Is it true that starting from 2017-2018 Wilson HS won't offer honors classes in 9th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regional and national universities and liberal arts colleges seem to be putting less and less stock in GPAs and rank in class as the years go by, and more and more emphasis on standardized test scores, interview reports, evidence of intellectual curiosity and maturity for age, and co-curricular and extra-curricular accomplishments. It's a rational trend, since earning an A average at one school can entail roughly the same amount of work of earning a B, or even a C, average at another school with higher standards (and higher-performing students).

As a Wilson parent on the edge of full college search mode, the common data sets for these schools shows that this is not true. For every top school you can name, a good number of students come from the top 10% of the class and have 3.8-4.0 unweighted GPAs. Those are the common denominators I've seen in the research on colleges we've done so far. Some schools are frittering around the edges and putting less emphasis on test scores.

I think what the principal is trying to do is a great step. I think it takes guts. Wilson is two schools in one and this is an attempt to try and break it down some. When I read the article I knew it would get some criticism here on DCUM. I support what she's doing 110%.

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regional and national universities and liberal arts colleges seem to be putting less and less stock in GPAs and rank in class as the years go by, and more and more emphasis on standardized test scores, interview reports, evidence of intellectual curiosity and maturity for age, and co-curricular and extra-curricular accomplishments. It's a rational trend, since earning an A average at one school can entail roughly the same amount of work of earning a B, or even a C, average at another school with higher standards (and higher-performing students).

And some of the greatest mind in history had notoriously bad grades in school because they just weren't cut out for the routines of the masses.

Can you please cite some of these great minds that had notoriously bad grades?

Google it. It is a long list and include highly successful drop outs.

[Anonymous]

We've heard the opposite - schools are caring much more about the GPA (and ECs/essays/recs/etc.) than the standardized test scores. There's a reason the "test optional" schools are plentiful (and growing in number), while "GPA option" or "transcript optional" schools...well, don't exist that I'm aware of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regional and national universities and liberal arts colleges seem to be putting less and less stock in GPAs and rank in class as the years go by, and more and more emphasis on standardized test scores, interview reports, evidence of intellectual curiosity and maturity for age, and co-curricular and extra-curricular accomplishments. It's a rational trend, since earning an A average at one school can entail roughly the same amount of work of earning a B, or even a C, average at another school with higher standards (and higher-performing students).

As a Wilson parent on the edge of full college search mode, the common data sets for these schools shows that this is not true. For every top school you can name, a good number of students come from the top 10% of the class and have 3.8-4.0 unweighted GPAs. Those are the common denominators I've seen in the research on colleges we've done so far. Some schools are frittering around the edges and putting less emphasis on test scores.

I think what the principal is trying to do is a great step. I think it takes guts. Wilson is two schools in one and this is an attempt to try and break it down some. When I read the article I knew it would get some criticism here on DCUM. I support what she's doing 110%.

Easy to say when you have already benefitted from several years of "Yale or Jail" and your dcs education is likely to be unaffected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Especially if they are trying to close the achievement gap, the research shows that when struggling kids are in class with high achievers it benefits the struggling kids and does no measurable harm to the high achievers.

This is bullshit. The campus protests you see are 100% because groups of kids were let in with low stats and can't keep up so they get pissed off and create disturbances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Especially if they are trying to close the achievement gap, the research shows that when struggling kids are in class with high achievers it benefits the struggling kids and does no measurable harm to the high achievers.

This is bullshit. The campus protests you see are 100% because groups of kids were let in with low stats and can't keep up so they get pissed off and create disturbances.

What on earth are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

I think this is not a well thought out plan. The one nice thing about Wilson's honours classes was that the kids were reasonably well behaved. My kid's regular 9th grade history class is a disaster because there are completely uninterested kids cursing and yelling and the teacher has no clue how to handle it. The honors classes are not especially challenging but at least you have kids who are paying attention and trying to learn. Not sure why they don't tackle the discipline issues at Wilson rather than trying these feel good strategies that won't really change anything. They should at least be honest and downgrade every one to on level as that is what they will really be teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regional and national universities and liberal arts colleges seem to be putting less and less stock in GPAs and rank in class as the years go by, and more and more emphasis on standardized test scores, interview reports, evidence of intellectual curiosity and maturity for age, and co-curricular and extra-curricular accomplishments. It's a rational trend, since earning an A average at one school can entail roughly the same amount of work of earning a B, or even a C, average at another school with higher standards (and higher-performing students).

As a Wilson parent on the edge of full college search mode, the common data sets for these schools shows that this is not true. For every top school you can name, a good number of students come from the top 10% of the class and have 3.8-4.0 unweighted GPAs. Those are the common denominators I've seen in the research on colleges we've done so far. Some schools are frittering around the edges and putting less emphasis on test scores.

I think what the principal is trying to do is a great step. I think it takes guts. Wilson is two schools in one and this is an attempt to try and break it down some. When I read the article I knew it would get some criticism here on DCUM. I support what she's doing 110%.

Easy to say when you have already benefitted from several years of "Yale or Jail" and your dcs education is likely to be unaffected.

I have more than one child.

[Anonymous]

Let’s be clear - “Honors For All” - means honors for none.

The Beacon article states that “the curriculum for the courses will be considered, ‘modified, adopted, Honors curriculum, but [still] Honors curriculum.’” Translation: the Freshman biology and english courses will be necessarily dumbed down to account for the kids who are not adequately prepared or interested in honors-level courses.

This approach is unnecessary. One of the great aspects of education is that it has what in economics is referred as “positive externalities”. This means, for example, that you benefit when I get more educated and I benefit when you get more educated. This is a beautiful thing, and an important reason why we all should root for and support others in their pursuit of increased educational opportunities. Education is a classic win-win.

This inherent beauty unfortunately has been artificially perverted into a zero-sum game by educators and politicians such as Principal Martin and Mayor Bowser. They are obsessed with “The Gap” in achievement:

- Wilson Beacon: “Martin has made closing the achievement gap a priority for herself and her administration.” (http://thewilsonbeacon.com/wilson-to-remove-on-level-freshman-biology-and-english-next-year/)

- Washington Post: “We have more momentum than most places in the country, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean that we have closed the achievement gap,” said Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles. “Very clearly, that’s the most important thing that we have asked the chancellor to do.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/antwan-wilson-takes-over-as-chancellor-of-dc-public-schools/2017/02/01/4055989a-e7da-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?utm_term=.1a32c7dc47e6)

- Washington Post: “They wanted someone who was bold and strategic and open and transparent, and always out into the community and focused on closing the achievement gap,” Bowser said in an interview with The Washington Post. “We think Antwan really embodies all of those things.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/bowser-names-pick-for-next-dc-schools-chancellor-oakland-schools-chief-antwan-wilson/2016/11/22/3b3a04fe-b058-11e6-8616-52b15787add0_story.html?utm_term=.80b8e2dc39d8)

The Gap is the WRONG metric because it provides educators with perverse incentives and pits different groups against each other in a fruitless zero-sum battle. Educators can close The Gap in one of two ways:
1) increase the academic achievement of those students at or near the bottom, or
2) reduce the academic achievement of those students at those near the top, or at the very least prevent high achievers from improving even more which would exacerbate The Gap.

We all really want #1 - it is an imperative. But by focusing on The Gap, we also directly incentivize educators to actively pursue #2 which is SHAMEFUL. Suppressing the academic achievement of highly motivated students benefits no one other than educators and politicians who are focused on the wrong metric, and it is nothing short of despicable. It really is outrageous.

“Honors For All” is a textbook example of the pursuit of #2. For motivated, high-achieving students, Freshman year at Wilson will be a lost year.

What would an effective school principal do? First, abandon the obsession with The Gap and replace it with metrics that measure the growth in achievement of students at different levels with a focus on students near the bottom. Second, when they implement a new and controversial program, they would do so incrementally. An effective principal would have chosen to start with eliminating either an English or Biology course offering as a test case. If the new program worked, then extend it to the second course. If the new program did not work, abandon it. Third, an effective principal would have sought parental input and would have made the change prior to the end of Open Houses for incoming students and their parents. Fourth, an effective principal would have insisted on transparency and communicated to the Wilson feeder families why these two course offerings were eliminated, how it benefits their children, and how exactly the school will “modify” the curriculum in these two critical courses. Fifth, an effective principal would not offer inane and anti-intellectual explanations (Wilson Beacon: “‘Doing something is better than doing nothing,’ Martin said.”) for why they are recklessly eliminating key course offerings.

Did Principal Martin do any of these things? Sadly no.

What now? At a minimum, parents and students need to demand transparency from the school administration. As part of this, a special Open House at Wilson should be scheduled that would allow prospective students and parents to hear directly from Principal Martin and other school officials about the elimination of these two key Freshman course offerings and their plans regarding the elimination of any other course offerings at Wilson in the near future. This transparency should also include an explanation as to how the school intends to evaluate the success or failure of eliminating these two course offerings.

[Anonymous]

Ok Wilson parents what you going to do? DCUM isn't making this school better. Form a group and get this principal fired.i find it hard to believe that there aren't enough Wilson paretns with clout to do this. Time to send a message to central office that dumbing down Wilson is not closing the gap.

[Anonymous]

March 14 @ 8:00 is the Coffee with the Principal at Wilson (see the Events section of their school website).

Parent should attend, as well as representatives of the feeder school community (Deal, Hardy, Oyster).

I find outrageous that this important plan was omitted from the presentations at the Wilson open house, at a time when we were making our choices, only to find out later , when for many it is too late for alternative school plans.

It's not only that I have legitimate concerns for my son's 9th grade learning experience and for his unwillingness to go through, once again, disrupted classes and learning environment geared for damage mitigation instead of focused on learning and growth. I am concerned for the longer term trends, for the next moves, e.g. cancellation of Calculus BC ? Cap to how many AP classes students can take? Even larger AP classes? We already are at 40 students per class for AP Biology.... why not 60?

I am speechless .

Give me my voucher.

[Anonymous]

Guess this means SWW applicants will continue to increase

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:March 14 @ 8:00 is the Coffee with the Principal at Wilson (see the Events section of their school website).

Parent should attend, as well as representatives of the feeder school community (Deal, Hardy, Oyster).

I find outrageous that this important plan was omitted from the presentations at the Wilson open house, at a time when we were making our choices, only to find out later , when for many it is too late for alternative school plans.

It's not only that I have legitimate concerns for my son's 9th grade learning experience and for his unwillingness to go through, once again, disrupted classes and learning environment geared for damage mitigation instead of focused on learning and growth. I am concerned for the longer term trends, for the next moves, e.g. cancellation of Calculus BC ? Cap to how many AP classes students can take? Even larger AP classes? We already are at 40 students per class for AP Biology.... why not 60?

I am speechless .

Give me my voucher.

Wow, dramatic much???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do show us the research showing that the high achieving students aren't impacted in a measurable way. Easy to say, hard to prove. So will Wilson honors classes now be considered a joke to college admissions?

+1.

iirc, the research that looks at mixing in struggling students with high-performing students -- and helping the former without harming the later -- assumes that the classes remain predominantly high-performing.

It depends on the numbers and the mix.

This is true for the low performing kids. Mixing one or two high performing kids into a class of low performing kids does not raise the scores of the low performing kids, nor does it impact the high performing kids. You need a larger number of high performing kids to impact overall performance levels, but either way the high performing kids are not harmed.