Class of ‘26 Parents: Did MS do enough to prepare your child for HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school lockdowns hit this year's HS freshmen at the very worst time in their academic development.

They lost the spring of sixth grade and all of seventh to learn how to manage a workload between home and school (virtual isn't the same thing), how to stay organized and keep track of assignments, how to take notes in class (they don't), how to let teachers know when they are having trouble, etc. I am sure many parents behind the scenes are seeing a big difference between managing their current HS freshman and an older sibling who has graduated high school.

I feel terrible for this year's HS freshmen. They barely touched MS in person, and have been vaulted head first into high school. There should have been better planning around it.

didn't they have all of 8th grade in person?

[Anonymous]

Any difference in how well prepared kids who take honors vs AAP kids? I have one in AAP and another who will take honors courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had many 4 high schoolers and MS doesn’t prepare them well to study or write.

Do you think the 2026 was worse off? I’m trying to distinguish what is normal versus this class where much if the MS experience (6-8) was during distance learning.

Oh, FFS. "Much of?" No one was in distance learning for three years or anywhere approaching it.

Our HS acts as if there was no learning loss, and the kids are getting anxious. I’ve been able to tutor my kid through the classroom gaps so far, and I’ve offered to help a few other kids. I’m especially concerned about math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be honest, my now 9th grader thrived during virtual learning and is fine. I don't want to cast the pandemic in any kind of good light for all the bad the world experienced, but for my daughter, who has some social emotional issues, I do not hate that she had to miss out on some of the middle school dramatics that typically go on. She's doing well so far with 9th grade.

My introvert did well in distance learning too, but if we are being honest, the pacing was off, and that’s the problem I’m trying to understand.just because our kids did fine, the success of the pacing will depend on the cohort. MS math, for example, did not end where it should have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s only been a month but it’s been fine. The work load hasn’t been much different. He’s had very little homework but they get a block every other day that’s basically a study hall.

Is your kid taking any honors classes? Our HS discourages kids from taking more than 2-3 honors classes at a time. The honors classes have had homework from day one but from what I’ve observed from a small subset — then non-honors classes barely have homework which was the MS experience for both honors and non-honors. So our POV the honors classes in MS did not prepare kids and did not get the kids up to where they needed to start 9th grade. I think learning loss during 7th grade when school was COVID weird and largely at home had a huge impact.

Where is this? My 9th grader has 4 honors classes (Core: Algebra 2 H, English 9 H, Bio H, and WH 1 H) and 1 AP class (Ap Comp Sci A). She also has Spanish 2 and PE 9. So 4 honors and an AP Course in 9th. I think AAP at Twain prepared my child but HS has a lot more tests and quizzes more often. It's non-stop.

Herndon HS.

Also from the AP coordinator or whatever she’s called: “anyone who takes more than one AP is just a show off.” Also from the administration, “do not take an honors class unless you are passionate about the subject. It is not worth the stress of taking all honors.”

I'm having a hard time believing this. I was under the impression that administrations at the high-ESOL schools strongly encourage AP/IB participation because there is so much hesitation in those populations to take AP/IB.

You’d be wrong. This is the universal message. Doesn’t matter if your kid has all As in Honors or AP courses. The MS recommended differently but the HS the message is don’t stress out your kids. Don’t take 4 honors courses. My neighbor kid with all As in Honors was even told he should drop honors math (he took algebra as a 7th grader). He wants to go into engineering. His parents were (and still are) livid. They went against the counselor and kept him in the honors/AP classes as he intended.

[Anonymous]

The counselors in HS are morons. My child won’t be listening to them when it comes to course selection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school lockdowns hit this year's HS freshmen at the very worst time in their academic development.

They lost the spring of sixth grade and all of seventh to learn how to manage a workload between home and school (virtual isn't the same thing), how to stay organized and keep track of assignments, how to take notes in class (they don't), how to let teachers know when they are having trouble, etc. I am sure many parents behind the scenes are seeing a big difference between managing their current HS freshman and an older sibling who has graduated high school.

I feel terrible for this year's HS freshmen. They barely touched MS in person, and have been vaulted head first into high school. There should have been better planning around it.

didn't they have all of 8th grade in person?

Yes and part of 7th grade. I don’t know what that poster is talking about.

[Anonymous]

My freshman is doing well. But there is a lot more work (largely studying), which they are staying on top of and completing. Quizzes and tests almost daily in something. All honors, one AP. Not easy grading, retakes not freely given. Other things:

- Algebra 2 is a big jump up

- foreign language can be tougher in high school, even level 2

[Anonymous]

I have two kids. My poor first born is always the guinea pig. I saw how awful MS was in terms of academics, so my second moved to private in 7th grade.
It was like night and day.

[Anonymous]

My c/o 2026 student moved to private this year after 9 years in FCPS and is doing well. I feel that her MS prepared her very well for HS, even her private which is academically rigorous.

I had heard that MS is harder than HS. That might be because, in a normal setting, there is virtually nothing in terms of homework/study prep/writing/etc in 6th grade elementary school and they are forced to learn all of that in two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any difference in how well prepared kids who take honors vs AAP kids? I have one in AAP and another who will take honors courses.

I have twins one took honors and one took AAP in middle school. They literally had the same teachers in different periods with the same assignments, homework and tests. It is identical, just social separation of the two groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had many 4 high schoolers and MS doesn’t prepare them well to study or write.

Do you think the 2026 was worse off? I’m trying to distinguish what is normal versus this class where much if the MS experience (6-8) was during distance learning.

Oh, FFS. "Much of?" No one was in distance learning for three years or anywhere approaching it.

Why don't you know your audience before you make an insulting comment. You are in the FCPS board. MS here is only 7 & 8. They only went half a year in 7th more or less. If MS is to prepare you for the high school experience, then yes, they missed it. My DC is in 10th and several of his teachers last year commented on how they could see them trying to catch up in maturity. They essentially went from elementary school to figuring out how to switch classes and deal with 8 teachers and the pressure of a GPA without the two years practice in MS.

Correction.

7th grade for class of 2026 was not a half year.

The students returned mid March at only 2 days per week. They had spring break a couple of weeks after they returned. 7th grade was less around 10-15% of a normal school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school lockdowns hit this year's HS freshmen at the very worst time in their academic development.

They lost the spring of sixth grade and all of seventh to learn how to manage a workload between home and school (virtual isn't the same thing), how to stay organized and keep track of assignments, how to take notes in class (they don't), how to let teachers know when they are having trouble, etc. I am sure many parents behind the scenes are seeing a big difference between managing their current HS freshman and an older sibling who has graduated high school.

I feel terrible for this year's HS freshmen. They barely touched MS in person, and have been vaulted head first into high school. There should have been better planning around it.

didn't they have all of 8th grade in person?

The 8th grade year for this class was complete chaos. It was literal anarchy in most of the middle schools. Tiktok destruction. Kids acting like 5th and 6th graders. Kids who hadn't learned a thing for the 2 years prior. Fights. Assaults on staff. Mask bullying.

Their 8th grade year was not a real school year. There was so much chaos. The teachers did their best but the students in that grade leqrned far less than they needed to be prepared for high school because the adjustment from zero school structure to real school was so very difficult.

There might be individual students who thrived, but they are the exception. Ask the teachers or any of your neighbors who had a middle schooler last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had many 4 high schoolers and MS doesn’t prepare them well to study or write.

Do you think the 2026 was worse off? I’m trying to distinguish what is normal versus this class where much if the MS experience (6-8) was during distance learning.

Oh, FFS. "Much of?" No one was in distance learning for three years or anywhere approaching it.

Why don't you know your audience before you make an insulting comment. You are in the FCPS board. MS here is only 7 & 8. They only went half a year in 7th more or less. If MS is to prepare you for the high school experience, then yes, they missed it. My DC is in 10th and several of his teachers last year commented on how they could see them trying to catch up in maturity. They essentially went from elementary school to figuring out how to switch classes and deal with 8 teachers and the pressure of a GPA without the two years practice in MS.

Correction.

7th grade for class of 2026 was not a half year.

The students returned mid March at only 2 days per week. They had spring break a couple of weeks after they returned. 7th grade was less around 10-15% of a normal school year.

7th grade was hybrid. Half or more of our MS was still at home. Everything went slower. Eighth grade tried to catch up but didn’t always succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school lockdowns hit this year's HS freshmen at the very worst time in their academic development.

They lost the spring of sixth grade and all of seventh to learn how to manage a workload between home and school (virtual isn't the same thing), how to stay organized and keep track of assignments, how to take notes in class (they don't), how to let teachers know when they are having trouble, etc. I am sure many parents behind the scenes are seeing a big difference between managing their current HS freshman and an older sibling who has graduated high school.

I feel terrible for this year's HS freshmen. They barely touched MS in person, and have been vaulted head first into high school. There should have been better planning around it.

didn't they have all of 8th grade in person?

Yes and part of 7th grade. I don’t know what that poster is talking about.

They only had 2 days in person per week starting March 9, 2021 for the class of 2026.

They went 3 weeks (6 days) then spring break.

The last day of school was June 11, 2021.

The class of 2026 had a total of 20 days of 7th grade.

The classes were every other day, and the first 2 days back was spent on covid protocols with no academic work. The last 2 days were spent on end of year stuff, not academics.

This means that the class of 2026 had only 8 days per subject of in person instruction for 7th grade.

Essentially, they completely skipped 7th grade.

For classes like Algebra and for transitional skills like note taking, organization, behavior,, class of 2026 completely missed a crucial developmental year of learning.