Reply to Universal AP English & History at Wilson next year for 11th grade

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Reply to "Universal AP English & History at Wilson next year for 11th grade"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My nephew was talking about this issue this weekend and supports it because he was an A-/B+ student in honors classes. He said he could try harder but prefers more time practicing his sport. He said before if half of kids were in honors he wasn’t in the top 10-15 of an individual honors class but now that all classes are honors the bottom of the class is mainly kids who would be in non-honors classes. So he is getting straight A’s while not working as hard as he did. While kids who wouldn’t have been in honors get B’s and C’s. And there are a few non-honors kids who are doing really well because it motivated them. [/quote]

Just to be clear — he’s saying he likes Honors for All because it makes him look better with less work?

If so, expected outcomes realized...[/quote]

This confirms everything the parents are concerned about. By putting everyone in the same class the class just ends up being a much less rigorous class because the teachers do not have the ability or bandwidth to appropriate differentiate and provide the scaffolding that is needed.  There is alot of talk about the front end about differentiation to keep it rigorous for the more advanced students and scaffolding for the students needing more support, but so far it isn't happening.  [b]My Wilson student reports that so far, most of "honors" Chemistry is stuff previously learned in middle school.  The "Honors for all" classes area really, really easy in practice. [/b] And yes, it does lead to grade inflation.

I acknowledge that its a problem that the AP classes are whiter than the student body.  And its also a problem students of color do not feel comfortable or welcome in those classes.  I have a hard time believing this is the only solution to that problem, but that is what Wilson keeps saying - they have tried everything else and this is the only solution they think will make a dent.  I do have a hard time believing that, but I have not been on the inside of this.  I wish the school would be more candid about the fact that inevitably this blunt solution leads (at least in the short term) to a reduction in the overall rigor of these classes.    And so far, I don't see any evidence that this is just a short term problem at Wilson because Honors for All has been around for several years and the classes do not provide an honors experience.  [/quote]

How does your student know that this is different than what would have happened in a “traditional” honors class? Maybe he’s good at science. Maybe he had a rock-star MS teacher who pushed advanced material. Maybe the HS chemistry teacher is not a great teacher and wouldn’t have been better in the old system.

My own kid, who has always been a very successful student and I assume would have been in traditional honors classes, likes his classes and finds them interesting and engaging. Again, I have no idea how the classes would have been different under the old system, but I just can’t take these reports of kids who find them easy as any sort of meaningful evidence that “honors for all” is bad.[/quote]

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