Did the honors classes in middle school prepare your child for honors/AP classes in high school?

[Anonymous]

Not at Thoreau. Everything was "honors" and a lot of the kids had trouble when they hit Madison and thought they were prepared for honors classes.

This was few years ago, though, and Thoreau now has a new principal who used to be at Madison, so that may have changed.

[Anonymous]

Yes, at Longfellow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at Thoreau. Everything was "honors" and a lot of the kids had trouble when they hit Madison and thought they were prepared for honors classes.

This was few years ago, though, and Thoreau now has a new principal who used to be at Madison, so that may have changed.

how can that be if the grades and AP passrates are as good as they are? I mean, if 90%+ of the kids in Madison went to Thoreau and had honors classes there... and then went to Madison and did well... how can you say that so many were ill-prepared but somehow rose to the occasion? Either you are right that they weren't prepared, and yet the vast majority pulled it together despite not having that MS preparation -- and if that is the case then I would suggest that the MS "preparation" is a fallacy. OR they were as prepared as they needed to be for MS -- which is not the same as preparing for HS. OR regardless of how "prepared" one is in MS, there is going to be a big jump up in HS for honors and AP classes.

I just have trouble believing these posts that say "Thoreau is too easy... doesn't prepare kids for HS" -- when Madison students have excellent scores and passrates. I don't believe that all of Madison's high performing kids somehow corrected the deficiencies of their MS years on their own time and only succeeded by sheer will and determination. Something is wrong when being a GS-9 school is not considered a good education.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Cooper.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Opinions about honors classes in middle schools other then in Vienna or McLean? Thanks, the replies have been helpful, keep them coming.

[Anonymous]

Our HS classes has pre-reqs and my kids MS teacher had to sign off on the 9th grade Honors classes. If kid was scoring a C in Algebra 1 honors in 8th, the teacher did not recommend him for honors Geom. (problem is they register right after 1st qtr grades and my kid ended up scoring a b+ as a final grade so they let us override the teacher recommendation)

Point is.... if kid wasn’t prepared for advanced class, they didn’t sign up. So no real way of knowing that outcome.

[Anonymous]

Yes - Swanson

I think of APS intensified as the same thing as honors

[Anonymous]

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at Thoreau. Everything was "honors" and a lot of the kids had trouble when they hit Madison and thought they were prepared for honors classes.

This was few years ago, though, and Thoreau now has a new principal who used to be at Madison, so that may have changed.

how can that be if the grades and AP passrates are as good as they are? I mean, if 90%+ of the kids in Madison went to Thoreau and had honors classes there... and then went to Madison and did well... how can you say that so many were ill-prepared but somehow rose to the occasion? Either you are right that they weren't prepared, and yet the vast majority pulled it together despite not having that MS preparation -- and if that is the case then I would suggest that the MS "preparation" is a fallacy. OR they were as prepared as they needed to be for MS -- which is not the same as preparing for HS. OR regardless of how "prepared" one is in MS, there is going to be a big jump up in HS for honors and AP classes.

I just have trouble believing these posts that say "Thoreau is too easy... doesn't prepare kids for HS" -- when Madison students have excellent scores and passrates. I don't believe that all of Madison's high performing kids somehow corrected the deficiencies of their MS years on their own time and only succeeded by sheer will and determination. Something is wrong when being a GS-9 school is not considered a good education.

I'd be interested in a response to this. Anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at Thoreau. Everything was "honors" and a lot of the kids had trouble when they hit Madison and thought they were prepared for honors classes.

This was few years ago, though, and Thoreau now has a new principal who used to be at Madison, so that may have changed.

how can that be if the grades and AP passrates are as good as they are? I mean, if 90%+ of the kids in Madison went to Thoreau and had honors classes there... and then went to Madison and did well... how can you say that so many were ill-prepared but somehow rose to the occasion? Either you are right that they weren't prepared, and yet the vast majority pulled it together despite not having that MS preparation -- and if that is the case then I would suggest that the MS "preparation" is a fallacy. OR they were as prepared as they needed to be for MS -- which is not the same as preparing for HS. OR regardless of how "prepared" one is in MS, there is going to be a big jump up in HS for honors and AP classes.

I just have trouble believing these posts that say "Thoreau is too easy... doesn't prepare kids for HS" -- when Madison students have excellent scores and passrates. I don't believe that all of Madison's high performing kids somehow corrected the deficiencies of their MS years on their own time and only succeeded by sheer will and determination. Something is wrong when being a GS-9 school is not considered a good education.

I'd be interested in a response to this. Anyone?

It settles out after the freshman year. Also, Thoreau has not traditionally been AAP; the AAP students mostly came from LJ or Kilmer. So, on average, the kids from LJ will do better at Madison than the average Thoreau kid (if you assume the average AAP kid is a better student than the average overall).

I know kids from Thoreau that are all A's, though....she stayed at Thoreau instead of LJ because of family ties to Vienna.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - Swanson

I think of APS intensified as the same thing as honors

Isn't math the only class that APS offers intensified

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

I think someone above is lumping honors and AAP together.

In FCPS middle schools, history, for example, has gen ed, honors, and AAP levels. Honors is open enrollment (at least at our school).

The question is whether the middle level, honors, prepares kids well for the most challenging classes in high school.

Mine haven't hit high school yet, so I can't personally speak to that. I'm sure it's somewhat teacher -specific - some will challenge kids more than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at Thoreau. Everything was "honors" and a lot of the kids had trouble when they hit Madison and thought they were prepared for honors classes.

This was few years ago, though, and Thoreau now has a new principal who used to be at Madison, so that may have changed.

how can that be if the grades and AP passrates are as good as they are? I mean, if 90%+ of the kids in Madison went to Thoreau and had honors classes there... and then went to Madison and did well... how can you say that so many were ill-prepared but somehow rose to the occasion? Either you are right that they weren't prepared, and yet the vast majority pulled it together despite not having that MS preparation -- and if that is the case then I would suggest that the MS "preparation" is a fallacy. OR they were as prepared as they needed to be for MS -- which is not the same as preparing for HS. OR regardless of how "prepared" one is in MS, there is going to be a big jump up in HS for honors and AP classes.

I just have trouble believing these posts that say "Thoreau is too easy... doesn't prepare kids for HS" -- when Madison students have excellent scores and passrates. I don't believe that all of Madison's high performing kids somehow corrected the deficiencies of their MS years on their own time and only succeeded by sheer will and determination. Something is wrong when being a GS-9 school is not considered a good education.

I'd be interested in a response to this. Anyone?

In the past 90% of Madison graduates did not attend Thoreau. It was more like 60%. Now the percentage is higher.

It settles out after the freshman year. Also, Thoreau has not traditionally been AAP; the AAP students mostly came from LJ or Kilmer. So, on average, the kids from LJ will do better at Madison than the average Thoreau kid (if you assume the average AAP kid is a better student than the average overall).

I know kids from Thoreau that are all A's, though....she stayed at Thoreau instead of LJ because of family ties to Vienna.

[Anonymous]

In the past 90% of Madison graduates did not attend Thoreau. It was more like 60%. Now the percentage is higher.