How common are straight A’s in middle school in APS

[Anonymous]

The curriculum in MS isn't very hard for a bright kid, except if your kid is doing accelerated math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

i would also add that if you have a kid with good executive functioning skills, that helps tremendously in getting all A's. My DD is very bright, and always scores well on tests and quizzes, but can't turn in work on time for the life of her if she misses a day or two of school. The number of assignments with points taken off because they were late is amazing -- she has had her grades lowered because of that, not because of her knowledge of the material. She's working on it, but it's very demoralizing. Friends of hers who aren't taking challenging classes but have strong organizational skills will get that valedictorian status, but she won't.

Yes. This is the way it will be in life, too. Organizational skills are very important. Instead of making it sound like this is the teacher or school's fault somehow, PP, maybe you should be glad that your daughter is learning the importance of these skills now, and changing her habits so that she'll excel in high school.

Oh, I'm not making it the schools fault, especially not with her -- we are stressing those points with her now and learning this now in a low-cost situation in a good thing. I've read "The blessing of a b minus" and getting on board with it. It's just hard to manage the emotions, especially in a 7th grade girl with hormones all over the place and anxiety/depression/suicidal thoughts but good enough grades (mostly As, maybe one or two B/B+s depending on when the teachers finish accounting for work done but turned in late in the system and also one test last week that hasn't shown up yet in intensified algebra).

Oh my - PLEASE approach the school and ask for an evaluation for special education. Could be ADHD and/or emotional disability, partially masked by her intelligence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

i would also add that if you have a kid with good executive functioning skills, that helps tremendously in getting all A's. My DD is very bright, and always scores well on tests and quizzes, but can't turn in work on time for the life of her if she misses a day or two of school. The number of assignments with points taken off because they were late is amazing -- she has had her grades lowered because of that, not because of her knowledge of the material. She's working on it, but it's very demoralizing. Friends of hers who aren't taking challenging classes but have strong organizational skills will get that valedictorian status, but she won't.

Yes. This is the way it will be in life, too. Organizational skills are very important. Instead of making it sound like this is the teacher or school's fault somehow, PP, maybe you should be glad that your daughter is learning the importance of these skills now, and changing her habits so that she'll excel in high school.

Oh, I'm not making it the schools fault, especially not with her -- we are stressing those points with her now and learning this now in a low-cost situation in a good thing. I've read "The blessing of a b minus" and getting on board with it. It's just hard to manage the emotions, especially in a 7th grade girl with hormones all over the place and anxiety/depression/suicidal thoughts but good enough grades (mostly As, maybe one or two B/B+s depending on when the teachers finish accounting for work done but turned in late in the system and also one test last week that hasn't shown up yet in intensified algebra).

Oh my - PLEASE approach the school and ask for an evaluation for special education. Could be ADHD and/or emotional disability, partially masked by her intelligence.

Oh, there’s no doubt that she has some ADD behaviors - she came home from school in 4 th grade and told us that she thought she had ADD. Her therapist agrees but we are trying CBT for it. It’s clear that DH also has undiagnosed ADD and I do also to a lesser extent than Both of them. Right now, we are trying to improve her exec functioning skills and so far. She is letting me coach her somewhat. We can’t afford independent testing right now and neither ES nor MS are concerned about it.

[Anonymous]

Me again - she also is identified as gifted in all academic areas. We have had our hands full dealing with the anxiety/depression stuff with her over the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very common because of grade inflation.

Agree 100%
APS is doing these kids a disservice. Binder grade, homework completion, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP here. She's taking Algebra Intensified and Spanish Intensified as a 7th grader (both HS credits) and still getting straight A's. She's been identified as gifted in Math, English and Art, but there aren't any advanced courses except for Math at her school. I've heard about grade inflation and lack of challenging curriculum, so that's why I thought I'd ask. Wondering if it will get harder next year and how APS middle school curriculum compares to other counties in the area (i.e. is it too easy and too much emphasis on HW, classwork, etc.. as prior posters have indicated).

[Anonymous]

Oh, there’s no doubt that she has some ADD behaviors - she came home from school in 4 th grade and told us that she thought she had ADD. Her therapist agrees but we are trying CBT for it. It’s clear that DH also has undiagnosed ADD and I do also to a lesser extent than Both of them. Right now, we are trying to improve her exec functioning skills and so far. She is letting me coach her somewhat. We can’t afford independent testing right now and neither ES nor MS are concerned about it.

Don't let the schools' nonchalance deter you. Ask for a student study and then request a full evaluation for special education, so the school will do all this testing at no cost to you.

Contact the Parent Resource Center -- they will explain all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Me again - she also is identified as gifted in all academic areas. We have had our hands full dealing with the anxiety/depression stuff with her over the past few years.

You can be gifted and receive special education services.

[Anonymous]

At Gunston MS, it seems like there are 50-60 kids each quarter with straight A's (maybe a little less than 1 in 6 students). For each of my 2 son's classes, about 30 kids had straight A's for all three years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, there’s no doubt that she has some ADD behaviors - she came home from school in 4 th grade and told us that she thought she had ADD. Her therapist agrees but we are trying CBT for it. It’s clear that DH also has undiagnosed ADD and I do also to a lesser extent than Both of them. Right now, we are trying to improve her exec functioning skills and so far. She is letting me coach her somewhat. We can’t afford independent testing right now and neither ES nor MS are concerned about it.

Don't let the schools' nonchalance deter you. Ask for a student study and then request a full evaluation for special education, so the school will do all this testing at no cost to you.

Contact the Parent Resource Center -- they will explain all of this.

Thanks. This is really helpful. Appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

Tip:

Do not monitor ParentVue on the regular. Too easy to freak out when a teacher enters a zero for something legitimately missed due to absence or whatever. It is a placeholder but that zero will drag the whole grade down. BTDT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's fairly common -- not universal, but easy enough to do if your kid is motivated. A little harder in 8th grade. I know a couple of super-bright, highly-motivated kids who barely squeaked an A out of World Geography. No one wants to start high school with lower than a 4.0.

This is so true. My 8th grader has had all As going into 8th, and got As in all of his other classes for 1st quarter this year. That said, he barely got an A in World Geo with an 89.6 average. I was surprised as how hard it is. He is also in Geometry and Latin II so he certainly has a challenging course load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tip:

Do not monitor ParentVue on the regular. Too easy to freak out when a teacher enters a zero for something legitimately missed due to absence or whatever. It is a placeholder but that zero will drag the whole grade down. BTDT.

AMEN, AMEN! I have it set up to send me an email once a week with grades and missing assignments. That has worked (somewhat) at keeping me out of it on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She's taking Algebra Intensified and Spanish Intensified as a 7th grader (both HS credits) and still getting straight A's. She's been identified as gifted in Math, English and Art, but there aren't any advanced courses except for Math at her school. I've heard about grade inflation and lack of challenging curriculum, so that's why I thought I'd ask. Wondering if it will get harder next year and how APS middle school curriculum compares to other counties in the area (i.e. is it too easy and too much emphasis on HW, classwork, etc.. as prior posters have indicated).

No such thing as Spanish intensified. Spanish 1 is typical for a 7th grader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. She's taking Algebra Intensified and Spanish Intensified as a 7th grader (both HS credits) and still getting straight A's. She's been identified as gifted in Math, English and Art, but there aren't any advanced courses except for Math at her school. I've heard about grade inflation and lack of challenging curriculum, so that's why I thought I'd ask. Wondering if it will get harder next year and how APS middle school curriculum compares to other counties in the area (i.e. is it too easy and too much emphasis on HW, classwork, etc.. as prior posters have indicated).

No such thing as Spanish intensified. Spanish 1 is typical for a 7th grader.

At TJ, my DD had French 1 Intensified on her class schedule. Didn't seem to really be different from the regular French 1 DS took. I noticed the "intensified" label was not on the report card, just the original class schedule.