Honors for All: when will it end

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of sophomores who took "honors" English: was your kid prepared for AP English in 11th grade? That's my concern. My kid was bored in 9th grade "honors" and next year seems like more of the same.

AP Lang was the first time my DD thought English was a worthwhile class.

MCPS said it is going to be piloting a new AP option for 10th graders that will count toward the English requirement because it will also cover the English 10 requirements -- AP Seminar: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-seminar

That seems positive, though it still leaves "honors" English 9 as the only freshman option at most schools.

Is there any additional information available about the pilot? (Which schools, for example)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of sophomores who took "honors" English: was your kid prepared for AP English in 11th grade? That's my concern. My kid was bored in 9th grade "honors" and next year seems like more of the same.

AP Lang was the first time my DD thought English was a worthwhile class.

MCPS said it is going to be piloting a new AP option for 10th graders that will count toward the English requirement because it will also cover the English 10 requirements -- AP Seminar: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-seminar

That seems positive, though it still leaves "honors" English 9 as the only freshman option at most schools.

too late for incoming sophmores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of sophomores who took "honors" English: was your kid prepared for AP English in 11th grade? That's my concern. My kid was bored in 9th grade "honors" and next year seems like more of the same.

AP Lang was the first time my DD thought English was a worthwhile class.

MCPS said it is going to be piloting a new AP option for 10th graders that will count toward the English requirement because it will also cover the English 10 requirements -- AP Seminar: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-seminar

That seems positive, though it still leaves "honors" English 9 as the only freshman option at most schools.

Is there any additional information available about the pilot? (Which schools, for example)

To my knowledge, they have not yet released the list. They did say that if it goes well they expect it to be offered across the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of sophomores who took "honors" English: was your kid prepared for AP English in 11th grade? That's my concern. My kid was bored in 9th grade "honors" and next year seems like more of the same.

AP Lang was the first time my DD thought English was a worthwhile class.

MCPS said it is going to be piloting a new AP option for 10th graders that will count toward the English requirement because it will also cover the English 10 requirements -- AP Seminar: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-seminar

That seems positive, though it still leaves "honors" English 9 as the only freshman option at most schools.

Is there any additional information available about the pilot? (Which schools, for example)

To my knowledge, they have not yet released the list. They did say that if it goes well they expect it to be offered across the county.

Where/when did you hear about this pilot? The board has to approve new pilot courses, and I don't recall this being one of the recent submissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of sophomores who took "honors" English: was your kid prepared for AP English in 11th grade? That's my concern. My kid was bored in 9th grade "honors" and next year seems like more of the same.

AP Lang was the first time my DD thought English was a worthwhile class.

MCPS said it is going to be piloting a new AP option for 10th graders that will count toward the English requirement because it will also cover the English 10 requirements -- AP Seminar: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-seminar

That seems positive, though it still leaves "honors" English 9 as the only freshman option at most schools.

Is there any additional information available about the pilot? (Which schools, for example)

To my knowledge, they have not yet released the list. They did say that if it goes well they expect it to be offered across the county.

Where/when did you hear about this pilot? The board has to approve new pilot courses, and I don't recall this being one of the recent submissions.

They went over it in an AEI feedback council meeting earlier this year.

[Anonymous]

This is really good news. I know that administrators and English teachers were really frustrated the Honors for All approach that is being rolled out for this year's rising 9th graders.

Let's just hope this is the first step toward righting the ship and reintroducing leveled instruction.

[Anonymous]

AP Seminar is already offered at my kid's high school (with AP Research offered the following year as a 2-year plan). Are you saying that there's a pilot plan to let that be a replacement for 10th grade English? That would be great. My rising sophomore was debating whether to take it next year but couldn't make it fit; still considering whether to do it in 11th grade instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a horrible trend in mcps middle & high schools. Any end in sight?

I am sorry my kids are out of MCPS but what does that mean??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is really good news. I know that administrators and English teachers were really frustrated the Honors for All approach that is being rolled out for this year's rising 9th graders.

Let's just hope this is the first step toward righting the ship and reintroducing leveled instruction.

Yeh, not going to happen. That ship has forever sailed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a horrible trend in mcps middle & high schools. Any end in sight?

I am sorry my kids are out of MCPS but what does that mean??

It means all kids take “honors” — regardless of ability or motivation, or even the ability to speak English. Its in name only and it means nothing since everyone is lumped together. It seems a disservice for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP Seminar is already offered at my kid's high school (with AP Research offered the following year as a 2-year plan). Are you saying that there's a pilot plan to let that be a replacement for 10th grade English? That would be great. My rising sophomore was debating whether to take it next year but couldn't make it fit; still considering whether to do it in 11th grade instead.

Yes - it is offered now as an elective, but MCPS says it will align it with the English 10 requirements so that it can count as the required english course in 10th grade.

[Anonymous]

More on the AP Seminar: English 10 option: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-seminar/course/elevate-english-10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a horrible trend in mcps middle & high schools. Any end in sight?

I am sorry my kids are out of MCPS but what does that mean??

It means all kids take “honors” — regardless of ability or motivation, or even the ability to speak English. Its in name only and it means nothing since everyone is lumped together. It seems a disservice for all.

It helps kids who are bad at English get GPA parity with kids who are better.

Kids who are bad at math growe GPA for non honors courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids would have been Churchill HS students. We pulled the first one out after middle school and the second one never attended an MCPS school. What we learned by accident is that the private schools they attend offer much fewer AP courses that start in junior year. So the pressure on the kids is much less and they are still surrounded by strong academic students. My oldest got into and just graduated from a top 20 university. My youngest just completed 9th grade and next year will take 3 honors classes...no APs offered in 10th. The school she attends is small and sent 25% of their graduates to top 20 schools last year.

In my opinion, private school pays off big in this area...unless you have a kid that thrives on being stressed out. I don't know too many kids like that.

How would you possibly know the stress levels of mcps HS kids when yours did not attend? My MCPS kid is also at a t20 school and did not find his very stressful.

Read it right here. Also my oldest has many MCPS friends. The pressure to take tons of APs is over the top.

AP classes should not be that stressful to take. They have sort of morphed into standard hs

AP has expanded , not morphed. New classes like CS Principles and Precalculus, and wider deployment of old courses like Physics 1/B, are high school level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The privates may be getting rid of the classes but students are still expected to take the tests.

PP here. The private schools my kids attend(ed) never "got rid of the classes." The number of AP classes is just less than in public schools and start later. Not sure what you mean about them being "expected to take the tests."

Another big difference is that students have to be approved by faculty to take any honors or AP classes, which keeps the classes on a high level. My daughter knows quite a few students who were upset they were not approved for honors English for example.

Admissions at the big privates for the unhooked are in the toilet.

Nope. Just wonder over to the private school forum and peek at the Instagram links. It was a great year.

Really? I did that and aside from URMs or hooked students it was a blood bath.

Lots of students in my daughter's school got into top 20 schools without hooks. Some with, of course. Either way, the private schools prepare students better for college. Kids from public schools these days are just not prepared anymore...sadly the pandemic worsened things.

Lots of students from public go to T20 also. But they have more unhooked kids and can't expel mediocre performers.