Former AAP kids not taking honors in high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because you can't identify advanced learners in 3rd grader. Your child is average. You've known this all along. Let her move to the math that doesn't stress her out. Don't be THAT parent.

You can be average, be an A- student in honors math, and be in the right place where you belong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because you can't identify advanced learners in 3rd grader. Your child is average. You've known this all along. Let her move to the math that doesn't stress her out. Don't be THAT parent.

Or you could have a child that is getting a B or an A in Honors math but needs to work for that A or B and would prefer to not have to put in extra effort to earn a grade. Kids need to learn that not everything is easy and that there are times that you have to put in effort to do well. It is an important life lesson. OPs description of their child is a kid who is capable. She has to work for her A but would be a B student without effort. That is not a kid who should be stressed out and drop to regular math. It sounds to me like that is a capable kid who is being lazy and wants an A without working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what math will she end with? Work backwards. Calc AB would be ambitious enough. Respectable. I guess no Calc and AP Stats if she's not shooting too high re: colleges.

DD was not selected for AAP but did well in Calc BC, AP Chem. AP Physics C - so some students from the Gen Ed classes end-up kicking some AAP butt!

-sorry, couldn't help myself

As an AAP parent of a middle schooler and elementary schoolers if people don't assume the bolded going into the program, they're delusional. One of my friends who teaches AP Bio chose not to enroll her accepted kid into AAP because she didn't see the point for her particular kid and half her AP Bio kids came from gen ed. AAP was right for my kids (they wanted the math), but I don't think that means my kids will be somehow better than many of their gen ed peers at any subject.

OP here and I totally agree. I’ve seen numerous gen Ed kids far surpass AAP kids, get into TJ, get into “better” colleges etc. But my question is really about AAP kids choosing lower rigor in high school when they mostly seemingly did fine in those rigorous classes until then. If it was just a one off, I would understand, but I know at least 10 former AAP kids who are taking some or all non-honors. (DD is trying to move down and uses that to convince us.) Honors does not seem that rigorous to me.

Am I wrong to make DD push through? She is not losing sleep or not getting enough time for activities and free time because of schoolwork. It just seems lazy to me.

You are not wrong to make her push through. These students are self-selecting for honors, so if she goes into a non-honors class she will be surrounded by people who do not want the rigor. Now, there will be different reasons for their choices but in general she'll be surrounded by students who are not very motivated academically and that can be a real bummer. Your daughter might be in other classes that are non-honors, like a world language, but since there is no honors version of that class the class will be full of all different kinds of students. This is not so for the non honors classes in the core subjects.

[Anonymous]

Let her switch. Kids don't need to be in honors/AP for everything! Let her choose to challenge herself in areas she wants to. Are there other classes she wants to stay with honors in? If so, don't push math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you can't identify advanced learners in 3rd grader. Your child is average. You've known this all along. Let her move to the math that doesn't stress her out. Don't be THAT parent.

Or you could have a child that is getting a B or an A in Honors math but needs to work for that A or B and would prefer to not have to put in extra effort to earn a grade. Kids need to learn that not everything is easy and that there are times that you have to put in effort to do well. It is an important life lesson. OPs description of their child is a kid who is capable. She has to work for her A but would be a B student without effort. That is not a kid who should be stressed out and drop to regular math. It sounds to me like that is a capable kid who is being lazy and wants an A without working.

You know your daughter better than anyone here.

The rigor in honors is not crazy high but you will have to study at least a bit.
If your daughter tested into 7th grade algebra, she is most likely a good fit for all the honors maths.

[Anonymous]

We have two in HS and have found that AAP typically goes out the door in Middle School. By the time they got to HS many kids not in AAP are taking Honors and AP classes. As well as kids that were in AAP were taking some regular classes. Our MS(Longfellow) encouraged all kids NOT to take a full honors course load in 9th grade. Above poster is correct. Interests change, some kids mature slower than others and are more ready for challenge in 9th verses some that are unfortunately overwhelmed by that point. A happy medium is hard to achieve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how rigorous Honors classes are. I know one friend has a kid that asked to move from the regular class into honors because the regular class was distracting and a joke. The honors class is probably too much for him, he struggles in it, but the regular class is way too easy. I can see dropping from AP to Honors but I would guess that the regular class at most schools is not a great fit for most kids.

AAP isn’t that rigorous, the Advanced Math portion is about the only part that is challenging for some kids. DS is great at math but not at LA, he is fine but not advanced. He has had no issues in LIV classes in MS, we deferred in ES for a language program. I can see Honors math being hard for kids but I wouldn’t let a B student drop to the regular class, in any subject, because they are having to work to get a B. I would consider a C student dropping and anything lower then a C is an automatic drop down.

At our school these days there are no regular classes, it's either honros or AP. I guess that means honros are the regular classes but it's more equitable. Everyone gets the inflated GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how rigorous Honors classes are. I know one friend has a kid that asked to move from the regular class into honors because the regular class was distracting and a joke. The honors class is probably too much for him, he struggles in it, but the regular class is way too easy. I can see dropping from AP to Honors but I would guess that the regular class at most schools is not a great fit for most kids.

AAP isn’t that rigorous, the Advanced Math portion is about the only part that is challenging for some kids. DS is great at math but not at LA, he is fine but not advanced. He has had no issues in LIV classes in MS, we deferred in ES for a language program. I can see Honors math being hard for kids but I wouldn’t let a B student drop to the regular class, in any subject, because they are having to work to get a B. I would consider a C student dropping and anything lower then a C is an automatic drop down.

At our school these days there are no regular classes, it's either honros or AP. I guess that means honros are the regular classes but it's more equitable. Everyone gets the inflated GPA.

What FCPS HS does not have regular classes??
Did you mean a MS that has Honors and AAP only? AAP is NOT anything like actual AP HS classes.

[Anonymous]

^^ only one is TJ but that is specialized

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how rigorous Honors classes are. I know one friend has a kid that asked to move from the regular class into honors because the regular class was distracting and a joke. The honors class is probably too much for him, he struggles in it, but the regular class is way too easy. I can see dropping from AP to Honors but I would guess that the regular class at most schools is not a great fit for most kids.

AAP isn’t that rigorous, the Advanced Math portion is about the only part that is challenging for some kids. DS is great at math but not at LA, he is fine but not advanced. He has had no issues in LIV classes in MS, we deferred in ES for a language program. I can see Honors math being hard for kids but I wouldn’t let a B student drop to the regular class, in any subject, because they are having to work to get a B. I would consider a C student dropping and anything lower then a C is an automatic drop down.

At our school these days there are no regular classes, it's either honros or AP. I guess that means honros are the regular classes but it's more equitable. Everyone gets the inflated GPA.

What FCPS HS does not have regular classes??
Did you mean a MS that has Honors and AAP only? AAP is NOT anything like actual AP HS classes.

There are MS that claim to have only Honors and AAP classes. The reality is that all of those schools have regular classes as well but they make it harder to enroll in those classes. They know that the more engaging material and opportunities to challenge kids come in the honors classes. But there are regular classes that kids take. I would guess that there is a real difference between the AAP classes and Honors classes at those schools while there is less of a difference at schools that have all three levels and fewer kids who are borderline between regular classes and honors classes end up in honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how rigorous Honors classes are. I know one friend has a kid that asked to move from the regular class into honors because the regular class was distracting and a joke. The honors class is probably too much for him, he struggles in it, but the regular class is way too easy. I can see dropping from AP to Honors but I would guess that the regular class at most schools is not a great fit for most kids.

AAP isn’t that rigorous, the Advanced Math portion is about the only part that is challenging for some kids. DS is great at math but not at LA, he is fine but not advanced. He has had no issues in LIV classes in MS, we deferred in ES for a language program. I can see Honors math being hard for kids but I wouldn’t let a B student drop to the regular class, in any subject, because they are having to work to get a B. I would consider a C student dropping and anything lower then a C is an automatic drop down.

At our school these days there are no regular classes, it's either honros or AP. I guess that means honros are the regular classes but it's more equitable. Everyone gets the inflated GPA.

What FCPS HS does not have regular classes??
Did you mean a MS that has Honors and AAP only? AAP is NOT anything like actual AP HS classes.

There are MS that claim to have only Honors and AAP classes. The reality is that all of those schools have regular classes as well but they make it harder to enroll in those classes. They know that the more engaging material and opportunities to challenge kids come in the honors classes. But there are regular classes that kids take. I would guess that there is a real difference between the AAP classes and Honors classes at those schools while there is less of a difference at schools that have all three levels and fewer kids who are borderline between regular classes and honors classes end up in honors.

Yes well aware of that, my question was WHAT FCPS High Schools have no regular classes? The previous poster indicated that theirs did not. I thought perhaps they were mistaken and meant MS.

[Anonymous]

Don’t worry about what the other kids are doing. Make a decision for your daughter.

[Anonymous]

There is a difference in the honors classes with kids who came from GenEd in most cases. The former AAP kids complain that they are slowing down the class pace

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference in the honors classes with kids who came from GenEd in most cases. The former AAP kids complain that they are slowing down the class pace

Definitely not at our HS. They weed out the kids who can not keep up with the pace or the grades(both former AAP and general kids) within the first few weeks of school. Basically if you have a C average after a few weeks(and a lot do) teachers and counselors send emails to parents with information regarding dropping down a level. or what can be done to help get the student back on track. There is absolutely nothing wrong with dropping down to a regular class. You want your kid to grasp concepts and have confidence while learning. They can then increase rigor the next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference in the honors classes with kids who came from GenEd in most cases. The former AAP kids complain that they are slowing down the class pace

Definitely not at our HS. They weed out the kids who can not keep up with the pace or the grades(both former AAP and general kids) within the first few weeks of school. Basically if you have a C average after a few weeks(and a lot do) teachers and counselors send emails to parents with information regarding dropping down a level. or what can be done to help get the student back on track. There is absolutely nothing wrong with dropping down to a regular class. You want your kid to grasp concepts and have confidence while learning. They can then increase rigor the next year.

OPs kid is getting As and A- but she has to work for them. Without effort she would get a B. At least that is what OP said in her first post. OPs kid wants an A without having to work for it, which she can do in the gen ed class but not the Honors class.