Wilson HS honors classes question

[Anonymous]

True, honors level freshman have some classes with the "masses" but therein lies the beauty of Wilson.
My child (who is an honors student) fully enjoyed and learned a lot in non-honors classes freshman year. First of all, all honors would be incredibly stressful and we are mostly interested in having our teenager be happy while getting her work done. And teachers are professionals, they are not in the business of putting the brakes on their entire class
She gained some valuable insight:
She learned that she is in fact a really good student by being in classes with kids who are not as academically prepared. Interesting reality check for a 14/15 year old. Kind of a "hey, I know stuff, I get this, I'm a good writer, I know how to study, etc". Sometimes, kids asked her for peer help, she was happy to share.
She found herself doing group projects with kids that on paper may seem to not have a lot to offer academically, but she learned from them, appreciated their perspectives, found some to be "really smart" others to be "so funny" and all to have something to add-even if they don't ace all the tests.
We feel really lucky that our kid gets to gain this very important perspective early on. Not everyone comes from the same kind of house or has a family where all the adults have advanced degrees, but it's all ok and it is so important to be able to relate to people who are not all just like you.

OP here. I loved this explanation of your child's experience and your perspective on it. It is very similar to my experience in HS and my own parents' perspective, so I get it. I benefitted from the life lessons you describe. I sailed through HS and went on to an Ivy where I did not struggle, but did discover that my education had HUGE holes in it that it was too late to fill to prepare me to study those things in college. So I just had to work around that. I would really like my children to benefit from a more rigorous and engaging academic experience in HS than the one I received, so my radar is tuned for situations that seem likely not to give them that.

[Anonymous]

OP, sounds like Wilson isn't for you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After looking carefully at the courses for my rising 9th grader, it appears to me that Wilson offers an "honors" level class for Freshman English and Biology, and math and a second language at flexible levels. The big question is History. I believe all students are required to take World History, for which I see no honors class. Since 40% of Wilson students are reading below grade level, does this mean that my DS is taking the first two years of history in a classroom where close to half of his classmates are not reading proficiently? I was surprised by this because the school offers a really impressive array of AP classes in social sciences and history. I wonder how well students can be prepared for those upper level classes if the first two years are by necessity working at a remedial level.

Anyone have personal experience of this situation which they can share?

For the record, that's the 2013 number. For 2014 it was 30%.

[Anonymous]

Possibly select another school.

[Anonymous]

30% of 1500 students is about 500 divided by 4 grade levels ain't all that around 125 students. Remember it is a comprehensive high-school in an urban setting, so don't try make Wilson as elite as you want it to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:30% of 1500 students is about 500 divided by 4 grade levels ain't all that around 125 students. Remember it is a comprehensive high-school in an urban setting, so don't try make Wilson as elite as you want it to be.

Who is trying to make it sound elite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

True, honors level freshman have some classes with the "masses" but therein lies the beauty of Wilson.
My child (who is an honors student) fully enjoyed and learned a lot in non-honors classes freshman year. First of all, all honors would be incredibly stressful and we are mostly interested in having our teenager be happy while getting her work done. And teachers are professionals, they are not in the business of putting the brakes on their entire class
She gained some valuable insight:
She learned that she is in fact a really good student by being in classes with kids who are not as academically prepared. Interesting reality check for a 14/15 year old. Kind of a "hey, I know stuff, I get this, I'm a good writer, I know how to study, etc". Sometimes, kids asked her for peer help, she was happy to share.
She found herself doing group projects with kids that on paper may seem to not have a lot to offer academically, but she learned from them, appreciated their perspectives, found some to be "really smart" others to be "so funny" and all to have something to add-even if they don't ace all the tests.
We feel really lucky that our kid gets to gain this very important perspective early on. Not everyone comes from the same kind of house or has a family where all the adults have advanced degrees, but it's all ok and it is so important to be able to relate to people who are not all just like you.

OP here. I loved this explanation of your child's experience and your perspective on it. It is very similar to my experience in HS and my own parents' perspective, so I get it. I benefitted from the life lessons you describe. I sailed through HS and went on to an Ivy where I did not struggle, but did discover that my education had HUGE holes in it that it was too late to fill to prepare me to study those things in college. So I just had to work around that. I would really like my children to benefit from a more rigorous and engaging academic experience in HS than the one I received, so my radar is tuned for situations that seem likely not to give them that.

What didn't your school teach you? Maybe Wilson parents and grads can chime in to tell you whether they feel those things are lacking at Wilson for kids on an honors track?

I also went to a huge public high school, which also prepared me to succeed. I haven't noticed any holes though, as I was able to pursue all of my academic interests. DH observed something recently. He used to feel that his huge public high school in another area of the country (many, many years ago) did not prepare him to pursue STEM fields, but he also wasn't interested in STEM fields. Our experience with our DC now makes him think that it might not have been his school's fault after all. We have a "STEM kid." No matter how well educated we might have been, we never would have been able to compete with our own kid because we lack the innate interest and drive in those subjects that just makes it all click so easily for him (if only I could say the same of penmanship). And, no matter where he goes to high school, public or private, he will continue to pursue these topics on his own time in greater breadth and depth than the school will provide. Similarly, I had the same science classes as our valedictorian, and I got very good grades, but it is fair to say that sometimes it seemed like we were in a different class altogether. She went on to study the field at an Ivy and become a doctor, just like she knew she would from the time she was a little girl. But for me, beyond high school, that subject was less interesting and more difficult to me. Maybe those are the kind of kids you encountered in the Ivy courses for which you felt unprepared. In other words, once you get to a certain level of education, your strongest abilities and interests will rise to the surface and so will everyone else's. And so, we sort into majors (and some first year courses are designed to make that sort happen).

Do you believe you would be in a different field today if you had gone to a different high school? Also, did anyone in your high school pursue the major for which you felt unprepared? (I ask out of genuine curiosity on this topic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After looking carefully at the courses for my rising 9th grader, it appears to me that Wilson offers an "honors" level class for Freshman English and Biology, and math and a second language at flexible levels. The big question is History. I believe all students are required to take World History, for which I see no honors class. Since 40% of Wilson students are reading below grade level, does this mean that my DS is taking the first two years of history in a classroom where close to half of his classmates are not reading proficiently? I was surprised by this because the school offers a really impressive array of AP classes in social sciences and history. I wonder how well students can be prepared for those upper level classes if the first two years are by necessity working at a remedial level.

Anyone have personal experience of this situation which they can share?

So you don't think dcps teachers could differentiate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After looking carefully at the courses for my rising 9th grader, it appears to me that Wilson offers an "honors" level class for Freshman English and Biology, and math and a second language at flexible levels. The big question is History. I believe all students are required to take World History, for which I see no honors class. Since 40% of Wilson students are reading below grade level, does this mean that my DS is taking the first two years of history in a classroom where close to half of his classmates are not reading proficiently? I was surprised by this because the school offers a really impressive array of AP classes in social sciences and history. I wonder how well students can be prepared for those upper level classes if the first two years are by necessity working at a remedial level.

Anyone have personal experience of this situation which they can share?

So you don't think dcps teachers could differentiate?

Not pp but differentiating can be done within a spectrum, but not as wide a gap as is probably extant at Wilson. Recently when I was at Hardy's open house the principal noted that they had essentially leveled their classes because the range of gaps kids had from 50 schools was too much. I am guessing Wilson has even more gaps. There are some reasonable expectations we can have of teachers, but we also have to respect some of the realities on the ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After looking carefully at the courses for my rising 9th grader, it appears to me that Wilson offers an "honors" level class for Freshman English and Biology, and math and a second language at flexible levels. The big question is History. I believe all students are required to take World History, for which I see no honors class. Since 40% of Wilson students are reading below grade level, does this mean that my DS is taking the first two years of history in a classroom where close to half of his classmates are not reading proficiently? I was surprised by this because the school offers a really impressive array of AP classes in social sciences and history. I wonder how well students can be prepared for those upper level classes if the first two years are by necessity working at a remedial level.

Anyone have personal experience of this situation which they can share?

So you don't think dcps teachers could differentiate?

Here's the dirty little secret: When the gaps are too wide, for example a difference of top performers being 4 or 5 grade levels apart from bottom performers (as is often the case when drawing from a larger population of students) differentiation really does not work. The reality of it is that teachers end up just teaching to the middle, the higher performers are left to their own devices and don't really hit their full potential, and the bottom performers don't get the remediation and help they really need. As for the "valuable insights" it's 4 years spent learning some of us aren't so fortunate, but even that lesson comes mixed, with both altruism but also cynicism.