Yes, I have heard of RMIB's magnet being extremely competitive / high pressure. I appreciate this perspective. Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the academies are essentially a joke. They seem to exist to give false hope of academic excellence to middle school families considering leaving DCPS for good. But higher level AP math and science offer real rigor at J-R.

From the one tour I took, it seemed like the academies is a way to keep hope / on-track kids that may not do well in school - to create a community of like-minded kids to support each other. Most of the tour guides were from the hospitatlity track, and that is what I picked up. And I'm glad that is there, and seems like a good thing. But, what about for preparing for highly selective colleges - esp. the writing skills needed.

Even if BCC has a high FARMs rate, the UMC students will still have to put the same "pressure" on themselves to be competitive for selective colleges. And there's probably a large cohort of them creating "competition" and "pressure." So I keep wondering, what makes Whitman a pressure cooker. I appreciate the example of the child practicing SATs since 7th grade. And the reality of the amount of external coaching/training/lessons. But wouldn't that wealth factor exist in BCC as well? It draws from one of the wealthiest areas in the country.

I am wondering what makes Whitman such a "pressure cooker?" It would seem that regardless of which "W + BCC" school you go to, if you're aiming for a selective college, you still need a certain number of high AP scores. So whether you go to, for example you go to Whitman, BCC, or Walter Johnson, you'll probably be evaluated the same way by a college. So in any of those schools, the amount of pressure will be on yourself and the college you're aiming for. So what makes Whitman such a "pressure cooker?" In thinking it through, I would think that the pressure comes from the non-AP classes, where getting an "A" means competing against the other students. Is that the case? Is that where the pressure comes from? And again, I imagine the pressure comes from extra-curriculars, and perhaps there is an arms race for how many / quality of extra-curriculars. I welcome sincere observations. Thank you. Please, no derailing of conversations. Thank you.

Essentially, that seems to be what's going on.

Is that the purpose of the various JR "academies" - to link interest with internships. I don't understand what they are. Except for the comp sci/programming one, none involve APs.

Thank you all so much. I appreciate all the sincere observations and sharing of life experience.

Thank you. I appreciate this.

I looked. I couldn't find it. It'd be great if you could share the URL.

Also, Why not post it? Other HSs do, and let all view.

Anonymous wrote:This model provides the only way to close the gap. It provides the illusion that they're doing this since it isn't otherwise a real possibility and lowering the bar for the top students makes it look like they've improved things.

I know that's the "cynical" answer, but is there more in terms of real data and theory?

Arlington public school system is not moving / does not do this. Why is MCPS? Both have the similar demographics.

This is not helpful, it doesn't say which year you typically sign up for what, so there is no sense of sequencing, pathways, options, etc.

Thank you for that clarification.

So, for both schools, in 9th grade, for English, there is only "honors" english.

But for other subjects, there is still some differentiation in 9th grade.

For 9th grade
-- Social studies: WJ has reg, honors, AP.
Although, Whitman has only 2 options -- honors US history OR AP US govt.

-- Both are keeping a reg and honors for Biology.

Are you (or others, or has MCPS said) that year after year, they'll chip away at the other subjects, and just create an AP class and the non-AP class that will be called "Honors"?

What does it mean it is "being worked on." By when? Why would it not already exist for a large urban HS?

Out of curiousity (and looking to move from DC to lower MoCo) I printed out the course selections for each grade for Whitman, and WJ (ran out of energy for BCC) since these are best fit my commuting needs. It's interesting how they differ even from each other, and which / where there is "honors for all" for which subjects and at which grade level.

English:
-- WJ:
Essentially for all grade levels, WJ does not have "regular" classes -- only "honors", and more differentiated ESOL classes.
For each of junior and senior year, WJ provides only 1 AP option -- AP Lang and Comp for junior year, AP Lit and Comp for senior year.

-- Whitman
Whitman is more differentiated for non ESOL. See below. Like, WJ, Whitman offers AP Lang and Comp for junior year, but for senior year offers 2 AP options, not just 1, - Lang and Comp, and Lit and Comp.

This is probably bc WJ has a larger ESOL population that resources are directed to (no politic-ing, equity bashing, etc. Just, .... this is what it is)

9th: both have only Honors English and ESOL english (WJ has more ESOL differentiated levels.)

10th: Whitman has regular, honors, and ESOL. WJ doesn't have regular, only honors, and various levels of ESOL.

11th: Whitman has reg, honors, AP, and ESOL. Again, WJ doesn't have reg, but honors, AP, and ESOL.

12th: Whitman has honors, 2 AP options, and one ESOL. WJ has honors, one AP option (different than the one in junior year,) and ESOL.

Social Studies:
WJ has more differentiation. Maybe bc it has more heterogenous population, and so provide more options and pathways for different level of student readiness for academic achivement. I think this would benefit not only ESOL, but non-ESOL kids who need more time to gear up for academic AP work.

9: Whitman has only 2 options -- honors US history OR AP US govt. WJ has three non-ESOL options: US History reg and honors; OR AP US govt.

10: Whitman has US Govt has three levels -- reg, honors, AP; for US History, it has only 2 levels: honors and AP. WJ has three (non ESOL) levels for each of US Govt and US history.

11 and 12th grade: The two schools really differ from each other for these grades. And each offers the same for 11th and 12th grade. For 11th and 12, Whitman offers only Modern World History at 3 levels: Reg, hon, AP. WJ has the same as 10th grade, three levels for each of US Hist and US Govt, and also provides World History for 2 levels -Honors and AP.

This narrowing of Whitman for 11th and 12 grade -- offering only 3 levels of World Hisory -- is a bit surprising.

Science:
9th: Both offer only Biology at 2 levels - reg and honors, with WJ having more ESOL options.

10th: They differ in this year. Both offer Chemisty and Physics at 2 levels: reg, honors. Whitman offers only one AP - AP Physics. WJ offers two levels of AP Physics, and also AP Chem, and AP Env Sci.

11th: Both continue offering what they did in 10th grade. Whitman adds AP Chem, 4 diff levels of AP Physics, 3 levels of Bio (reg, honors, AP), AP Env Sci, and about 4 specialized electives. WJ adds AP Bio (no regular or honors like Whitman, just AP), two levels of AP Physics, and two specialized electives.

12th: Whitman offers the same wide offering as it did in 11th grade. WJ adds two specialized electives.

It's interesting that Whitman offers reg and honors Bio for 11th and 12th, but WJ does not.

Math:
For Math, I can only say that each offers a lot of differentiation.