Wilson honors for all - how has it worked?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ And that is why the classes only have 20 students -- smaller than any DCPS elementary or middle school class

Sure, DCPS will provide the funds so that there are 20 students in each class. That’s incredibly hard to believe when we know how overcrowded the school is and DCPS BS that there is not enough money for more teacher. You show me that each class at Wilson will have 20 students and we can have another discussion.

Every class at Wilson won't and doesn't have 20 students; just those 2 9th grade 'Honors for All' classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are all these skeptical parents educators? Neuropsychologists? Why do we all feel we know better than educators who have spent years in the field?

Do you appreciate it when people outside your field tell you how to do your job?

No they are not but they know and see that their child is bored and not challenged, and the material is not up to speed to what they can handle. So how are you going to address that?

You address it by working with the school to ensure that the material is up to speed so that your child is challenged and not bored.

A previous parent did address is and here is their response “All I know is that my 10 th grader had a boring and unchallenging year at Wilson last year. When I asked an administrator about it, he said point blank that the goal in 9th grade is to try and bring up struggling and remedial students and that is probably why my kid was bored. “.

Then that administrator just passed the buck and shifted the blame, implicitly, onto the struggling students. And it sounds from the responses of most of the parents here that it worked. The school is responsible for challenging its most advanced students. It can do that with honors for all. If parents are being told the blame lies with other students, think twice before you fall for that.

[Anonymous]

Why do we expect teachers at this level to do significant differentiation? Of course the rightest kids will be ignored. I feel sorry for teachers and it’s no wonder they are leaving the profession in droves. DCPS has plenty of 9th graders who still read on a ; th grade level. Sorry I don’t want my wasting time in the same class.

[Anonymous]

Students that are getting a 1 and 2 on PARCC have no business leaving middle school

They should stay in 8th grade an extra year and catch up

then 9th grade can actually be taught on grade level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Students that are getting a 1 and 2 on PARCC have no business leaving middle school

They should stay in 8th grade an extra year and catch up

then 9th grade can actually be taught on grade level

Promotion and PARCC are not related. And there is no data showing that holding a student back in fact helps them catch up.

If you want a version of that policy, send your kid to BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students that are getting a 1 and 2 on PARCC have no business leaving middle school

They should stay in 8th grade an extra year and catch up

then 9th grade can actually be taught on grade level

Promotion and PARCC are not related. And there is no data showing that holding a student back in fact helps them catch up.

If you want a version of that policy, send your kid to BASIS.

I agree 8th grade is too late

The reality is most kids in DCPS should be held back in K-2 until they can actually read

The gaps need to be fixed early after elementary it's too late

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want your students peers to be on the same level or higher, then send your kid to Banneker or Walls.

A comprehensive DCPS high school is different. You have choices.

Banneker and Walls aren't big enough for all the advanced kids.

Sure have DCPS provide enough spots for all the students at these schools. Until then, you have no right to simply make that blank statement to parents who are at other noon-tracking schools that they have choices because the reality is they don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students that are getting a 1 and 2 on PARCC have no business leaving middle school

They should stay in 8th grade an extra year and catch up

then 9th grade can actually be taught on grade level

Promotion and PARCC are not related. And there is no data showing that holding a student back in fact helps them catch up.

If you want a version of that policy, send your kid to BASIS.

I agree 8th grade is too late

The reality is most kids in DCPS should be held back in K-2 until they can actually read

The gaps need to be fixed early after elementary it's too late

Agree completely but DCPS won’t do that. They will push kids who are not at grade level forward and hold back kids at the top from advancing so they can say they are closing theie achievement gap when they are actually not and graduating kids who can’t even read at 9th grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want your students peers to be on the same level or higher, then send your kid to Banneker or Walls.

A comprehensive DCPS high school is different. You have choices.

Banneker and Walls aren't big enough for all the advanced kids.

Sure have DCPS provide enough spots for all the students at these schools. Until then, you have no right to simply make that blank statement to parents who are at other noon-tracking schools that they have choices because the reality is they don’t.

There are now 4 DCPS application high schools that set the same bars for initial application as SWW and Banneker (3.0 average and 4 or 5 on PARCC).

Banneker, SWW, McKinley and as of next fall, Early College at Coolidge.

McKinley and Banneker had some empty seats last year due to a lack of qualified applicants.

[Anonymous]

DCPS loves to ignore what Wilson needs but then keeps shoving more and more kids there. I don’t agree with a lot of Kim Martin’s approach but it has got to be hard working within DCPS. Also the hiring office at DCPS is pathetic so they don’t do a great job of capturing a good pool of teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS loves to ignore what Wilson needs but then keeps shoving more and more kids there. I don’t agree with a lot of Kim Martin’s approach but it has got to be hard working within DCPS. Also the hiring office at DCPS is pathetic so they don’t do a great job of capturing a good pool of teachers

The principal is responsible for the quality of the hires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want your students peers to be on the same level or higher, then send your kid to Banneker or Walls.

A comprehensive DCPS high school is different. You have choices.

Banneker and Walls aren't big enough for all the advanced kids.

Sure have DCPS provide enough spots for all the students at these schools. Until then, you have no right to simply make that blank statement to parents who are at other noon-tracking schools that they have choices because the reality is they don’t.

There are now 4 DCPS application high schools that set the same bars for initial application as SWW and Banneker (3.0 average and 4 or 5 on PARCC).

Banneker, SWW, McKinley and as of next fall, Early College at Coolidge.

McKinley and Banneker had some empty seats last year due to a lack of qualified applicants.

Again provide the adequate number of spots (3 schools and even a 4th is far from adequate) and locations in each ward so it’s accessible to all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want your students peers to be on the same level or higher, then send your kid to Banneker or Walls.

A comprehensive DCPS high school is different. You have choices.

Banneker and Walls aren't big enough for all the advanced kids.

Sure have DCPS provide enough spots for all the students at these schools. Until then, you have no right to simply make that blank statement to parents who are at other noon-tracking schools that they have choices because the reality is they don’t.

There are now 4 DCPS application high schools that set the same bars for initial application as SWW and Banneker (3.0 average and 4 or 5 on PARCC).

Banneker, SWW, McKinley and as of next fall, Early College at Coolidge.

McKinley and Banneker had some empty seats last year due to a lack of qualified applicants.

Again provide the adequate number of spots (3 schools and even a 4th is far from adequate) and locations in each ward so it’s accessible to all.

FFS - the point is anyone who wanted a seat at a school with all students presumably at or above grade level for this current school year COULD HAVE HAD ONE.

They chose other options, which is, of course, their prerogative. But if you take a pass on those other options, where the minimum standards are higher, you don't get to complain that Larla is only in class with students who are at least as prepared as she is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want your students peers to be on the same level or higher, then send your kid to Banneker or Walls.

A comprehensive DCPS high school is different. You have choices.

Banneker and Walls aren't big enough for all the advanced kids.

Sure have DCPS provide enough spots for all the students at these schools. Until then, you have no right to simply make that blank statement to parents who are at other noon-tracking schools that they have choices because the reality is they don’t.

There are now 4 DCPS application high schools that set the same bars for initial application as SWW and Banneker (3.0 average and 4 or 5 on PARCC).

Banneker, SWW, McKinley and as of next fall, Early College at Coolidge.

McKinley and Banneker had some empty seats last year due to a lack of qualified applicants.

Again provide the adequate number of spots (3 schools and even a 4th is far from adequate) and locations in each ward so it’s accessible to all.

FFS - the point is anyone who wanted a seat at a school with all students presumably at or above grade level for this current school year COULD HAVE HAD ONE.

They chose other options, which is, of course, their prerogative. But if you take a pass on those other options, where the minimum standards are higher, you don't get to complain that Larla is only in class with students who are at least as prepared as she is.

Again you are making an incorrect blank statement. First even if those few open seats are filled, there is still not enough seats for all the students, not even close. Secondly, if the school is not accessible to parents because it’s not close to their home or work, then that’s a big obstacle for families. So provide a tracking school in each ward or 2 wards side by side with enough seats. But we all know DCPS won’t do this because they don’t care to provide enough opportunity to challenge those who are advanced. They put all their resources in trying to bring up the bottom at the expense of those at the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students that are getting a 1 and 2 on PARCC have no business leaving middle school

They should stay in 8th grade an extra year and catch up

then 9th grade can actually be taught on grade level

Promotion and PARCC are not related. And there is no data showing that holding a student back in fact helps them catch up.

If you want a version of that policy, send your kid to BASIS.

I agree 8th grade is too late

The reality is most kids in DCPS should be held back in K-2 until they can actually read

The gaps need to be fixed early after elementary it's too late

Can you point to any data showing the holding kids back improves their outcomes long term? I'm not an expert, but whenever I've seen experts talk about this, they seem to say that holding kids back increases drop out rates and lowers achievement.

Meeting kids where they are with appropriate engaging material seems to me to be what's needed. If I were designing a high school, I'd have kids do everything on Khan Academy and progress at their own rate, but doubtless that's been tried and has its own issues.