HB-- focus on writing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

This was in response to the pp talking about year-long projects at H-B. I just cut that time in half to make a general observation that it shouldn't take such a long time to write these papers, especially since most of that time is wasted. Personally, we've only experienced at most "only" quarter-year-long writing assignments which should only have lasted half of that time for a class that's supposedly at grade level or, as others half laughingly suggested on various H-B topics here, advanced by default at H-B because of small class sizes, fewer hours devoted to each class per week, self-directed learning, student-teacher ratio, etc.

Anonymous wrote:And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

Having a comment such as "interesting" or "you make a good point" on Canvas or ParentVue is not exactly what I would consider giving feedback on assignments. The fact is, smart kids generally know if their paper contains good ideas or if they're saying something insightful. What kids need are instruction on structure or grammar and spelling mistakes (even if they're just typos), and direction on how to better develop their thoughts in order to persuade the reader. This requires teachers to actually read and mark up papers. We've experienced almost none of that at H-B, and more generally at APS through the years. In fact, many assignment prompts and emails themselves are pockmarked with grammar mistakes and typos that a simple spellchecker should have caught.

Anonymous wrote:I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not uncommon for a class at H-B to contain kids that are many grades below the already low VA SOL standard and those that are several grades above grade level. If you can't understand the difference then look at how lessons are planned, who the intended audience is, and more importantly on which resources are used. Blame that on small student population, self-selection by many parents of kids who have some form of disability, and the dearth of classes both in block availability coupled with variety of classes at the AP level and electives. Yes, the kids have mostly the same teachers but not all kids are treated equally, and some are ignored or (un)intentionally shamed because they are "selfishly" trying to take up the time of kids in need—as if deeper learning is some type of entitlement. Yes this has happened multiple times when more than one TA was chosen specifically for their self-purported expertise and the advisee came to discuss said topic and was almost always turned away during TA, office hours, or some other free time because some deserving other kid(s) needed course help.

Gee. Sounds like HBW program should be dismantled since it's so sub-par.

Yes, its so terrible that 98% of students go on to college every year (more than the other 3 high schools) and they have higher average SAT and ACT scores than the other 3 high schools. Clearly the tiny student body is full of kids many grades below the already low VA SOL standard/who have some form of disability (!) that are pulling down the average. Oh, wait.....

https://hbwoodlawn.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/10/2019-HB-Profile.pdf

Let's just ignore the fact that you are providing a data set that is pre-Covid...

The rest is just another ignorant statement with misrepresentation of data. If you compare H-B to the 3 real high schools the difference in test scores and colleges admitted to should be much more pronounced. Kids in traditionally underperforming school testing categories such as those with more extreme learning disabilities or English language learners cannot or choose not to attend the school because it cannot provide these services and it's a lottery school with a very long wait list. A 1300 average SAT score for a self-selecting class of 100 or so kids is not so impressive given the previous statement. An average of 1 student as a NMS semifinalist is also underwhelming if you understand how that works. 80% 4-year college also not great. And the list of colleges attended is also not impressive given that some of those better schools were almost definitely legacy admits. Just to give a little bit of perspective, I just checked the high school I attended and the 2000+ student population had an average SAT score just south of 1400, which didn't even qualify it among at least the top 3 schools in that county. Stop comparing against mediocre; Arlington is a top 10 richest county and APS spends more per capita than almost any other school district in the country yet every Arlington high school is not that awesome. If people don't understand what that means, they should really stop giving their opinion because it certainly isn't based on any fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

This was in response to the pp talking about year-long projects at H-B. I just cut that time in half to make a general observation that it shouldn't take such a long time to write these papers, especially since most of that time is wasted. Personally, we've only experienced at most "only" quarter-year-long writing assignments which should only have lasted half of that time for a class that's supposedly at grade level or, as others half laughingly suggested on various H-B topics here, advanced by default at H-B because of small class sizes, fewer hours devoted to each class per week, self-directed learning, student-teacher ratio, etc.

Anonymous wrote:And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

Having a comment such as "interesting" or "you make a good point" on Canvas or ParentVue is not exactly what I would consider giving feedback on assignments. The fact is, smart kids generally know if their paper contains good ideas or if they're saying something insightful. What kids need are instruction on structure or grammar and spelling mistakes (even if they're just typos), and direction on how to better develop their thoughts in order to persuade the reader. This requires teachers to actually read and mark up papers. We've experienced almost none of that at H-B, and more generally at APS through the years. In fact, many assignment prompts and emails themselves are pockmarked with grammar mistakes and typos that a simple spellchecker should have caught.

Anonymous wrote:I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not uncommon for a class at H-B to contain kids that are many grades below the already low VA SOL standard and those that are several grades above grade level. If you can't understand the difference then look at how lessons are planned, who the intended audience is, and more importantly on which resources are used. Blame that on small student population, self-selection by many parents of kids who have some form of disability, and the dearth of classes both in block availability coupled with variety of classes at the AP level and electives. Yes, the kids have mostly the same teachers but not all kids are treated equally, and some are ignored or (un)intentionally shamed because they are "selfishly" trying to take up the time of kids in need—as if deeper learning is some type of entitlement. Yes this has happened multiple times when more than one TA was chosen specifically for their self-purported expertise and the advisee came to discuss said topic and was almost always turned away during TA, office hours, or some other free time because some deserving other kid(s) needed course help.

Gee. Sounds like HBW program should be dismantled since it's so sub-par.

Yes, its so terrible that 98% of students go on to college every year (more than the other 3 high schools) and they have higher average SAT and ACT scores than the other 3 high schools. Clearly the tiny student body is full of kids many grades below the already low VA SOL standard/who have some form of disability (!) that are pulling down the average. Oh, wait.....

https://hbwoodlawn.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/10/2019-HB-Profile.pdf

Let's just ignore the fact that you are providing a data set that is pre-Covid...

The rest is just another ignorant statement with misrepresentation of data. If you compare H-B to the 3 real high schools the difference in test scores and colleges admitted to should be much more pronounced. Kids in traditionally underperforming school testing categories such as those with more extreme learning disabilities or English language learners cannot or choose not to attend the school because it cannot provide these services and it's a lottery school with a very long wait list. A 1300 average SAT score for a self-selecting class of 100 or so kids is not so impressive given the previous statement. An average of 1 student as a NMS semifinalist is also underwhelming if you understand how that works. 80% 4-year college also not great. And the list of colleges attended is also not impressive given that some of those better schools were almost definitely legacy admits. Just to give a little bit of perspective, I just checked the high school I attended and the 2000+ student population had an average SAT score just south of 1400, which didn't even qualify it among at least the top 3 schools in that county. Stop comparing against mediocre; Arlington is a top 10 richest county and APS spends more per capita than almost any other school district in the country yet every Arlington high school is not that awesome. If people don't understand what that means, they should really stop giving their opinion because it certainly isn't based on any fact.

hahaha