If a teacher is responsible for ~150 students (with classes of 22–30), how well do they actually get to know individual kids?

Specifically, for quiet students or those with inattentive ADHD, is teacher follow-up proactive, or is it mostly handled through automated gradebook alerts?

Also, I’ve heard about "school-within-a-school" cohorts—do these clusters keep students and teachers together for all four years to ensure kids don’t get lost in the shuffle?

I have no idea what that is and have not experienced that. Most teachers do not teach 4 different classes (e.g. your physics teacher is not also teaching chem).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With APS high schools averaging 2,200–2,700 students, I’m curious about the reality of the student-teacher connection. If a teacher is responsible for ~150 students (with classes of 22–30), how well do they actually get to know individual kids?

Specifically, for quiet students or those with inattentive ADHD, is teacher follow-up proactive, or is it mostly handled through automated gradebook alerts?

Also, I’ve heard about "school-within-a-school" cohorts—do these clusters keep students and teachers together for all four years to ensure kids don’t get lost in the shuffle?

I have no idea what that is and have not experienced that. Most teachers do not teach 4 different classes (e.g. your physics teacher is not also teaching chem).

I have not heard of it either. Have kids at Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher followup is NOT proactive for a kid with ADHD. It is on the kid! They are very responsive if a kid requests a retake or submit a late assignment, but they are not chasing your kid around. They send a blanket email "all missing assignments due Friday at 4pm".

Agree with this.

Kid needs to be following along and advocating for themself.

I have heard about a study hall period they can take that has more support for tracking work. I don’t remember what it’s called. I think it’s for kids with IEPs but maybe more kids can broadly enroll?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher followup is NOT proactive for a kid with ADHD. It is on the kid! They are very responsive if a kid requests a retake or submit a late assignment, but they are not chasing your kid around. They send a blanket email "all missing assignments due Friday at 4pm".

Agree with this.

Kid needs to be following along and advocating for themself.

I have heard about a study hall period they can take that has more support for tracking work. I don’t remember what it’s called. I think it’s for kids with IEPs but maybe more kids can broadly enroll?

It's called IS instructional studies
yes it's for kids with IEPs, not sure if others can join now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher followup is NOT proactive for a kid with ADHD. It is on the kid! They are very responsive if a kid requests a retake or submit a late assignment, but they are not chasing your kid around. They send a blanket email "all missing assignments due Friday at 4pm".

Agree with this.

Kid needs to be following along and advocating for themself.

I have heard about a study hall period they can take that has more support for tracking work. I don’t remember what it’s called. I think it’s for kids with IEPs but maybe more kids can broadly enroll?

It’s called instructional studies. Must have IEP in place.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't fixate on the size of the school so much. Think about your own high school experience. Mine was much smaller. Some kids made connections with adults more easily than others. Some didn't at all, because they were shy, uninterested, unable, who knows. It's no different in a huge school. Some kids will make connections, some won't.

If you already know this is a weak spot for your DC, you can coach and help them see it and improve it. But it is (and always has been) on the kid, not the teacher. Some will communicate well and care a lot, some won't. Many will breeze over ADHD kids because they're harder.

[Anonymous]

Teachers don't form close relationships with students who are not proactive about reaching out and who don't participate in class. I have twins who generally have the same teachers, my more talkative twin has stronger teacher relationships and may get better college recs as a result. To ensure strong relationships for quiet kids, I think you really need to pay $$$ for private school. I tried to convince my quiet twin to consider private but he was not interested. I view learning to navigate a large high school as good training for college and life in general.

[Anonymous]

or try HB or AT.

[Anonymous]

I have a junior. Most of my kid’s teachers seem to know who he was by Back to School Night, but I don’t know about a close connection. He has had some teachers more than once, which I think helps. He’s also a fairly proactive kid.

As for school within a school, I’m not sure what you mean, but perhaps that’s true for full IB kids? With immersion, kids are more likely to end up in a lot of the same classes, but it varies. Also somewhat true with the cohort who takes lots of AP classes, but that’s usually the second half of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With APS high schools averaging 2,200–2,700 students, I’m curious about the reality of the student-teacher connection. If a teacher is responsible for ~150 students (with classes of 22–30), how well do they actually get to know individual kids?

Specifically, for quiet students or those with inattentive ADHD, is teacher follow-up proactive, or is it mostly handled through automated gradebook alerts?

Also, I’ve heard about "school-within-a-school" cohorts—do these clusters keep students and teachers together for all four years to ensure kids don’t get lost in the shuffle?

I have no idea what that is and have not experienced that. Most teachers do not teach 4 different classes (e.g. your physics teacher is not also teaching chem).

I had a “school-within-a-school” cohort in the IB program 25 years ago. Basically, the Pre-IB and IB kids were kept together for all 4 years…I think there were about 50 kids in each grade. The teachers mostly only taught IB and Pre-IB classes, so my 9th grade pre-IB history teacher was also my 12th grade Theory of Knowledge teacher. My 11th grade IB US History teacher was also my 11th grade Economics teacher. There were some exceptions, but that was the general idea. With the exception of 9th and 10th grade electives, we didn’t take classes with non-Pre-IB or IB kids. I really liked it. The school had about 2,000 kids, so it was nice being a part of a smaller group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With APS high schools averaging 2,200–2,700 students, I’m curious about the reality of the student-teacher connection. If a teacher is responsible for ~150 students (with classes of 22–30), how well do they actually get to know individual kids?

Specifically, for quiet students or those with inattentive ADHD, is teacher follow-up proactive, or is it mostly handled through automated gradebook alerts?

Also, I’ve heard about "school-within-a-school" cohorts—do these clusters keep students and teachers together for all four years to ensure kids don’t get lost in the shuffle?

I have no idea what that is and have not experienced that. Most teachers do not teach 4 different classes (e.g. your physics teacher is not also teaching chem).

I had a “school-within-a-school” cohort in the IB program 25 years ago. Basically, the Pre-IB and IB kids were kept together for all 4 years…I think there were about 50 kids in each grade. The teachers mostly only taught IB and Pre-IB classes, so my 9th grade pre-IB history teacher was also my 12th grade Theory of Knowledge teacher. My 11th grade IB US History teacher was also my 11th grade Economics teacher. There were some exceptions, but that was the general idea. With the exception of 9th and 10th grade electives, we didn’t take classes with non-Pre-IB or IB kids. I really liked it. The school had about 2,000 kids, so it was nice being a part of a smaller group.

Cool for you 25 years ago, but that has nothing to do with the state of APS now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With APS high schools averaging 2,200–2,700 students, I’m curious about the reality of the student-teacher connection. If a teacher is responsible for ~150 students (with classes of 22–30), how well do they actually get to know individual kids?

Specifically, for quiet students or those with inattentive ADHD, is teacher follow-up proactive, or is it mostly handled through automated gradebook alerts?

Also, I’ve heard about "school-within-a-school" cohorts—do these clusters keep students and teachers together for all four years to ensure kids don’t get lost in the shuffle?

I have no idea what that is and have not experienced that. Most teachers do not teach 4 different classes (e.g. your physics teacher is not also teaching chem).

I had a “school-within-a-school” cohort in the IB program 25 years ago. Basically, the Pre-IB and IB kids were kept together for all 4 years…I think there were about 50 kids in each grade. The teachers mostly only taught IB and Pre-IB classes, so my 9th grade pre-IB history teacher was also my 12th grade Theory of Knowledge teacher. My 11th grade IB US History teacher was also my 11th grade Economics teacher. There were some exceptions, but that was the general idea. With the exception of 9th and 10th grade electives, we didn’t take classes with non-Pre-IB or IB kids. I really liked it. The school had about 2,000 kids, so it was nice being a part of a smaller group.

Cool for you 25 years ago, but that has nothing to do with the state of APS now.

I understand. I was just responding to PPs who said they’d never heard of a “school-within-a-school” cohort. They exist, but I’m not familiar with how the IB program is run at W-L (my kids are still in elementary school, so they haven’t attended W-L yet). I’m sorry I don’t have more recent experience to share.