John Francis Middle vs. Stuart Hobson (or maybe Eliot Hine)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does anyone see that Walls favors those students who are ahead of their grade level in Math vs those who are on-grade, and everyone is earning their As (I emphasize earning)!

If an 8th grader is acing their algebra1 but for whatever reason did not have the opportunity to get into geometry, this should not and does not mean that they are behind.. and they would also get a chance for Walls! Esp if they have well rounded achievements across board to ace their recommendation letters.

Well, for my kids, the desire to have Geometry by 8th is less for "getting into Walls" and more about being on track to take BC Calc and beyond in high school, if they want to. If you have a smart, STEM oriented kid who can handle it, I really feel it's a disservice not to get them into a school with advanced offerings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, I see- Obviously I am new to all this. But then I am glad that Walls removed the testing or skewing towards those in accelerated math since it would be not be just from an equity perspective.
And I do think that Walls and all public schools ultimately aim to meet our Healthy School Act based on the Whole Child model. It takes time to get there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where does anyone see that Walls favors those students who are ahead of their grade level in Math vs those who are on-grade, and everyone is earning their As (I emphasize earning)!

If an 8th grader is acing their algebra1 but for whatever reason did not have the opportunity to get into geometry, this should not and does not mean that they are behind.. and they would also get a chance for Walls! Esp if they have well rounded achievements across board to ace their recommendation letters.

Back in the day, the admissions test for Walls had Geometry questions on it. I remember an old thread where people talked about their middle school offering basic Geometry tutoring for kids planning on taking the Walls test.

I highly doubt that the current process, which uses much more subjective criteria inconsistently gathered from a variety of sources, is more equitable than the standardized test was. IIRC the Geometry tutoring was offered to help level the playing field for otherwise qualified kids.

[Anonymous]

Good to know. I was told that it wasn't a whole class option. It really didn't matter to me as I am not pushing my kid in that respect. If they demonstrated some kind of unusually high mathematics aptitude, I may have. But they are excelling in Algebra and can coast a bit right now.