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Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

That’s not the same as requiring that every kid join an Academy, which is what we’re talking about.

No one is quite sure what is going on. There was not much clarity at the transition meeting.
The confusion adds additional stress

The confusion is exacerbated by someone on this thread asserting that JR is going to require all students to participate in academies. Those of us with students at the school now are saying there’s no evidence this is true. So this particular piece of (mis)information can’t be laid at JR’s feet.

+1 I have seen no evidence that JRHS is requiring academies and neither have my children there.

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Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

That’s not the same as requiring that every kid join an Academy, which is what we’re talking about.

No one is quite sure what is going on. There was not much clarity at the transition meeting.
The confusion adds additional stress

The confusion is exacerbated by someone on this thread asserting that JR is going to require all students to participate in academies. Those of us with students at the school now are saying there’s no evidence this is true. So this particular piece of (mis)information can’t be laid at JR’s feet.

+1 I have seen no evidence that JRHS is requiring academies and neither have my children there.

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Transplant_1 wrote:

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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

Someone is asserting this on multiple threads. How do you know this? I have two kids at JR--neither in an academy--and have not gotten this impression.

You can speak to any of the JR NAF directors and ask them about the vision of the CTE Academies. Or you can write to the CTE director at the DCPS Central Office. They are in the process of trying to implement the Academy plan. Each academy has required courses for all 4 years of HS. Students are also supposed to pass some type of CTE certification exam. AP classes are only part of the IT academy, not the other Academies although the Biomed track encourages AP Biology

The "Academy Plan" = every JR student must join an academy? That's the part I'm not seeing evidence of.

That is the goal for the academies. Many of the other DCPS high schools are based on this model. JR is trying to get there as well. I’m not sure if they will succeed with 100% academy participation but they are trying to at least get most students to enroll. Walls and Banneker do not have CTE classes so they don’t follow the academy model for better or worse. This is one reason neither school offers AP CS because the AP CS classes in DCPS fall under the CTE department

Walls and Banneker are both Humanities schools and Banneker is IB. So they have their niche already. Walls does(or will) offer AP CS. It's on next years course list.

That is good news if Walls is offering AP CS next year. Is it AP CS Principles?
And it might be a humanities school but they do offer AP Chem, Bio, Physics + multivariable calculus. The only courses they don’t offer are the CTE Biomed and Engineering pathways. There are no academies at Walls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had one graduate from J-R and one is there now...it is not a requirement to join an Academy unless they have changed it this year.

Yes, this is what many of us are saying. I have two kids there now, and the academies have had no impact on their experience as non-academy students. If JR is moving toward some sort of all-academy future, it’s truly not evident to those of us whose kids aren’t in academies.

This may have been true for your kids but things are changing.
They mentioned at the JR transition meeting for 10th grade that AP CS classes will only be allowed for IT Academy students.
And once you join an academy, you are pushed to complete the pathway. They strongly discourage students from leaving an academy.
They want you to complete all the classes in the course progression

That’s not the same as requiring that every kid join an Academy, which is what we’re talking about.

No one is quite sure what is going on. There was not much clarity at the transition meeting.
The confusion adds additional stress

The confusion is exacerbated by someone on this thread asserting that JR is going to require all students to participate in academies. Those of us with students at the school now are saying there’s no evidence this is true. So this particular piece of (mis)information can’t be laid at JR’s feet.

+1 I have seen no evidence that JRHS is requiring academies and neither have my children there.

If a parent of a current JR student did not go to one of the Academy night presentations this year you would be unfamiliar with the issue. Its not that they are requiring every student to enter an Academy and there will still be elective courses that are non-academy that students can take. But the school is investing heavily in this NAF model which means encouraging all students to join an Academy as a means of breaking up the school and providing students with an additional academic counselor focused on their area of interest - and to do that and make that experience more meaningful, they are going to (a) limit enrollment in Academy courses to those enrolled in the Academy, and (b) strongly encourage students to complete the entire Academy pathway.

But many Academies are narrowly focused with a single course pathway. The CS academy with have 4 CS courses and that's separate from the Engineering academy which has a separate set of 4 courses. Whereas a "SciMaTech" student previously could wander between engineering, biomed, and CS - that will be very difficult to do going forward. The focused NAF Academy model may be helpful for students who really know what they want, but for most HS students, the more limited opportunities for exploration is a significant loss.

Anonymous wrote:This indeed is a change and if fully implemented would not only make it even harder to get classes at the school for the growing population, but be a disservice to the kids with an interest in that area. Knowing engineering CS and Advanced math, all three areas Ds was able to really explained at JR, has put him miles ahead of his peers in his engineering college, a top one. Without all of that, he likes would not have been a competitive candidate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Someone is asserting this on multiple threads. How do you know this? I have two kids at JR--neither in an academy--and have not gotten this impression.

You can speak to any of the JR NAF directors and ask them about the vision of the CTE Academies. Or you can write to the CTE director at the DCPS Central Office. They are in the process of trying to implement the Academy plan. Each academy has required courses for all 4 years of HS. Students are also supposed to pass some type of CTE certification exam. AP classes are only part of the IT academy, not the other Academies although the Biomed track encourages AP Biology

The "Academy Plan" = every JR student must join an academy? That's the part I'm not seeing evidence of.

That is the goal for the academies. Many of the other DCPS high schools are based on this model. JR is trying to get there as well. I’m not sure if they will succeed with 100% academy participation but they are trying to at least get most students to enroll. Walls and Banneker do not have CTE classes so they don’t follow the academy model for better or worse. This is one reason neither school offers AP CS because the AP CS classes in DCPS fall under the CTE department

Walls and Banneker are both Humanities schools and Banneker is IB. So they have their niche already. Walls does(or will) offer AP CS. It's on next years course list.

Banneker is also offering AP CS next year for the first time (I’m not sure which one); it was in the course registration materials sent home with my kid. Perhaps downtown has changed its policy.

Anonymous wrote:What academies is Macarthur going to offer?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This indeed is a change and if fully implemented would not only make it even harder to get classes at the school for the growing population, but be a disservice to the kids with an interest in that area. Knowing engineering CS and Advanced math, all three areas Ds was able to really explained at JR, has put him miles ahead of his peers in his engineering college, a top one. Without all of that, he likes would not have been a competitive candidate.

What advanced math at JR? Do you mean AP Calculus BC? That is the highest math offered at JR. Many private schools and MCPS/FCPS and even Walls offer 1-2 levels higher math than JR (multi variable calculus and linear algebra).
AP Calculus BC is standard HS math at this point

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This indeed is a change and if fully implemented would not only make it even harder to get classes at the school for the growing population, but be a disservice to the kids with an interest in that area. Knowing engineering CS and Advanced math, all three areas Ds was able to really explained at JR, has put him miles ahead of his peers in his engineering college, a top one. Without all of that, he likes would not have been a competitive candidate.

What advanced math at JR? Do you mean AP Calculus BC? That is the highest math offered at JR. Many private schools and MCPS/FCPS and even Walls offer 1-2 levels higher math than JR (multi variable calculus and linear algebra).
AP Calculus BC is standard HS math at this point

JRHS also offers AP Statistics (more important that AP Calculus BC in my opinion) and then students can take university courses. Walls offers the same. Multi variable calc and linear algebra would be courses outside of the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This indeed is a change and if fully implemented would not only make it even harder to get classes at the school for the growing population, but be a disservice to the kids with an interest in that area. Knowing engineering CS and Advanced math, all three areas Ds was able to really explained at JR, has put him miles ahead of his peers in his engineering college, a top one. Without all of that, he likes would not have been a competitive candidate.

What advanced math at JR? Do you mean AP Calculus BC? That is the highest math offered at JR. Many private schools and MCPS/FCPS and even Walls offer 1-2 levels higher math than JR (multi variable calculus and linear algebra).
AP Calculus BC is standard HS math at this point

JRHS also offers AP Statistics (more important that AP Calculus BC in my opinion) and then students can take university courses. Walls offers the same. Multi variable calc and linear algebra would be courses outside of the school.

Anonymous wrote:The “honors for all” concept speaks to the cluelessness of DCPS. And yet, it’s the kids suffer by not getting coursework in line with their abilities until half of high school is over.