Universal AP English & History at Wilson next year for 11th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is "AP for all" mandated only at Wilson? If it's good policy, then shouldn't ALL students across DCPS be placed in AP classes as the mainstream courses of study? If not, what's so special about Wilson that it is being singled out?

Not sure this totally answers your question, but other high schools in the city (with the exception of Banneker and SWW) don't have nearly as many AP class offerings.

And for PPs asking for data points, I am a former Wilson parent and the principal has given multiple presentations about the progress of the program. One presentation I attended the program DID close some of the gaps and it definitely captured students that should've been in AP classes all along. I don't think any of this information is some big secret, in fact some of it used to be on Wilson's website. If folks really care to know, instead of griping on this site how about asking the principal/admin for the information?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is "AP for all" mandated only at Wilson? If it's good policy, then shouldn't ALL students across DCPS be placed in AP classes as the mainstream courses of study? If not, what's so special about Wilson that it is being singled out?

Not sure what you mean by Wilson being "singled out." There is no evidence that this was foisted upon the school by DCPC--rather, the Wilson principal has decided to do this based on equity concerns and a belief that the students and community at large want to pursue anti-racist policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is "AP for all" mandated only at Wilson? If it's good policy, then shouldn't ALL students across DCPS be placed in AP classes as the mainstream courses of study? If not, what's so special about Wilson that it is being singled out?

Not sure this totally answers your question, but other high schools in the city (with the exception of Banneker and SWW) don't have nearly as many AP class offerings.

And for PPs asking for data points, I am a former Wilson parent and the principal has given multiple presentations about the progress of the program. One presentation I attended the program DID close some of the gaps and it definitely captured students that should've been in AP classes all along. I don't think any of this information is some big secret, in fact some of it used to be on Wilson's website. If folks really care to know, instead of griping on this site how about asking the principal/admin for the information?

Actually, the one presentation I saw from the principal showed that the results of the honors for all program had been inconclusive. It was a GW study I believe. Unfortunately that was more than a year ago so I don’t have it handy to cite it year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be missing something, but why is AP the end all be all? Many people might not want to take a class so focused on a single text and a curriculum that teaches to the test. It sounds awful not to have other choices.

As several PP teachers noted in this thread, there are many ways to teach an AP class (same with IB, in fact). Ask anyone who tutors students from more than one school in the same AP classes: they are not using identical course descriptions or teaching methods. Some schools may "teach to the test" and you might as well just buy the Princeton Review, but that is a pretty rare (and lazy) approach.

thank you! so you could have an AP history class that focused on different aspects of US history, like the Depression or Cold War? Or does it have to cover a specific set of facts and time range?

[Anonymous]

If I recall correctly, the theory behind honors for all was to give more students the confidence to enroll in AP classes in the later years of high school. And to overcome the inherent teacher bias which was causing teachers to encourage white students to take AP classes while not encouraging minority students. The AU study from about a year ago actually showed a slight decrease in the number of students of color enrolling in AP classes. So, now the conclusion is just force everyone to take AP classes. Doesn’t this step sort of mean that Honors for All has failed to achieve the stated goal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is "AP for all" mandated only at Wilson? If it's good policy, then shouldn't ALL students across DCPS be placed in AP classes as the mainstream courses of study? If not, what's so special about Wilson that it is being singled out?

Not sure this totally answers your question, but other high schools in the city (with the exception of Banneker and SWW) don't have nearly as many AP class offerings.

And for PPs asking for data points, I am a former Wilson parent and the principal has given multiple presentations about the progress of the program. One presentation I attended the program DID close some of the gaps and it definitely captured students that should've been in AP classes all along. I don't think any of this information is some big secret, in fact some of it used to be on Wilson's website. If folks really care to know, instead of griping on this site how about asking the principal/admin for the information?

But how many students ended up getting worse grades because it was too accelerated for them?

I read an article about Chicago’s “detracking” Algebra, and the first “Algebra for All” attempt failed because all the students did worse - those that were advanced and those that were behind. In fact it ended up increasing drop out rates. The second attempt was more successful, but it in effect reinstituted tracking. The advanced students were together in one class, and the students needing support had a “double dose” (and extra hour of math.)

It seems like “AP for All” is the lazy way out. I fully support all kids having access to challenges and excellent curriculum. But dropping all supports and expecting the unprepared kids to suddenly do AP-level work is not going to be successful. You can’t expect this to work on the force of slogans alone.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/devil-is-in-the-details-when-it-comes-to-tracking-detracking/2014/03

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is "AP for all" mandated only at Wilson? If it's good policy, then shouldn't ALL students across DCPS be placed in AP classes as the mainstream courses of study? If not, what's so special about Wilson that it is being singled out?

Not sure what you mean by Wilson being "singled out." There is no evidence that this was foisted upon the school by DCPC--rather, the Wilson principal has decided to do this based on equity concerns and a belief that the students and community at large want to pursue anti-racist policies.

all students who want to take an AP class now can take it. how is this racist? if forcing students to sign up for a AP class is ant-racist, then why just AP English and not AP math? is there an assumption that minority students are not good at math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is "AP for all" mandated only at Wilson? If it's good policy, then shouldn't ALL students across DCPS be placed in AP classes as the mainstream courses of study? If not, what's so special about Wilson that it is being singled out?

Not sure what you mean by Wilson being "singled out." There is no evidence that this was foisted upon the school by DCPC--rather, the Wilson principal has decided to do this based on equity concerns and a belief that the students and community at large want to pursue anti-racist policies.

all students who want to take an AP class now can take it. how is this racist? if forcing students to sign up for a AP class is ant-racist, then why just AP English and not AP math? is there an assumption that minority students are not good at math?

You can't force AP math (the only AP math classes are calculus and statistics) because neither calculus or statistics are required to graduate & most kids don't take them...everyone has to take junior year English and junior year US history so you have a situation where there's basically segregated classes based on who is taking the AP vs non-AP classes. Wilson is trying to address this by requiring everyone to take the AP classes.

[Anonymous]

I bet a lot of kids just won’t end up taking the AP exam. For better or worse. Their is no negative consequence for your HS transcript if you don’t take the AP exam.

[Anonymous]

"You can't force AP math (the only AP math classes are calculus and statistics) because neither calculus or statistics are required to graduate & most kids don't take them...everyone has to take junior year English and junior year US history so you have a situation where there's basically segregated classes based on who is taking the AP vs non-AP classes. Wilson is trying to address this by requiring everyone to take the AP classes."

How are they ensuring that everyone is prepared for AP math? What are they going to do when the less prepared kids all fail AP math?

[Anonymous]

I appreciate Kim Martin’s goals of trying to improve opportunities for low income and minority students. My worry is that the way she is going about it won’t help these students much and alienate many others. As a principal, she should be trying to meet the needs of all her students but I think she believes her mandate is to create long lasting social change. She may be more effective as a Director of Diversity rather than as a school principal.

[Anonymous]

My biggest question is why they chose these two AP courses. Not all APs are created equal, some are harder than others and some have more content to cover. The school chose two of the biggest reading and writing heavy AP courses to require kids to take. It is a lot of work but a lot of the same type of work. It just seems I’ll conceived to force both APs. Just choose one or the other.

[Anonymous]

*ill, not I’ll

[Anonymous]

I suspect the reason why Martin selected AP History and AP SS "for all" is because DCPS (and perhaps many in public school teaching) have a history of discriminating against the "soft sciences." For example, at a gathering featuring Hardy MS staff, they informed a group of parents that there is no "honors" social studies at Hardy because that's a course that every student ought to be able to participate in; in other words, those courses do not deserve a heightened level of rigor even if the students wish for one.

Of course, anyone who majored in a "soft science" at University knows that this is rank discrimination from professionals who should know better. There's a big difference between history as a required course and history as a rigorous course. This perception is not racism, imo, but is discrimination all the same...against scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"You can't force AP math (the only AP math classes are calculus and statistics) because neither calculus or statistics are required to graduate & most kids don't take them...everyone has to take junior year English and junior year US history so you have a situation where there's basically segregated classes based on who is taking the AP vs non-AP classes. Wilson is trying to address this by requiring everyone to take the AP classes."

How are they ensuring that everyone is prepared for AP math? What are they going to do when the less prepared kids all fail AP math?

Again, see the previous poster's (very clear) rebuttal about AP math... they cannot and are not making sure everyone is preparing for AP math. The only two AP math courses that exist are AP Calculus and AP Statistics. Neither calculus nor statistics is a graduation requirement so they can't require kids to take "AP math." Wilson is only requiring two AP classes: AP US History and AP English Language.