Jackson Reed - why do their public presentations not talk about APs?

[Anonymous]

I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Problem is that the rules keep changing at JR. I have had older kids go through JR but my present student is having a very different experience.
Unfortunately, the rules keep getting more restrictive. Every time they change something, it is usually for the worse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last fall I attended the in-person open house and tour. Today I attended an online info session that was advertised for Deal parents. For both, they don't talk about APs. In the online session they had one slide on it and barely spoke to it. For both, they mainly talked about their academies, which is fine. But the lack of presenting on APs is mind boggling. It's so absent, that it seems intentional rather than an oversight. Even when I ask questions about APs, they seem hesitant to answer, it's almost as if they've been given a gag order to not talk about it. I'm perhaps exaggerating a bit too much. But for highly selective bound kids, APs are critical and necessary to the secondary school landscape. Anyone have any insight?

If you care that much about APs, I doubt JR is a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Problem is that the rules keep changing at JR. I have had older kids go through JR but my present student is having a very different experience.
Unfortunately, the rules keep getting more restrictive. Every time they change something, it is usually for the worse

This x 1000. Actions are much louder than words. The whole thing was focused on academies and barely addressed AP.

They have 3, THREE, new academy directors dictated by DCPS yet desperately need more teachers in the classroom and college counselors.

They said they want the kids in academies. How much more direct is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

That’s not the same as requiring that every kid join an Academy, which is what we’re talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

That’s not the same as requiring that every kid join an Academy, which is what we’re talking about.

No one is quite sure what is going on. There was not much clarity at the transition meeting.
The confusion adds additional stress

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Because DCPS has decided to spend $$$ on Academy Directors at all the high schools. These are high level director salaries. 3 at JR. Academies also fall under career and tech Ed which is flush with money these days. The goal is to force every kid into an academy and make them complete the pathway

Someone is asserting this on multiple threads. How do you know this? I have two kids at JR--neither in an academy--and have not gotten this impression.

You can speak to any of the JR NAF directors and ask them about the vision of the CTE Academies. Or you can write to the CTE director at the DCPS Central Office. They are in the process of trying to implement the Academy plan. Each academy has required courses for all 4 years of HS. Students are also supposed to pass some type of CTE certification exam. AP classes are only part of the IT academy, not the other Academies although the Biomed track encourages AP Biology

The "Academy Plan" = every JR student must join an academy? That's the part I'm not seeing evidence of.

That is the goal for the academies. Many of the other DCPS high schools are based on this model. JR is trying to get there as well. I’m not sure if they will succeed with 100% academy participation but they are trying to at least get most students to enroll. Walls and Banneker do not have CTE classes so they don’t follow the academy model for better or worse. This is one reason neither school offers AP CS because the AP CS classes in DCPS fall under the CTE department

Walls and Banneker are both Humanities schools and Banneker is IB. So they have their niche already. Walls does(or will) offer AP CS. It's on next years course list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Because DCPS has decided to spend $$$ on Academy Directors at all the high schools. These are high level director salaries. 3 at JR. Academies also fall under career and tech Ed which is flush with money these days. The goal is to force every kid into an academy and make them complete the pathway

Someone is asserting this on multiple threads. How do you know this? I have two kids at JR--neither in an academy--and have not gotten this impression.

You can speak to any of the JR NAF directors and ask them about the vision of the CTE Academies. Or you can write to the CTE director at the DCPS Central Office. They are in the process of trying to implement the Academy plan. Each academy has required courses for all 4 years of HS. Students are also supposed to pass some type of CTE certification exam. AP classes are only part of the IT academy, not the other Academies although the Biomed track encourages AP Biology

The "Academy Plan" = every JR student must join an academy? That's the part I'm not seeing evidence of.

That is the goal for the academies. Many of the other DCPS high schools are based on this model. JR is trying to get there as well. I’m not sure if they will succeed with 100% academy participation but they are trying to at least get most students to enroll. Walls and Banneker do not have CTE classes so they don’t follow the academy model for better or worse. This is one reason neither school offers AP CS because the AP CS classes in DCPS fall under the CTE department

Walls and Banneker are both Humanities schools and Banneker is IB. So they have their niche already. Walls does(or will) offer AP CS. It's on next years course list.

That is good news if Walls is offering AP CS next year. Is it AP CS Principles?
And it might be a humanities school but they do offer AP Chem, Bio, Physics + multivariable calculus. The only courses they don’t offer are the CTE Biomed and Engineering pathways. There are no academies at Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Because DCPS has decided to spend $$$ on Academy Directors at all the high schools. These are high level director salaries. 3 at JR. Academies also fall under career and tech Ed which is flush with money these days. The goal is to force every kid into an academy and make them complete the pathway

Someone is asserting this on multiple threads. How do you know this? I have two kids at JR--neither in an academy--and have not gotten this impression.

You can speak to any of the JR NAF directors and ask them about the vision of the CTE Academies. Or you can write to the CTE director at the DCPS Central Office. They are in the process of trying to implement the Academy plan. Each academy has required courses for all 4 years of HS. Students are also supposed to pass some type of CTE certification exam. AP classes are only part of the IT academy, not the other Academies although the Biomed track encourages AP Biology

The "Academy Plan" = every JR student must join an academy? That's the part I'm not seeing evidence of.

That is the goal for the academies. Many of the other DCPS high schools are based on this model. JR is trying to get there as well. I’m not sure if they will succeed with 100% academy participation but they are trying to at least get most students to enroll. Walls and Banneker do not have CTE classes so they don’t follow the academy model for better or worse. This is one reason neither school offers AP CS because the AP CS classes in DCPS fall under the CTE department

Walls and Banneker are both Humanities schools and Banneker is IB. So they have their niche already. Walls does(or will) offer AP CS. It's on next years course list.

Banneker is also offering AP CS next year for the first time (I’m not sure which one); it was in the course registration materials sent home with my kid. Perhaps downtown has changed its policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Because DCPS has decided to spend $$$ on Academy Directors at all the high schools. These are high level director salaries. 3 at JR. Academies also fall under career and tech Ed which is flush with money these days. The goal is to force every kid into an academy and make them complete the pathway

Someone is asserting this on multiple threads. How do you know this? I have two kids at JR--neither in an academy--and have not gotten this impression.

You can speak to any of the JR NAF directors and ask them about the vision of the CTE Academies. Or you can write to the CTE director at the DCPS Central Office. They are in the process of trying to implement the Academy plan. Each academy has required courses for all 4 years of HS. Students are also supposed to pass some type of CTE certification exam. AP classes are only part of the IT academy, not the other Academies although the Biomed track encourages AP Biology

The "Academy Plan" = every JR student must join an academy? That's the part I'm not seeing evidence of.

That is the goal for the academies. Many of the other DCPS high schools are based on this model. JR is trying to get there as well. I’m not sure if they will succeed with 100% academy participation but they are trying to at least get most students to enroll. Walls and Banneker do not have CTE classes so they don’t follow the academy model for better or worse. This is one reason neither school offers AP CS because the AP CS classes in DCPS fall under the CTE department

Walls and Banneker are both Humanities schools and Banneker is IB. So they have their niche already. Walls does(or will) offer AP CS. It's on next years course list.

Banneker is also offering AP CS next year for the first time (I’m not sure which one); it was in the course registration materials sent home with my kid. Perhaps downtown has changed its policy.

Why weren’t they allowing it before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Because DCPS has decided to spend $$$ on Academy Directors at all the high schools. These are high level director salaries. 3 at JR. Academies also fall under career and tech Ed which is flush with money these days. The goal is to force every kid into an academy and make them complete the pathway

Someone is asserting this on multiple threads. How do you know this? I have two kids at JR--neither in an academy--and have not gotten this impression.

You can speak to any of the JR NAF directors and ask them about the vision of the CTE Academies. Or you can write to the CTE director at the DCPS Central Office. They are in the process of trying to implement the Academy plan. Each academy has required courses for all 4 years of HS. Students are also supposed to pass some type of CTE certification exam. AP classes are only part of the IT academy, not the other Academies although the Biomed track encourages AP Biology

The "Academy Plan" = every JR student must join an academy? That's the part I'm not seeing evidence of.

That is the goal for the academies. Many of the other DCPS high schools are based on this model. JR is trying to get there as well. I’m not sure if they will succeed with 100% academy participation but they are trying to at least get most students to enroll. Walls and Banneker do not have CTE classes so they don’t follow the academy model for better or worse. This is one reason neither school offers AP CS because the AP CS classes in DCPS fall under the CTE department

Walls and Banneker are both Humanities schools and Banneker is IB. So they have their niche already. Walls does(or will) offer AP CS. It's on next years course list.

Banneker is also offering AP CS next year for the first time (I’m not sure which one); it was in the course registration materials sent home with my kid. Perhaps downtown has changed its policy.

Why weren’t they allowing it before?

Someone in this thread said neither Walls nor Banneker was allowed to offer AP CS because downtown treated it as a CTE course. Both schools are offering it for next year. If the PP was correct about the policy, then it seems the policy has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

That’s not the same as requiring that every kid join an Academy, which is what we’re talking about.

No one is quite sure what is going on. There was not much clarity at the transition meeting.
The confusion adds additional stress

The confusion is exacerbated by someone on this thread asserting that JR is going to require all students to participate in academies. Those of us with students at the school now are saying there’s no evidence this is true. So this particular piece of (mis)information can’t be laid at JR’s feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

That’s not the same as requiring that every kid join an Academy, which is what we’re talking about.

No one is quite sure what is going on. There was not much clarity at the transition meeting.
The confusion adds additional stress

The confusion is exacerbated by someone on this thread asserting that JR is going to require all students to participate in academies. Those of us with students at the school now are saying there’s no evidence this is true. So this particular piece of (mis)information can’t be laid at JR’s feet.

+1 I have seen no evidence that JRHS is requiring academies and neither have my children there.