Reply to APS MS ELA curriculum and differentiation?

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Reply to "APS MS ELA curriculum and differentiation?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are looking to move from DCPS to NOVA, preferably APS but open to others, for middle school, in part because DCPS won't differentiate/accelerate in anything but math. Our DD is really strong in ELA, would prefer to read over most other activities, and isn't really learning to write here. I'd like to get her somewhere she can be challenged more and isn't having tons of independent reading time while the teachers help the kids who are several grade levels behind. How's the ELA curriculum in APS middle schools and does it differ from school to school? Are they reading full books and are they writing more than a paragraph or two? Will they differentiate and place a strong kid in a different ELA/English class? What about social studies/history? If anyone has a kid like this and has been happy with the ELA experience, please let me know. [/quote]

Don't take this as a slight because I say the same thing to every parent who says something like this. If your kid is actually this outstanding (i.e., truly gifted in any subject), teach them yourself in that subject or find someone who can properly plan a curriculum to accelerate them. Most schools, including most privates, are unable to accommodate them and your kid, if resourceful, will need to use YT and other sources to learn anyway. For something like English, even the majority of kids are weak in writing, reading comprehension, and vocabulary these days. One of our kids pretty much maxed out (figuratively) the lexile test in elementary school and never learned to write as strongly as they should have (still probably better than most high school kids) because they were never challenged at school.

Also, what used to be general is becoming more representative. APS is a terrible school district that's run poorly and most of the truly smart kids have either gone private or moved to other schools district in the area. Just the loss of a handful of kids to TJ is consequential. People are going to defend APS but look at the paltry 1% (?? not interested in crunching the numbers, but correct me if I'm wrong) of kids that get admitted to HYPSM. This is a sheer percentage thing. There are always going to be that many because of legacy and sports. If you take those kids out, the actual number of merit-based kids would be much smaller. APS should overrepresent the national average attending elite colleges due to its per capita income, per capita expenditures on education, and given the large numbers of Ph.D., professionals, and alumni living in the county.  [/quote]

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