To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

Sure. Calling it Honors makes it Honors.

Especially when it is the same honors curriculum, but they're expecting all students to rise to the occasion. It's like that movie Stand and Deliver where nobody believes in these kids except this one guy, but because of him, they rise to the occasion. FCPS is doing exactly that. It's so inspirational!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no distinction between a “honors” class and a regular class. Both cover the same material. The class is named differently to segregate kids. Colleges don’t care or even look at “honors class” crap. You want to take a higher level class - take a higher level class. Don’t call it “honors” and pretend it’s somehow different than the regular class.

Yes they do. Some colleges even give honors, AP, and dual enrollment classes the same weight for calculating your GPA.

Except - wait for it - no college does that. If you want an IB or AP, take the IB or AP. If you want to brag your kid took “honors” English - get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

Sure. Calling it Honors makes it Honors.

Especially when it is the same honors curriculum, but they're expecting all students to rise to the occasion. It's like that movie Stand and Deliver where nobody believes in these kids except this one guy, but because of him, they rise to the occasion. FCPS is doing exactly that. It's so inspirational!

? You know that the teacher at Garfield HS had extra support classes for the students in order for them to learn the advanced material, right? Before and after school, weekends and holiday tutoring is basically what he provided. If school districts did that, I think these such kids would do a lot better. And indeed, school districts do have after school tutoring, Saturday school, summer school, but guess what... you can't force the kids to attend.

Back then, "honors" meant "honors", unlike today.

-someone who grew in LAUSD and went to a high FARMs school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

No. If you enroll everyone irrespective of preparation coming into the course, teachers will either lower the content level for all students so as not to leave some kids behind or keep the pace and have unprepared students struggle. Neither of these options is a good outcome. One teacher can't successfully differentiate to the extent needed. The most common outcome is having a course that is honors in name only that covers regular content; that is definitely not raising the bar.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

Sure. Calling it Honors makes it Honors.

Especially when it is the same honors curriculum, but they're expecting all students to rise to the occasion. It's like that movie Stand and Deliver where nobody believes in these kids except this one guy, but because of him, they rise to the occasion. FCPS is doing exactly that. It's so inspirational!

? You know that the teacher at Garfield HS had extra support classes for the students in order for them to learn the advanced material, right? Before and after school, weekends and holiday tutoring is basically what he provided. If school districts did that, I think these such kids would do a lot better. And indeed, school districts do have after school tutoring, Saturday school, summer school, but guess what... you can't force the kids to attend.

Back then, "honors" meant "honors", unlike today.

-someone who grew in LAUSD and went to a high FARMs school

No it's the same. He was the only teacher who believed in these kids and had high expectations. This is exactly what FCPS is doing by expecting all students to rise to the occasion. They are literally expected to stand and deliver!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

No. If you enroll everyone irrespective of preparation coming into the course, teachers will either lower the content level for all students so as not to leave some kids behind or keep the pace and have unprepared students struggle. Neither of these options is a good outcome. One teacher can't successfully differentiate to the extent needed. The most common outcome is having a course that is honors in name only that covers regular content; that is definitely not raising the bar.

That's not true at all. They also have the option of expecting more from these students and allowing them to meet the challenge which is what they're doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

No. If you enroll everyone irrespective of preparation coming into the course, teachers will either lower the content level for all students so as not to leave some kids behind or keep the pace and have unprepared students struggle. Neither of these options is a good outcome. One teacher can't successfully differentiate to the extent needed. The most common outcome is having a course that is honors in name only that covers regular content; that is definitely not raising the bar.

That's not true at all. They also have the option of expecting more from these students and allowing them to meet the challenge which is what they're doing.

But you risk dragging the whole class down if the students don’t rise up to the challenge. Chicago tried this detracking approach, and it led to fewer students going to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

Sure. Calling it Honors makes it Honors.

Especially when it is the same honors curriculum, but they're expecting all students to rise to the occasion. It's like that movie Stand and Deliver where nobody believes in these kids except this one guy, but because of him, they rise to the occasion. FCPS is doing exactly that. It's so inspirational!

? You know that the teacher at Garfield HS had extra support classes for the students in order for them to learn the advanced material, right? Before and after school, weekends and holiday tutoring is basically what he provided. If school districts did that, I think these such kids would do a lot better. And indeed, school districts do have after school tutoring, Saturday school, summer school, but guess what... you can't force the kids to attend.

Back then, "honors" meant "honors", unlike today.

-someone who grew in LAUSD and went to a high FARMs school

Once he left Garfield fell back to where it was before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

Sure. Calling it Honors makes it Honors.

Especially when it is the same honors curriculum, but they're expecting all students to rise to the occasion. It's like that movie Stand and Deliver where nobody believes in these kids except this one guy, but because of him, they rise to the occasion. FCPS is doing exactly that. It's so inspirational!

? You know that the teacher at Garfield HS had extra support classes for the students in order for them to learn the advanced material, right? Before and after school, weekends and holiday tutoring is basically what he provided. If school districts did that, I think these such kids would do a lot better. And indeed, school districts do have after school tutoring, Saturday school, summer school, but guess what... you can't force the kids to attend.

Back then, "honors" meant "honors", unlike today.

-someone who grew in LAUSD and went to a high FARMs school

No it's the same. He was the only teacher who believed in these kids and had high expectations. This is exactly what FCPS is doing by expecting all students to rise to the occasion. They are literally expected to stand and deliver!

It wasn't just learning advanced material. He was teaching them prealgebra.

If Fairfax is doing this, then they are taking advanced kids and putting them thru prealgebra classes in the name of equity and raising the bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

Sure. Calling it Honors makes it Honors.

Especially when it is the same honors curriculum, but they're expecting all students to rise to the occasion. It's like that movie Stand and Deliver where nobody believes in these kids except this one guy, but because of him, they rise to the occasion. FCPS is doing exactly that. It's so inspirational!

? You know that the teacher at Garfield HS had extra support classes for the students in order for them to learn the advanced material, right? Before and after school, weekends and holiday tutoring is basically what he provided. If school districts did that, I think these such kids would do a lot better. And indeed, school districts do have after school tutoring, Saturday school, summer school, but guess what... you can't force the kids to attend.

Back then, "honors" meant "honors", unlike today.

-someone who grew in LAUSD and went to a high FARMs school

No it's the same. He was the only teacher who believed in these kids and had high expectations. This is exactly what FCPS is doing by expecting all students to rise to the occasion. They are literally expected to stand and deliver!

It wasn't just learning advanced material. He was teaching them prealgebra.

If Fairfax is doing this, then they are taking advanced kids and putting them thru prealgebra classes in the name of equity and raising the bar.

If they put these same kids into calculus instead, would that also be raising the bar? You can put kids into any class. The relevant question is whether they are prepared to do well in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

No. If you enroll everyone irrespective of preparation coming into the course, teachers will either lower the content level for all students so as not to leave some kids behind or keep the pace and have unprepared students struggle. Neither of these options is a good outcome. One teacher can't successfully differentiate to the extent needed. The most common outcome is having a course that is honors in name only that covers regular content; that is definitely not raising the bar.

That's not true at all. They also have the option of expecting more from these students and allowing them to meet the challenge which is what they're doing.

But you risk dragging the whole class down if the students don’t rise up to the challenge. Chicago tried this detracking approach, and it led to fewer students going to college.

Or god forbid rasing the whole class up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

Sure. Calling it Honors makes it Honors.

Especially when it is the same honors curriculum, but they're expecting all students to rise to the occasion. It's like that movie Stand and Deliver where nobody believes in these kids except this one guy, but because of him, they rise to the occasion. FCPS is doing exactly that. It's so inspirational!

? You know that the teacher at Garfield HS had extra support classes for the students in order for them to learn the advanced material, right? Before and after school, weekends and holiday tutoring is basically what he provided. If school districts did that, I think these such kids would do a lot better. And indeed, school districts do have after school tutoring, Saturday school, summer school, but guess what... you can't force the kids to attend.

Back then, "honors" meant "honors", unlike today.

-someone who grew in LAUSD and went to a high FARMs school

No it's the same. He was the only teacher who believed in these kids and had high expectations. This is exactly what FCPS is doing by expecting all students to rise to the occasion. They are literally expected to stand and deliver!

It wasn't just learning advanced material. He was teaching them prealgebra.

If Fairfax is doing this, then they are taking advanced kids and putting them thru prealgebra classes in the name of equity and raising the bar.

If they put these same kids into calculus instead, would that also be raising the bar? You can put kids into any class. The relevant question is whether they are prepared to do well in it.

Honors English 9 isn't exactly Calc BC. The opinion of many of these class is just overly inflated nonsense. This is exactly colleges give 0 GPA boost for honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For years, all FCPS MS students were automagically enrolled in
honors courses with few exceptions.

Instead of dumbing it down FCPS is raising the bar so good for them!

No. If you enroll everyone irrespective of preparation coming into the course, teachers will either lower the content level for all students so as not to leave some kids behind or keep the pace and have unprepared students struggle. Neither of these options is a good outcome. One teacher can't successfully differentiate to the extent needed. The most common outcome is having a course that is honors in name only that covers regular content; that is definitely not raising the bar.

That's not true at all. They also have the option of expecting more from these students and allowing them to meet the challenge which is what they're doing.

But you risk dragging the whole class down if the students don’t rise up to the challenge. Chicago tried this detracking approach, and it led to fewer students going to college.

Or god forbid rasing the whole class up!

Sure, and I’d like to win the lottery. Doesn’t mean it will happen. We don’t have any evidence that detracking works unless the school is entirely UMC or wealthy.

You’re essentially gambling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t wait for them to do this with sports.

What? White quotas on football and basketball teams? Or Black quotas on field hockey?

Asian quota on every sport. Every. Damn. Sport. But especially basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no distinction between a “honors” class and a regular class. Both cover the same material. The class is named differently to segregate kids. Colleges don’t care or even look at “honors class” crap. You want to take a higher level class - take a higher level class. Don’t call it “honors” and pretend it’s somehow different than the regular class.

Yes they do. Some colleges even give honors, AP, and dual enrollment classes the same weight for calculating your GPA.

Except - wait for it - no college does that. If you want an IB or AP, take the IB or AP. If you want to brag your kid took “honors” English - get a life.

The entire UC system gives A-G honors classes the same weight as AP and dual enrollment classes, at least for California residents: https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/gpa-requirement.html