APS MS Straight As

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual APS teachers post on AEM that they don’t have time to *really* grade their students’ writing assignments. But go on telling us how rigorous your school is.

Hahhhaha. What writing assignments? My kids have never written more than about a paragraph.

Maybe some of you have kids in some kind of remedial English? Being serious. Not our kid’s experience at all.

My kid is at DHMS, never gotten less than an A in anything, never does homework, doesn’t write more than a paragraph, is in intensified everything and accelerated math. I understand that our experience isn’t universal. But it is true for us, and it is a frustrating situation.

This is weird and sounds like a DHMS issue. Not our experience at Swanson.

It sounds like a PP issue.

I had one kid already go through DHMS and another one there now. They both had homework - one completed most at school, the other preferred to socialize so had 20-60 min/night at home, plus reading. Plus some bigger projects. Both also have had many multiple writing assignments. There is also more writing than I'd expect in other subjects - history/civics, math (!), health, science. They have been doing 5-page paragraphs since 4th grade.

5-page what? I’m the PP and I’ve had years at DHMS as well. We probably know each other. What teacher/class gave a 5 page writing assignment? Sorry I do not believe you or I think what you mean is unclear.

To be clear, I am not counting the incredibly stupid and wasteful nanorimo (?) thing they do in 8th grade. What a waste of everyone’s time.

As to homework, my kids have always completed it in class or in Phoenix time. Meaning they never do 20-60 a night or ever. I believe that your kids do. I also believe that most kids do. But for kids with high executive function, they don’t.

Sorry, 5-paragraph essays. They've been doing them since 4th grade.

Off the top of my head, they've written 5-paragraph essays about identity, The Outsiders, and an informational topic. Also, long letters for civics. I'm sure there were more; I can look up when I get home if that helps trigger your memory.

One of my kids usually finished homework during school at the end of class and during Phoenix Time and the other preferred to chat with friends. They both had homework assigned.

[Anonymous]

But it’s not “homework” if the options for students are: you can spend the balance of this 90 minute block laughing with friends at a YouTube video OR you can do the assigned “home” work. It’s not teaching for half the class and it’s also not homework.

And 5 paragraphs sounds much more like it but this is a humongous deal and takes like an entire quarter for these kids. Not like a 2-day assignment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they are common-ish and get less common as you get to 8th grade.

My kid has always gotten straight As but knows many kids who don't get straight As (and some who do). Contrary to what I see on here, he's had progressively more work outside of school as he's gone through middle school and does homework, projects outside of school time, reads books for school outside of school time, studies for tests. It's not hours every day by any stretch, but he has to put in some effort. So the kids who don't make any effort do stop getting As for just showing up at some point.

The middle school experience varies drastically across APS. Parents should pay more attn to MS than they do ES or HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extremely common. Just read up on the HS threads on valedictorians where everyone with above a 4.0 gets to be #1 in the class, meaning like 200 kids.

This does not mean they are all getting straight As. It means they take a lot of AP/IB/DE classes and likely get a mix of As and Bs. My DD was a W-L "valedictorian". She got a lot of Bs and occasionally had a C and once a D on a quarter report card. Fortunately for her GPA, that's based only on the final grade for the year.

In APS "valedictorian" means something more like "magna cum laude", aka the top tier of students in GPA but it's a pretty big tier.

Wow. Ridiculous that kids with Bs would be valedictorian. Not to say they aren’t good students but it makes the distinction meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual APS teachers post on AEM that they don’t have time to *really* grade their students’ writing assignments. But go on telling us how rigorous your school is.

Hahhhaha. What writing assignments? My kids have never written more than about a paragraph.

Maybe some of you have kids in some kind of remedial English? Being serious. Not our kid’s experience at all.

My kid is at DHMS, never gotten less than an A in anything, never does homework, doesn’t write more than a paragraph, is in intensified everything and accelerated math. I understand that our experience isn’t universal. But it is true for us, and it is a frustrating situation.

Don't they not have homework because they have 90 minute class periods that are designed for them to get work done in school. If they don't do the work in school then it comes home as HW.

That means the kids are learning less. The expectation should be that there is HW!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my kids graduated from an APS MS several years ago they recognized the kids who got All As in all quarters for all three years. I think it was maybe 10% of the class. I'm sure a ton more had a "straight As" based on As at the end of the year but those could have had the occasional B/C in a bad quarter.

I was going to say something similar. My kid is in 9th, and when they recognized all As at the end of 8th last year, I recall it being around 10% of the class.

Which MS recognized kids in this way? WMS seems to go out of its way to not recognize kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But it’s not “homework” if the options for students are: you can spend the balance of this 90 minute block laughing with friends at a YouTube video OR you can do the assigned “home” work. It’s not teaching for half the class and it’s also not homework.

And 5 paragraphs sounds much more like it but this is a humongous deal and takes like an entire quarter for these kids. Not like a 2-day assignment.

Not every class has extra time and it's not for half of the period. They can frequently use TA and Phoenix Time to work on homework.

It doesn't take a whole quarter for an essay. The Outsiders was a huge project but they spent a lot of the time learning about Cornell Notes/annotating and other activities; they also did a socratic seminar about it. For the actual essay, it was ~2 weeks but they worked on revising and reviewed the mechanics of quotes during that time.

I always think they can be doing more writing, but the PP was misrepresenting what happens at DHMS. They do have homework and they do write more than a paragraph.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extremely common. Just read up on the HS threads on valedictorians where everyone with above a 4.0 gets to be #1 in the class, meaning like 200 kids.

This does not mean they are all getting straight As. It means they take a lot of AP/IB/DE classes and likely get a mix of As and Bs. My DD was a W-L "valedictorian". She got a lot of Bs and occasionally had a C and once a D on a quarter report card. Fortunately for her GPA, that's based only on the final grade for the year.

In APS "valedictorian" means something more like "magna cum laude", aka the top tier of students in GPA but it's a pretty big tier.

Wow. Ridiculous that kids with Bs would be valedictorian. Not to say they aren’t good students but it makes the distinction meaningless.

Go back and re-read. The PP said that the lower grades were on the quarterly report cards, NOT the final grade.

And, APS looks at the weighted GPA for valedictorian, so if a student had a B in an AP class it'd still be a 4.0.

Many schools don't even bother with valedictorian these days anyway to cut down on unhealthy behaviors. It's not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my kids graduated from an APS MS several years ago they recognized the kids who got All As in all quarters for all three years. I think it was maybe 10% of the class. I'm sure a ton more had a "straight As" based on As at the end of the year but those could have had the occasional B/C in a bad quarter.

I was going to say something similar. My kid is in 9th, and when they recognized all As at the end of 8th last year, I recall it being around 10% of the class.

Which MS recognized kids in this way? WMS seems to go out of its way to not recognize kids.

Gunston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extremely common. Just read up on the HS threads on valedictorians where everyone with above a 4.0 gets to be #1 in the class, meaning like 200 kids.

This does not mean they are all getting straight As. It means they take a lot of AP/IB/DE classes and likely get a mix of As and Bs. My DD was a W-L "valedictorian". She got a lot of Bs and occasionally had a C and once a D on a quarter report card. Fortunately for her GPA, that's based only on the final grade for the year.

In APS "valedictorian" means something more like "magna cum laude", aka the top tier of students in GPA but it's a pretty big tier.

Wow. Ridiculous that kids with Bs would be valedictorian. Not to say they aren’t good students but it makes the distinction meaningless.

Valedictorian has never meant “straight As.” It means “highest GPA.” The silly part is giving it to many kids at once, not that they might have gotten a B in an AP class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my kids graduated from an APS MS several years ago they recognized the kids who got All As in all quarters for all three years. I think it was maybe 10% of the class. I'm sure a ton more had a "straight As" based on As at the end of the year but those could have had the occasional B/C in a bad quarter.

I was going to say something similar. My kid is in 9th, and when they recognized all As at the end of 8th last year, I recall it being around 10% of the class.

Which MS recognized kids in this way? WMS seems to go out of its way to not recognize kids.

Gunston.

Unfortunately, that means the % are way higher when you further north; it’s the reality of the situation. Again supporting my posts that all As in middle school isn’t a feat indicating your child is special. At least in N Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual APS teachers post on AEM that they don’t have time to *really* grade their students’ writing assignments. But go on telling us how rigorous your school is.

Hahhhaha. What writing assignments? My kids have never written more than about a paragraph.

Maybe some of you have kids in some kind of remedial English? Being serious. Not our kid’s experience at all.

My kid is at DHMS, never gotten less than an A in anything, never does homework, doesn’t write more than a paragraph, is in intensified everything and accelerated math. I understand that our experience isn’t universal. But it is true for us, and it is a frustrating situation.

Don't they not have homework because they have 90 minute class periods that are designed for them to get work done in school. If they don't do the work in school then it comes home as HW.

That means the kids are learning less. The expectation should be that there is HW!!

I feel like some folks on here have insane expectations for their kids. Kids don't have to learn 24/7. They work hard in school all day. Let them come home and have a break. Guess what? I barely had any HW all the way through HS. Somehow, I still became a lawyer.

It is hard on adults when we go to work all day and do our job for 8 hours and then come home and do more work. Why would we want to put our kids through that too? Our kids will be okay if they don't constantly work. It is okay for them to rest and take a break and enjoy the fun of being a kid. It won't ruin them for life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Extremely common. Just read up on the HS threads on valedictorians where everyone with above a 4.0 gets to be #1 in the class, meaning like 200 kids.

This does not mean they are all getting straight As. It means they take a lot of AP/IB/DE classes and likely get a mix of As and Bs. My DD was a W-L "valedictorian". She got a lot of Bs and occasionally had a C and once a D on a quarter report card. Fortunately for her GPA, that's based only on the final grade for the year.

In APS "valedictorian" means something more like "magna cum laude", aka the top tier of students in GPA but it's a pretty big tier.

Wow. Ridiculous that kids with Bs would be valedictorian. Not to say they aren’t good students but it makes the distinction meaningless.

Valedictorian has never meant “straight As.” It means “highest GPA.” The silly part is giving it to many kids at once, not that they might have gotten a B in an AP class.

They really just should not use the word "valedictorian", that's what people get so touchy about. As a PP said it's more like "cum laude." I get trying to reduce the pressure and competition for hundredths of GPA points at the top, which is why lots of HS's don't rank at all. APS is trying to have it both ways by essentially not ranking students with a 4.0+ but ranking the rest of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual APS teachers post on AEM that they don’t have time to *really* grade their students’ writing assignments. But go on telling us how rigorous your school is.

Hahhhaha. What writing assignments? My kids have never written more than about a paragraph.

Maybe some of you have kids in some kind of remedial English? Being serious. Not our kid’s experience at all.

My kid is at DHMS, never gotten less than an A in anything, never does homework, doesn’t write more than a paragraph, is in intensified everything and accelerated math. I understand that our experience isn’t universal. But it is true for us, and it is a frustrating situation.

Don't they not have homework because they have 90 minute class periods that are designed for them to get work done in school. If they don't do the work in school then it comes home as HW.

That means the kids are learning less. The expectation should be that there is HW!!

I feel like some folks on here have insane expectations for their kids. Kids don't have to learn 24/7. They work hard in school all day. Let them come home and have a break. Guess what? I barely had any HW all the way through HS. Somehow, I still became a lawyer.

It is hard on adults when we go to work all day and do our job for 8 hours and then come home and do more work. Why would we want to put our kids through that too? Our kids will be okay if they don't constantly work. It is okay for them to rest and take a break and enjoy the fun of being a kid. It won't ruin them for life.

If my child becomes a lawyer, then I will count them “ruin[ed] for life.” I want them to be happy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my kids graduated from an APS MS several years ago they recognized the kids who got All As in all quarters for all three years. I think it was maybe 10% of the class. I'm sure a ton more had a "straight As" based on As at the end of the year but those could have had the occasional B/C in a bad quarter.

I was going to say something similar. My kid is in 9th, and when they recognized all As at the end of 8th last year, I recall it being around 10% of the class.

Which MS recognized kids in this way? WMS seems to go out of its way to not recognize kids.

Hmm, not our experience. They send home honor roll certificates and put their names up in the hallway- for the past 3 years we've been there.