Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have visited DCPS and MCPS schools, and the difference in the public discussion of academics in open houses is striking. MCPS principals will up-front address acceleration. I even heard one say “It is our obligation to give students the challenge they need.” Long discussions of math tracking and selection of classes.

In DCPS, academics seem to be practically a dirty word at open houses. Parents who ask about it get stared at questioningly, as if they just ripped a big fart.

I was just chatting with a friend in Moco schools and was blown away at the support for academic rigor, there are multiple magnet middle schools, her kid is in 5th grade and they tested kids to determine if any were eligible, he was automatically offered a seat at a STEM middle magnet (but they are turning it down), lots of accelerated classes in his elem school to for math and reading.
Why is DC so afraid of this? Perfomative equity. meaning all kids get a mediocre education and honors/AP "for all"

Sad but unfortunately true. They don’t want to challenge the higher achievers and make it difficult as hell to get information, access, and classes.

The goal is to lower the top so they can say the are closing the achievement gap.

This. I am so unenthused about JR and worried about the lack of enrichment in 9th at JR. When asked at this virtual open house this week, they said freshman can pursue an extracurricular to get enrichment, join an academy (through current freshman and sophomores get first dibs so rising freshman are probably on a waitlist), and find a trusted adult to get more suggestions. (And yes DC tried for private and walls and is waitlisted everywhere and no we are not moving). My DC has been so bored at Deal - their class hasn’t finished a single book in English! - I worry about another year of the same.

I hear this about not reading any books all the time. Are they actually not assigned any full books in Deal?

DC’s class was assigned Raisin in the Sun, Chains, and To Kill a Mockingbird. The assigned reading is so slow that they haven’t finished a single one. It’s April. Meanwhile my 5th grader at a Deal feeder read Chains in ELA enrichment. And don’t even get me started on the fact that they haven’t had a single writing assignment in English.

In what grade was there no writing assignment???

8th grade.

The best part is that they only substantial writing assignment was in....yes, math class.

Our kids are on the same team. DC complained but I told them I have no sympathy since it was the first challenge they faced all year.

Anonymous wrote:Deal ELA is horrible.

My kid moved on to a Big3 private for high school and basically got his ass kicked in 9th grade when he had to write 25-30 different 3 page essays between English and history.

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have visited DCPS and MCPS schools, and the difference in the public discussion of academics in open houses is striking. MCPS principals will up-front address acceleration. I even heard one say “It is our obligation to give students the challenge they need.” Long discussions of math tracking and selection of classes.

In DCPS, academics seem to be practically a dirty word at open houses. Parents who ask about it get stared at questioningly, as if they just ripped a big fart.

I was just chatting with a friend in Moco schools and was blown away at the support for academic rigor, there are multiple magnet middle schools, her kid is in 5th grade and they tested kids to determine if any were eligible, he was automatically offered a seat at a STEM middle magnet (but they are turning it down), lots of accelerated classes in his elem school to for math and reading.
Why is DC so afraid of this? Perfomative equity. meaning all kids get a mediocre education and honors/AP "for all"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have visited DCPS and MCPS schools, and the difference in the public discussion of academics in open houses is striking. MCPS principals will up-front address acceleration. I even heard one say “It is our obligation to give students the challenge they need.” Long discussions of math tracking and selection of classes.

In DCPS, academics seem to be practically a dirty word at open houses. Parents who ask about it get stared at questioningly, as if they just ripped a big fart.

I was just chatting with a friend in Moco schools and was blown away at the support for academic rigor, there are multiple magnet middle schools, her kid is in 5th grade and they tested kids to determine if any were eligible, he was automatically offered a seat at a STEM middle magnet (but they are turning it down), lots of accelerated classes in his elem school to for math and reading.
Why is DC so afraid of this? Perfomative equity. meaning all kids get a mediocre education and honors/AP "for all"

Ha. You are not automatically offered a spot in a STEM middle school if you qualify in MCPS.

We moved from DCPS to MCPS in ES for access to accelerated programming and have been disappointed outside of math. Our kids qualified for the GT magnet programs for both elementary and middle schools. What that means is that you are thrown into a lottery, and it's all luck of the draw. The vast majority of kids who are qualified do not get in. There is nothing automatic about it.

However, there is acceleration in math available to all kids who qualify. All ES offer "compacted" math to kids who qualify, allowing them to compact 3 years of Math (math 4, math 5, and math 6) into two years. There is further compaction in middle school available for those who do well with the compaction in ES, so a fair number of students end up taking Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Some can take it in 6th, but that is rare (and requires students to accelerate outside of MCPS).

MCPS has largely gone the "honors for all" model outside of math. At B-CC, all students take honors English 9 and 10, which is really just on-level. They do offer honors science classes, but the honors and on-level science students are mixed together in the same class -- the honors just means taking a harder test. The only really accelearation avialable outside of math is through AP/IB courses.

The grass is not always greener. We have found MCPS to be fine, but I suspect it's similar to the experience at WOTP DCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have visited DCPS and MCPS schools, and the difference in the public discussion of academics in open houses is striking. MCPS principals will up-front address acceleration. I even heard one say “It is our obligation to give students the challenge they need.” Long discussions of math tracking and selection of classes.

In DCPS, academics seem to be practically a dirty word at open houses. Parents who ask about it get stared at questioningly, as if they just ripped a big fart.

I was just chatting with a friend in Moco schools and was blown away at the support for academic rigor, there are multiple magnet middle schools, her kid is in 5th grade and they tested kids to determine if any were eligible, he was automatically offered a seat at a STEM middle magnet (but they are turning it down), lots of accelerated classes in his elem school to for math and reading.
Why is DC so afraid of this? Perfomative equity. meaning all kids get a mediocre education and honors/AP "for all"

Ha. You are not automatically offered a spot in a STEM middle school if you qualify in MCPS.

We moved from DCPS to MCPS in ES for access to accelerated programming and have been disappointed outside of math. Our kids qualified for the GT magnet programs for both elementary and middle schools. What that means is that you are thrown into a lottery, and it's all luck of the draw. The vast majority of kids who are qualified do not get in. There is nothing automatic about it.

However, there is acceleration in math available to all kids who qualify. All ES offer "compacted" math to kids who qualify, allowing them to compact 3 years of Math (math 4, math 5, and math 6) into two years. There is further compaction in middle school available for those who do well with the compaction in ES, so a fair number of students end up taking Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Some can take it in 6th, but that is rare (and requires students to accelerate outside of MCPS).

MCPS has largely gone the "honors for all" model outside of math. At B-CC, all students take honors English 9 and 10, which is really just on-level. They do offer honors science classes, but the honors and on-level science students are mixed together in the same class -- the honors just means taking a harder test. The only really accelearation avialable outside of math is through AP/IB courses.

The grass is not always greener. We have found MCPS to be fine, but I suspect it's similar to the experience at WOTP DCPS.

I think you may not know how bad DCPS is. I went to MCPS and DCPS open houses and the differences are stark. Did your kid barely read any books or have any writing assignments all through MS? The fact that MCPS has compacted math and a clear pathway for kids who want to accelerate is huge. In DCPS you may be able to do that, but there will NEVER be an articulated, clearly discussed and supported way to do that. Because we are not supposed to publicy discuss or support advanced kids. It may be that some MCPS and DCPS kids end up in the same place but a lot of DCPS kids are left behind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have visited DCPS and MCPS schools, and the difference in the public discussion of academics in open houses is striking. MCPS principals will up-front address acceleration. I even heard one say “It is our obligation to give students the challenge they need.” Long discussions of math tracking and selection of classes.

In DCPS, academics seem to be practically a dirty word at open houses. Parents who ask about it get stared at questioningly, as if they just ripped a big fart.

I was just chatting with a friend in Moco schools and was blown away at the support for academic rigor, there are multiple magnet middle schools, her kid is in 5th grade and they tested kids to determine if any were eligible, he was automatically offered a seat at a STEM middle magnet (but they are turning it down), lots of accelerated classes in his elem school to for math and reading.
Why is DC so afraid of this? Perfomative equity. meaning all kids get a mediocre education and honors/AP "for all"

Sad but unfortunately true. They don’t want to challenge the higher achievers and make it difficult as hell to get information, access, and classes.

The goal is to lower the top so they can say the are closing the achievement gap.

This. I am so unenthused about JR and worried about the lack of enrichment in 9th at JR. When asked at this virtual open house this week, they said freshman can pursue an extracurricular to get enrichment, join an academy (through current freshman and sophomores get first dibs so rising freshman are probably on a waitlist), and find a trusted adult to get more suggestions. (And yes DC tried for private and walls and is waitlisted everywhere and no we are not moving). My DC has been so bored at Deal - their class hasn’t finished a single book in English! - I worry about another year of the same.

I hear this about not reading any books all the time. Are they actually not assigned any full books in Deal?

DC’s class was assigned Raisin in the Sun, Chains, and To Kill a Mockingbird. The assigned reading is so slow that they haven’t finished a single one. It’s April. Meanwhile my 5th grader at a Deal feeder read Chains in ELA enrichment. And don’t even get me started on the fact that they haven’t had a single writing assignment in English.

In what grade was there no writing assignment???

8th grade.

The best part is that they only substantial writing assignment was in....yes, math class.

Our kids are on the same team. DC complained but I told them I have no sympathy since it was the first challenge they faced all year.

Is this something you can raise with the school?

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:Not all teachers are like this. My son's science teacher is outstanding with return work marked up in a timely manner. His english and social studies teacher also return work with comment. Again, it's the brazen inconsistency, in the name of self-advocacy.

Please stop. This is not an issue about JR. Head over to the FCPS forum or the MoCo forum. There are parents there complaining as well. Some hs teachers are great and some are less than stellar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have visited DCPS and MCPS schools, and the difference in the public discussion of academics in open houses is striking. MCPS principals will up-front address acceleration. I even heard one say “It is our obligation to give students the challenge they need.” Long discussions of math tracking and selection of classes.

In DCPS, academics seem to be practically a dirty word at open houses. Parents who ask about it get stared at questioningly, as if they just ripped a big fart.

I was just chatting with a friend in Moco schools and was blown away at the support for academic rigor, there are multiple magnet middle schools, her kid is in 5th grade and they tested kids to determine if any were eligible, he was automatically offered a seat at a STEM middle magnet (but they are turning it down), lots of accelerated classes in his elem school to for math and reading.
Why is DC so afraid of this? Perfomative equity. meaning all kids get a mediocre education and honors/AP "for all"

Sad but unfortunately true. They don’t want to challenge the higher achievers and make it difficult as hell to get information, access, and classes.

The goal is to lower the top so they can say the are closing the achievement gap.

This. I am so unenthused about JR and worried about the lack of enrichment in 9th at JR. When asked at this virtual open house this week, they said freshman can pursue an extracurricular to get enrichment, join an academy (through current freshman and sophomores get first dibs so rising freshman are probably on a waitlist), and find a trusted adult to get more suggestions. (And yes DC tried for private and walls and is waitlisted everywhere and no we are not moving). My DC has been so bored at Deal - their class hasn’t finished a single book in English! - I worry about another year of the same.

I hear this about not reading any books all the time. Are they actually not assigned any full books in Deal?

DC’s class was assigned Raisin in the Sun, Chains, and To Kill a Mockingbird. The assigned reading is so slow that they haven’t finished a single one. It’s April. Meanwhile my 5th grader at a Deal feeder read Chains in ELA enrichment. And don’t even get me started on the fact that they haven’t had a single writing assignment in English.

In what grade was there no writing assignment???

8th grade.

The best part is that they only substantial writing assignment was in....yes, math class.

Our kids are on the same team. DC complained but I told them I have no sympathy since it was the first challenge they faced all year.

Is this something you can raise with the school?

At first you think “it’ll get better, there must be a reason they didn’t finish the book/assign a paper/ etc.” so you wait, you trust them when they say they are about to hire a teacher if one is missing so you don’t hire a tutor, and next thing you know, it’s been months of the same low standards or no teachers. I’ve found when you engage the administration on these shortcomings the response is performative, but no real change. We will enrich on our own in JR and at Deal for DC2. That is why I appreciate everyone’s honesty here because it is easy to fall into the trap if “it can’t possibly be this bad” and then you can lose time trying to find the outside resources when you realize it is the rule, not the exception.

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Anonymous wrote:

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal sounds like a disaster.

It is not a disaster. I like the principal. But I do wish the academic standards were a bit higher.
My kids coasted at Deal. Then 9th grade at JR was even easier than 8th grade at Deal. Very frustrating.
Rigor comes in at JR only with APs unfortunately. I know private schools don’t like APs but I’m not sure how JR would manage without them.

OP here: And thus why, I started this thread and asked why Jackson Reed's presentations don't present / barely present about APs.

From what I've picked up, APs have become the "anchor" for academic rigor across US public high schools, since colleges can't "trust" grades (as much as they used to?) because of grade inflation - for whatever reasons, to hide the acievement gap or to keep selective college bound kids/parents happy. Well then, so be it - that's another debate. But then, why doesn't Jackson Reed present on APs?

Why the focus on academies almost exclusively?

Because DCPS has decided to spend $$$ on Academy Directors at all the high schools. These are high level director salaries. 3 at JR. Academies also fall under career and tech Ed which is flush with money these days. The goal is to force every kid into an academy and make them complete the pathway