Reply to Newport mill and Einstein input?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]“We also have a younger child who is a lot less academically inclined. Does fine in school, but must be reminded/encouraged to do homework and needs more encouragement and help to get through the school year. But is extremely into the arts. We could see this child taking some AP/IP classes in favored subjects but not in others, and I don't see her pursuing an IB diploma. We would like her to be able to go to a high school where that is also supported and where she can take a more average course load, get lots of opportunities to explore art”

To this poster: Einstein will not provide academic support or executive function coaching. They will just let her get Cs and Ds and most teachers will not notify you that she is not turning in assignments. Unless things change, you also won’t necessarily be able to tell if she is turning everything in because ParentVue is often not updated. You will eventually see the grades but it’s not easy to tell whether a student has turned something in. [/quote]

I'm this PP and I wouldn't expect that of a high school. When I say our youngest needs more encouragement and reminders -- we do that. I wouldn't expect a high school to provide executive function coaching? We know with this kid that we have to work with her more closely to make sure school work gets done, and also that she has to have external motivators (rewards like a special dinner. dinner out, or getting to go to a week of a specialty dance camp, for staying on top of school work). Our older child doesn't need this -- she loves doing school work and will seek out more work and reading on her own once it's done. But she needs encouragement to try non-academic things, to explore new social situations, etc.

We specifically want to avoid a school that thinks it's job is to push every child to the highest possible academic achievement. I think it would be too stressful for our youngest, but also fail to provide more well rounded opportunities for our oldest. Einstein sounds like a good fit.

Are you the poster who says you have a junior at Einstein? It honestly sounds like you are just mad you couldn't get into Blair or another more intensely academic school. I'm going to be honest -- your approach is the type of thing we are looking to avoid for our kids.[/quote]

Wow. Ok. Well then I guess you should avoid Einstein, since we are there! Just trying to help. My kid did not apply to magnets because he wanted to stay with his friends. My other kid has been in magnets since middle school.

To summarize again since you don’t seem to be getting what I am saying, these will be your options at Einstein: “Honors” will be everything from kids who barely speak English to kids who have have discipline issues to, in ninth and tenth grade, smart hard working kids who will later take entirely IB and AP because since they are reasonably smart and hardworking, “honors” classes are appropriately challengingly  enough for them. The school will counsel those kids they should take basically all AP and IB classes junior and senior because otherwise they are in “honors” classes with kids who “aren’t their cohort” - meaning slackers, kids who aren’t that smart, discipline problems. Etc. Those kids will also be encouraged to take at least one or two AP classes month and tenth grade.

So your kid will either be in “honors” classes that aren’t very challenging, or your kid will be in AP and IB classes. (My AP/IB kid found the workload in junior and senior year very hard as a result.) There’s no middle ground. Some schools, honors actually means something because there is another less challenging track available. That’s largely not the case at Einstein, especially since they are phasing out even more non honors classes

I was just trying to help to explain to you how on their own your kids will be at Einstein. Your older kid will probably do AP and IB and be motivated and do well. Your younger kid, I don’t know. You will likely have to do a lot of hand holding and make her give you her student log in so you can check in on her progress more. Even if they have an IEP, they likely will not get anything more than extended time on tests.

I disagree that school systems should not provide more support for kids with IEPs. [/quote]

I am also an Einstein parent and I think you're overstating the Honors class situation. Yes, some classes have the Honors-for-all model, like English and Biology in 9th. But there are Honors math classes like Algebra 2 and Precalculus, and also Honors world language classes which are actually challenging. And we have never been told by a counselor to have our kids register for a particular level of classes. Teachers will make recommendations for the next year's class based on the student's current class performance.[/quote]

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