Reply to All honors, All onlevel, All blended, or leveled classes

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Reply to "All honors, All onlevel, All blended, or leveled classes - which is best?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Option 4, at least for MS and HS. [/quote]

Option 4 is fine provided anyone can sign up and are free to fail.[/quote]

I really like the idea of honors for all since it raises everyone up to a higher standard.[/quote]

Except that is simply not what happens.  It ends up leading to lower standards because some of the kids simply can’t meet the higher standards that should be required for Honors classes. [/quote]

Maybe at your school but at ours they raise everyone up to a higher level.[/quote]

This is both unrealistic and incredibly simplistic.

Some kids are stronger in certain areas than others. Just as some kids are more athletic, musical, artistic, etc., some will be stronger in academic subjects and find they are able to master a subject fairly easily that their classmate struggles with. It doesn’t mean that their classmate can’t learn, just as kids can learn sports, music, or art skills, even without a natural inclination in those areas, they just have to work harder.

Kids have different starting points.  For example, Some kids have had parents reading to them for hours each day and exposing them to enriching experiences. Other kids may not have the same range of experiences, and may have had limited exposure to books. Still other kids, regardless of the level of stimulation they received at home, may not be able to speak in English at all.

Kids have different levels of motivation. A kid who is motivated may want to spend all their spare time and energy learning about and doing something. That doesn’t mean they’ll want to devote the same effort to all subjects, much less that all kids, regardless of their interest, should be expected to match the efforts of the top performers in every subject.

A kid who enters kindergarten without knowing their ABCs will not be able to suddenly read chapter books because their classmate does. A child who is learning to count will not be ready for the same work as the child who figured out multiplication on their own.  Most kids will fall somewhere in between.  All kids should be taught at their own levels, with [b]the goal of encouraging each individual child to progress on their individual path. [/b][/quote]

I have said this for years.

MCPS needs to focus on showing how much each child is IMPROVING.  Quit focusing on the Achievement Gap.  Quit focusing on putting kids in Honors/AP classes even when they don’t belong there.

Show that each kid is progressing at an appropriate level for them.  Focus on ESOL kids making progress.  Focus on SN kids improving in the areas that they are capable of improving.  Show that advanced Math students are progressing in Math.

Kids spend 30 hours a week in school.  Let’s show that those hours are actually useful.  [/quote]

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