7th grade intensified-APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunate reaction by the Civics teachers to the intensified courses.

+100
Indeed. And precisely the primary problem with education today.

That’s far from the primary problem. It’s way behind insufficient funding and insane parents.

It’s mismanagement of (a lot of) taxpayer funds. And parents who don’t give a crap about their kids’ education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

My kid was at Swanson in 7th grade before the intensified classes were offered (now a rising 9th grader so 8th grade she took intensified classes) and this isn't true. They read entire books in 7th grade.

Just throwing in some facts if it helps.

I think that’s their point — that the “intensified” classes are just regular classes, and that the regular classes are actually remedial courses.

So you're saying that because APS now offers intensified classes, the regular classes they no longer read books? So there is no intensified at all, it's that APS renamed regular classes intensified and regular classes were dumbed down. I would ask APS or an actual teacher and not listen to people on this board personally. I have just seen over and over that people misrepresent the homework and test retake policies and portray they do nothing at school.

The problem is that the regular classes had already been dumbed down. Intensified classes are open to anyone who wants to sign up for them but more like what regular classes used to be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

How sad. Going to an APS middle school is such a waste of time that you’ve ended up homeschooling them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

That PP is wrong. Probably doesn’t even have kids in APS.

Kids read full books in non-intensified classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

That PP is wrong. Probably doesn’t even have kids in APS.

Kids read full books in non-intensified classes.

It's APS. Every teacher/principal/school gets to set their own standards. It's possible there are classes that don't read full books, but there also may be non-intensified classes that read more books than intensified classes at other schools. The curriculum is not standardized. If this is new to you, welcome to how APS operates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunate reaction by the Civics teachers to the intensified courses.

+100
Indeed. And precisely the primary problem with education today.

That’s far from the primary problem. It’s way behind insufficient funding and insane parents.

It’s mismanagement of (a lot of) taxpayer funds. And parents who don’t give a crap about their kids’ education.

No, APS is underfunded.
https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/D2WW4J839BAE/$file/FY%202025%20Superintendent's%20Presentation%20FINAL%20(331%20pm).pdf (pg 32)

The state and county should step up and appropriately fund our schools.
"“Virginia school divisions receive less K-12 funding per student than the 50-state average,
the regional average, and three of Virginia’s five bordering states. School divisions in other
states receive 14 percent more per student than school divisions in Virginia, on average,
after normalizing for differences in cost of labor among states. This equates to about
$1,900 more per student than Virginia.”
Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC)
estimates that annually APS is underfunded by approximately $51 million"

Plus we get a$$hat Youngkin trying to *cut* the budget, with rising costs.

The CB also needs to pull the CIP out of the operating budget to more accurately and appropriately account for the actual operating budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

I'm glad you have all that time and money to further enrich your children's educational experience. Most families, even in Arlington, do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

That PP is wrong. Probably doesn’t even have kids in APS.

Kids read full books in non-intensified classes.

100% right. Supplement if you're willing and able for MS in APS, particularly by promoting voracious reading and getting writing support. V. bright and hard-working kids can do fine in APS middle schools these days, even if they wind up aiming for one of the most highly competitive colleges in the country, as long as parents diligently top up what schools offer.

Private schools have their own grave problems with the pampering of students in cohorts that skew heavily white and wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

I'm glad you have all that time and money to further enrich your children's educational experience. Most families, even in Arlington, do not.

Most families in N Arlington can and many do, period. Still better than privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

I'm glad you have all that time and money to further enrich your children's educational experience. Most families, even in Arlington, do not.

Most families in N Arlington can and many do, period. Still better than privates.

Public school is better if your child's time is worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

That PP is wrong. Probably doesn’t even have kids in APS.

Kids read full books in non-intensified classes.

100% right. Supplement if you're willing and able for MS in APS, particularly by promoting voracious reading and getting writing support. V. bright and hard-working kids can do fine in APS middle schools these days, even if they wind up aiming for one of the most highly competitive colleges in the country, as long as parents diligently top up what schools offer.

Private schools have their own grave problems with the pampering of students in cohorts that skew heavily white and wealthy.

We just finished 6th grade at one of the S. Arlington middle schools and my kid read several books and did a lot of writing. I don’t feel like we needed to supplement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

That PP is wrong. Probably doesn’t even have kids in APS.

Kids read full books in non-intensified classes.

100% right. Supplement if you're willing and able for MS in APS, particularly by promoting voracious reading and getting writing support. V. bright and hard-working kids can do fine in APS middle schools these days, even if they wind up aiming for one of the most highly competitive colleges in the country, as long as parents diligently top up what schools offer.

Private schools have their own grave problems with the pampering of students in cohorts that skew heavily white and wealthy.

We just finished 6th grade at one of the S. Arlington middle schools and my kid read several books and did a lot of writing. I don’t feel like we needed to supplement

Same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

That PP is wrong. Probably doesn’t even have kids in APS.

Kids read full books in non-intensified classes.

100% right. Supplement if you're willing and able for MS in APS, particularly by promoting voracious reading and getting writing support. V. bright and hard-working kids can do fine in APS middle schools these days, even if they wind up aiming for one of the most highly competitive colleges in the country, as long as parents diligently top up what schools offer.

Private schools have their own grave problems with the pampering of students in cohorts that skew heavily white and wealthy.

We just finished 6th grade at one of the S. Arlington middle schools and my kid read several books and did a lot of writing. I don’t feel like we needed to supplement

Same

You’ll feel differently when your child eventually encounters other students who had rigorous schooling. I’m sure they seem just fine now compared to their peers at Gunston and Wakefield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will read the whole book while the regular class reads excerpts. It’s all relative. Intensified compared to the remedial (“regular”) class? Yes. But hardly an honors class. If you want rigor, you’ll need to go private.

Nonsense, you certainly don't need to go private to find middle school rigor in Arlington, particularly with the roll out of the new 7th grade intensified science, social studies and English classes. You can bump up the intensified classes curriculum yourself by adding relevant readings that build off what the school is assigning and supplementing with tutors and summer enrichment camps if you can afford it. We incentivize our APS middle schoolers to read widely outside the curriculum and they cooperate. We also hire writing tutors to assign extra writing assignments. We pay around 5K a year per kid to add rigor. What we don't do is pay 30-45K for non-sectarian privates full of spoiled white kids living in cocoon worlds who don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone.

That PP is wrong. Probably doesn’t even have kids in APS.

Kids read full books in non-intensified classes.

100% right. Supplement if you're willing and able for MS in APS, particularly by promoting voracious reading and getting writing support. V. bright and hard-working kids can do fine in APS middle schools these days, even if they wind up aiming for one of the most highly competitive colleges in the country, as long as parents diligently top up what schools offer.

Private schools have their own grave problems with the pampering of students in cohorts that skew heavily white and wealthy.

We just finished 6th grade at one of the S. Arlington middle schools and my kid read several books and did a lot of writing. I don’t feel like we needed to supplement

Same

You’ll feel differently when your child eventually encounters other students who had rigorous schooling. I’m sure they seem just fine now compared to their peers at Gunston and Wakefield.

Do you think our kids can’t cross 50? I know plenty of kids at North Arlington middle schools. From talking to parents it sounds like some of them actually have less rigorous coursework than we do.