Does everyone get all or mostly As at APS in HS?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Well if your daughter is in AP classes and comparing grades with just friends - who I assume are also in AP classes - then you’re looking at a data set of students who all strive for As.

As an APS HS sped teacher, I can say that no, not everybody gets A’s. 15 students across my 5 classes failed for the year, and that includes 1 senior who will not be able to graduate and a junior who had a baby earlier this year.

If you’re looking for an actual answer, I’d suggest you look outside of your bubble and ask the parents of struggling students if “everybody gets As.”

Yep, APS is and continues to be focused on the outside the bubble kids. Which is fine and a conscious choice of this community. It doesn’t help my kids, however, who are high achieving. And we as parents will do best for our own kids, that’s the deal. So I pulled them for private school. And I’m not the only one.

So this post doesn't even apply to you. Other bubble kids are doing just fine.

Confused. Do you mean other high achieving kids are doing fine? And, if by doing “fine,” you mean they feel good as they are easily earning As then I disagree. My kid could also be described as fine when s/he gets to eat cake all day and play video games. Just because it’s easy doesn’t make it alright for these kids. I don’t believe that that kind of “fine” is what is best in the long run for my kid or the other high achieving kids.

Yes. My high achieving kid, who is referred to as being a bubble in this chain, is getting As, scoring 4s and 5s and has high SAT scores. They are doing fine. They also don't mess around playing video games b/c they know how to behave in school.

Great for you. Sounds like your child may have a shot at UVA 🙄

I want my child to experience significant setback, failure and to learn grit while child is under my wing. So I challenged them by removing them from APS easy world of As. For us (and I think for a lot of others), its system of grade inflation is a huge downside. My children too were earning As with little to no effort and never experienced academic failure (not an F but I mean some suggestion that an A was something incredibly difficult to achieve and set their work apart). To each their own. Glad your kid is working hard for their As. My kids just didn’t have to and that wasn’t enough for me.

The SAT and AP scores are standardized. No grade inflation is involved, so a kid who scores high on them must know the content. There is no indication if the kid was "working hard" for those scores. There is an indication that, one way or the other, the kid knew the content. Congrats to you that you found a place that you think is better for your kids. That doesn't mean you or your kids are any better than public school parents or students. It just means that your kids needed something different and that is OK. You can and should feel comfortable with that decision w/o trying to put down others. If you can't feel that way, I'm sorry. That's too bad.

Lady I’m not better than you. I’m saying the grade inflation is bad for kids. I think it’s not good for your kid or any smart kid. You keep defending the grade inflation in APS as if it’s something to be applauded. APS has wonderful grade inflation; it’s ideal! My choice for my kids HS isn’t perfect and there are things I can complain about too.

You don’t know the work my kid produces. You don’t know if it’s worthy of an A. You haven’t seen how work they have done has been judged outside APS. I’m sorry your kids had such bad experiences that you feel the need to keep coming back to disparage schools your children don’t even attend. I’m not defending grade inflation. I’m sure there are some teachers that do it (even in privates) and I know public’s don’t have a lot of resources to combat some issues that schools who can reject students don’t face. But, you don’t know the whole system, the whole school or even a whole grade. I will defend the teachers who have been great and prepared APS kids for college.

[Anonymous]

I will never understand why people want their kids to have to work so hard. They are still kids! They have the rest of their life to work their fingers to the bone trying to be successful. It isn't like they need to learn this lesson now or they will fail at life. I promise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well if your daughter is in AP classes and comparing grades with just friends - who I assume are also in AP classes - then you’re looking at a data set of students who all strive for As.

As an APS HS sped teacher, I can say that no, not everybody gets A’s. 15 students across my 5 classes failed for the year, and that includes 1 senior who will not be able to graduate and a junior who had a baby earlier this year.

If you’re looking for an actual answer, I’d suggest you look outside of your bubble and ask the parents of struggling students if “everybody gets As.”

Yep, APS is and continues to be focused on the outside the bubble kids. Which is fine and a conscious choice of this community. It doesn’t help my kids, however, who are high achieving. And we as parents will do best for our own kids, that’s the deal. So I pulled them for private school. And I’m not the only one.

So this post doesn't even apply to you. Other bubble kids are doing just fine.

Confused. Do you mean other high achieving kids are doing fine? And, if by doing “fine,” you mean they feel good as they are easily earning As then I disagree. My kid could also be described as fine when s/he gets to eat cake all day and play video games. Just because it’s easy doesn’t make it alright for these kids. I don’t believe that that kind of “fine” is what is best in the long run for my kid or the other high achieving kids.

Yes. My high achieving kid, who is referred to as being a bubble in this chain, is getting As, scoring 4s and 5s and has high SAT scores. They are doing fine. They also don't mess around playing video games b/c they know how to behave in school.

Great for you. Sounds like your child may have a shot at UVA 🙄

I want my child to experience significant setback, failure and to learn grit while child is under my wing. So I challenged them by removing them from APS easy world of As. For us (and I think for a lot of others), its system of grade inflation is a huge downside. My children too were earning As with little to no effort and never experienced academic failure (not an F but I mean some suggestion that an A was something incredibly difficult to achieve and set their work apart). To each their own. Glad your kid is working hard for their As. My kids just didn’t have to and that wasn’t enough for me.

There’s a wide gulf between “requiring hard work” and “incredibly difficult to achieve.” Why would we ever need an A to be “incredibly difficult” to get? What purpose does that serve? That wasn’t even true in the vast majority of my college & (STEM) grad school classes.

Nova?

Yeah, sure, I got my PhD from Nova. 🙄

An A should require hard work but should actually be attainable, in my opinion. I see no benefit, now or later, to making it so hard to do well in a class. It doesn’t mean the kids are getting a better education, despite what you may think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why people want their kids to have to work so hard. They are still kids! They have the rest of their life to work their fingers to the bone trying to be successful. It isn't like they need to learn this lesson now or they will fail at life. I promise.

First of all, instilling a strong work ethic when young is a lot more successful than trying to instill it after 20 years of not being held to giving best effort and working to meet challenges.

Second of all, it isn't about making them work so hard. It's about them LEARNING and being prepared for hard work later for the rest of their life's success.

I will never understand why so many people want their kids to do absolutely nothing difficult, not experience any bad feelings, never fail even in the smallest things to the smallest degree, never be expected to do anything they find unpleasant or hard, and then expect them to suddenly be fully responsible adults who appreciate ethe value of working or doing the necessary stuff that isn't exciting and fun in order to do what they really want to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why people want their kids to have to work so hard. They are still kids! They have the rest of their life to work their fingers to the bone trying to be successful. It isn't like they need to learn this lesson now or they will fail at life. I promise.

First of all, instilling a strong work ethic when young is a lot more successful than trying to instill it after 20 years of not being held to giving best effort and working to meet challenges.

Second of all, it isn't about making them work so hard. It's about them LEARNING and being prepared for hard work later for the rest of their life's success.

I will never understand why so many people want their kids to do absolutely nothing difficult, not experience any bad feelings, never fail even in the smallest things to the smallest degree, never be expected to do anything they find unpleasant or hard, and then expect them to suddenly be fully responsible adults who appreciate ethe value of working or doing the necessary stuff that isn't exciting and fun in order to do what they really want to do.

I don't want my kid to do nothing difficult, but he is in school learning new stuff every day. I don't think he needs to study for hours each day in order to learn and be successful. Furthermore, school is not the only place to learn that life can be unpleasant or hard and I certainly don't expect school to be the one to turn my kid into a responsible adult. You can also always have your kid go above and beyond

And also, these questions bother me because as someone else mentioned they are all coming from a place is privileged. I mean you are shocked that your smart kid who has known the value of education their entire life and you have probably been educated from the moment they came out of the womb seems to have an easy time in school and learning come easy to them? Of course, there are plenty of people who don't get straight As in high school. There are plenty of people that graduate HS not being able to read on a HS level. There are plenty of people that drop out of HS. There are kids that are struggling each and every day for school and it is hard for them. I had one of those kids until I spent thousands of dollars fixing it.

So, yes, our kids with all the educational privileges in the world will probably have an easier time. That doesn't mean the school failed them and it doesn't mean they will be unprepared in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why people want their kids to have to work so hard. They are still kids! They have the rest of their life to work their fingers to the bone trying to be successful. It isn't like they need to learn this lesson now or they will fail at life. I promise.

First of all, instilling a strong work ethic when young is a lot more successful than trying to instill it after 20 years of not being held to giving best effort and working to meet challenges.

Second of all, it isn't about making them work so hard. It's about them LEARNING and being prepared for hard work later for the rest of their life's success.

I will never understand why so many people want their kids to do absolutely nothing difficult, not experience any bad feelings, never fail even in the smallest things to the smallest degree, never be expected to do anything they find unpleasant or hard, and then expect them to suddenly be fully responsible adults who appreciate ethe value of working or doing the necessary stuff that isn't exciting and fun in order to do what they really want to do.

I don't want my kid to do nothing difficult, but he is in school learning new stuff every day. I don't think he needs to study for hours each day in order to learn and be successful. Furthermore, school is not the only place to learn that life can be unpleasant or hard and I certainly don't expect school to be the one to turn my kid into a responsible adult. You can also always have your kid go above and beyond

And also, these questions bother me because as someone else mentioned they are all coming from a place is privileged. I mean you are shocked that your smart kid who has known the value of education their entire life and you have probably been educated from the moment they came out of the womb seems to have an easy time in school and learning come easy to them? Of course, there are plenty of people who don't get straight As in high school. There are plenty of people that graduate HS not being able to read on a HS level. There are plenty of people that drop out of HS. There are kids that are struggling each and every day for school and it is hard for them. I had one of those kids until I spent thousands of dollars fixing it.

So, yes, our kids with all the educational privileges in the world will probably have an easier time. That doesn't mean the school failed them and it doesn't mean they will be unprepared in life.

I appreciate that school is challenging for many students. I think that’s great for them, they have a leg up in life in my opinion. My experience however is that it is not challenging for my kids and I think that my experience gels with too many families who are frustrated by the situation. I know you don’t think it’s failing your kid who is the high achiever, but it is failing my kid. They aren’t learning the necessary skills and grit to prepare them for life in the way that I believe a school system should. I want my kid to have to struggle some and to experience failures. I guess we as parents disagree about that. And you are winning right now. But it’s harming my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why people want their kids to have to work so hard. They are still kids! They have the rest of their life to work their fingers to the bone trying to be successful. It isn't like they need to learn this lesson now or they will fail at life. I promise.

First of all, instilling a strong work ethic when young is a lot more successful than trying to instill it after 20 years of not being held to giving best effort and working to meet challenges.

Second of all, it isn't about making them work so hard. It's about them LEARNING and being prepared for hard work later for the rest of their life's success.

I will never understand why so many people want their kids to do absolutely nothing difficult, not experience any bad feelings, never fail even in the smallest things to the smallest degree, never be expected to do anything they find unpleasant or hard, and then expect them to suddenly be fully responsible adults who appreciate ethe value of working or doing the necessary stuff that isn't exciting and fun in order to do what they really want to do.

I don't want my kid to do nothing difficult, but he is in school learning new stuff every day. I don't think he needs to study for hours each day in order to learn and be successful. Furthermore, school is not the only place to learn that life can be unpleasant or hard and I certainly don't expect school to be the one to turn my kid into a responsible adult. You can also always have your kid go above and beyond

And also, these questions bother me because as someone else mentioned they are all coming from a place is privileged. I mean you are shocked that your smart kid who has known the value of education their entire life and you have probably been educated from the moment they came out of the womb seems to have an easy time in school and learning come easy to them? Of course, there are plenty of people who don't get straight As in high school. There are plenty of people that graduate HS not being able to read on a HS level. There are plenty of people that drop out of HS. There are kids that are struggling each and every day for school and it is hard for them. I had one of those kids until I spent thousands of dollars fixing it.

So, yes, our kids with all the educational privileges in the world will probably have an easier time. That doesn't mean the school failed them and it doesn't mean they will be unprepared in life.

I appreciate that school is challenging for many students. I think that’s great for them, they have a leg up in life in my opinion. My experience however is that it is not challenging for my kids and I think that my experience gels with too many families who are frustrated by the situation. I know you don’t think it’s failing your kid who is the high achiever, but it is failing my kid. They aren’t learning the necessary skills and grit to prepare them for life in the way that I believe a school system should. I want my kid to have to struggle some and to experience failures. I guess we as parents disagree about that. And you are winning right now. But it’s harming my kid.

Yeah. We all get it. People aren't going to agree with you and they don't have to. I just don't understand why you keep coming back to denigrate APS when you don't even send your kids there. You aren't representing some large, voiceless group of parents. Most people don't see the world the same way you do. Be OK with that. If I were in your shoes, I'd just move.

[Anonymous]

edit to above - Move on. I'd just move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why people want their kids to have to work so hard. They are still kids! They have the rest of their life to work their fingers to the bone trying to be successful. It isn't like they need to learn this lesson now or they will fail at life. I promise.

I won’t know why we can’t just accept that kids can be different. What may be hard for your kid may be easy for mine. It doesn’t mean that I’m pushing my kid, but I think we’ve forgotten in todays push for equity that it’s okay to say maybe some kids can just do more!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why people want their kids to have to work so hard. They are still kids! They have the rest of their life to work their fingers to the bone trying to be successful. It isn't like they need to learn this lesson now or they will fail at life. I promise.

I won’t know why we can’t just accept that kids can be different. What may be hard for your kid may be easy for mine. It doesn’t mean that I’m pushing my kid, but I think we’ve forgotten in todays push for equity that it’s okay to say maybe some kids can just do more!

AMEN!

[Anonymous]

So, no. Not everyone gets an A. Some kids will get all As and would anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, no. Not everyone gets an A. Some kids will get all As and would anywhere.

Does APS publish a grade distribution by school? Or a GPA distribution? That would be one way to see if there has been a shift toward higher grades in recent years.

There are a huge number of students who are valedictorians at W-L (who have GPAs over 4.0), although with GPA bumps, that doesn't mean they all got As. However, it does suggest that high grades are being given out frequently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, no. Not everyone gets an A. Some kids will get all As and would anywhere.

Does APS publish a grade distribution by school? Or a GPA distribution? That would be one way to see if there has been a shift toward higher grades in recent years.

There are a huge number of students who are valedictorians at W-L (who have GPAs over 4.0), although with GPA bumps, that doesn't mean they all got As. However, it does suggest that high grades are being given out frequently.

W-L got rid of the single valedictorian decades ago. I believe parents and the community pushed for the change away from honoring a single student.

[Anonymous]

No. My son gets all As in honors classes, but has gotten two A-s and two B+s in AP classes. They are harder.

[Anonymous]

Maybe keep questions like this to yourself? Obviously there are kids out there getting bad grades and struggling in school.