Academic Rigor of APS Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t worry. The high school will be a joke too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically, ppl think that adult who are in college won't be able to figure out the workload unless overworked as kids?

Managing homework is part of developing executive skill, building attention span while working alone in a solitary room. Right now the kids only have to work with others working and monitored by a teacher; the siren song of beer pong, their phone, roommates gaming, will all be steps away in college and they will have no muscle memory for studying solitarily.

Some homework != overworked.

Ok maybe overworked want the right word, but kids usually get way too much.
+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t worry. The high school will be a joke too.

Sadly this. My coaster went to APS through 9th then asked to go to private school because they were completely unchallenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t worry. The high school will be a joke too.

Sadly this. My coaster went to APS through 9th then asked to go to private school because they were completely unchallenged.

Even WL IB?

[Anonymous]

Algebra in 8th grade is very advanced. Your kid is way ahead, OP.

[Anonymous]

Trust your instincts. Something is off about APS.

[Anonymous]

What kinds of classes is your kid taking other than Algebra, OP? My 7th grader has homework done but not all nights. He could get it done during the day if he did homework at lunch instead of socializing with friends. He is taking Intensified Algebra and a foreign language, though. My friends’ kids who are taking a less rigorous course load do seem to have less homework than he does.

[Anonymous]

You are focused on the wrong thing. My kid is a junior and many kids who were pushed into early Algebra just weren't ready and the algebra was a bit watered down which was ok.

But the students got to high school and the just weren't prepared because the high school teachers assumed a level of mastery that wasn't there and they had to remediate. This was true even in the intensified level classes.

Forcing math early is probably the biggest mistake some parents make. Instead I would argue that parents need to push middle schools to teach something far more basic which is reading and writing including grammar, vocabulary, and how to write basic paragraphs and essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Algebra in 8th grade is very advanced. Your kid is way ahead, OP.

It's not advanced, it's pretty standard for APS MS.

[Anonymous]

I'll just pile on and say that my 7th grader has straight As at WMS and does zero work outside of class. DC isn't brilliant, they simply require so little.

[Anonymous]

Mom of a straight A kid at Gunston who also does ZERO outside work. He also doesn't seem to be challenged in his courses but also isn't bothered by it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are focused on the wrong thing. My kid is a junior and many kids who were pushed into early Algebra just weren't ready and the algebra was a bit watered down which was ok.

But the students got to high school and the just weren't prepared because the high school teachers assumed a level of mastery that wasn't there and they had to remediate. This was true even in the intensified level classes.

Forcing math early is probably the biggest mistake some parents make. Instead I would argue that parents need to push middle schools to teach something far more basic which is reading and writing including grammar, vocabulary, and how to write basic paragraphs and essays.

I'm one of the PPs that mentioned my kid isn't challenged right now. Even though I don't think she's challenged in most classes right now, I do agree with this poster's points. My DD's math placement is a good fit - not the highest, but that's okay. I agree that pushing too much in math is a huge mistake and sets kids up for failure later on. It happened to me and resulted in my hating math.

[Anonymous]

APS does a great job in so many areas, such as cultural enrichment.

[Anonymous]

My kid usually has homework and his assignments are relatively challenging. Particularly math and civic economics as well as science. Definitely more rigorous than what I was doing in 7th grade ages ago. And I think the focus on SEL is really important in middle school particularly given everything that kids have gone through over the last two years and that they are going through puberty.

[Anonymous]

7th grader at HBW - almost never has homework. Says he does it at school, but somehow also has time for 7-eleven slurpee runs and hanging out with friends, so I suspect he isn't assigned much homework. But I actually have no idea what he's doing at school.