Reply to Wilson honors for all - how has it worked?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To 1:43 - I think your correct point is too subtle for DCUM.

They can’t imagine how their kid’s education can be good if others aren’t excluded. [/quote]

Imagine for a moment that the underlying facts asserted are true and this has nothing to do with race or SES.  Some of the kids in a classroom have demonstrated academic strengths and can absorb, retain, process and engage on the subject matters at a very high level (e.g., reading at a college level) at the age of 14 and other students in the same class read at a 5th grade level and cannot (or have no interest in) engage in in depth discussions.  How do you think these students can be served well by the same teacher in the same classroom?  Does it serve either of them?  How are we to improve if ulterior motives are assigned to asking the question?

[/quote]

In reality, what are the numbers at Wilson? Are we talking most kids at or above level and and 5 kids in the room are being given the opportunity to struggle to keep up with them? Or the reverse?[/quote]

So let's look at some data.

I just pulled up the PARCC ELA data for the 8th-grade classes at Deal, Hardy and Adams (current potential 9th graders for Wilson). We know no one is getting in OOB but there are, presumably, some students entering Wilson who live in the IB area. I did not look at the Math because Wilson does still put students into math tracks.

At each of these feeders, the vast majority of students score 3+ on PARCC ELA (I am going to assume that there is no question that students who score 3+ would have always bee placed in the old Honors English, because I know kids who with that score who, pre-Honors for All, were placed in 9th and 10th grade Honors English.

Deal - 87% 3+ on ELA, or 386 of 444 students.
Adams - 78% 3+ or 88 or 114
Hardy - 57% 3+ or 57 or 65 students

A few years ago there may well have been a vast gap in academic achievement levels among students at Wilson, but increasingly this is not the case. And as Hardy gentrifies over the next 2 years that will be even more the case.[/quote]

So why does it make sense to have 9 th grade being a boring, unproductive year for many students?[/quote]

What you do not understand is that these are the SAME honors class that have existed since before Martin became principal. It was NOT "dumbed down". All that has changed is that class sizes are smaller and there isn't another track for 'dumb' kids, as students at Wilson called it. [/quote]

Ok.  So these are the same classes.  So why does it make sense for 9th grade to a boring, unproductive year for so many students?

That’s the chief thing I hear about Wilson that makes me wary of it.  Whether a long-standing or new problem, it’s a problem.[/quote]

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