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]I am an infrequent poster because I find these forums so toxic but I want to follow up on an earlier poster...for those who seem convinced (without evidence from what I can tell) that this is going to destroy the education of your "advanced" children, what is the solution?  Status quo? If so, do you recognize the damage of a two-track system where kids are essentially segregated by race?  If you do realize that the status quo is problematic, what is the solution?  And if your solution is "fixing the elementary schools"...are you willing to sacrifice several cohorts of BIPOC children until whatever elementary school "fixes" work through the system? If you have a different solution, what is it?  Because I don't know what the solution is but I'm willing to see how this plays out (I'm the parent of an "advanced" child) in the hopes that we can start to chip away the systemic racism built over generations.[/quote]

Has Honors for All been effective at “chipping away” at the achievement gap?  This same cohort has had 2 years of this plan already.  Has Wilson reported any results of the experiment?

We have one tiny anecdote above of a boy saying he gets better grades with less work.  Any other data?[/quote]

I wouldn't include anything posted anonymously on this website as a reliable data point, not even as an anecdote.  But you raise a fair question.  And I think that is a much better tone/approach than a lot of the other spewing.  It is fair to ask Wilson what the outcomes/results have been of Honors for All and how that played into this decision.  That seems like a more meaningful path than making a lot of assumptions.[/quote]

I agree.  Since quantitative data is the universally accepted metric for measuring change, it would be very interesting to see if the test scores of formerly under-performing students will have improved, over time, after being immersed in "honors for all" and "AP for all." We already know from the studies on similar efforts that the test scores of formerly high-performing students do not decrease after being removed from accelerated courses.  Obviously, the data arising from Wilson's efforts cannot be analyzed until DCPS reinstates testing.

Notwithstanding this area of interest, we should not avoid the observation that the marketing of "honors for all" and "AP for all" is, on its face, stupid.  A class that promotes itself as "honors" for everyone is not essentially an "honors" class any longer.  It is a regular class.  Same with "AP for all" -- the course is no longer a college-level course if a portion of the students enrolled at the course are not even potentially capable of performing at the college level.  Both sets of courses are simply regular courses.  It is this effort to roll out the courses in such a stupid, patently dishonest, way that I think infuriates many of the observers here.  Of course, many others delight in this, and would (privately) refer to the marketing as "a feature, not a bug."  But the dishonesty of the marketing effort runs contrary to the purpose of a public project.  Public money should not be spent with the self-satisfying purpose of triggering a bunch of people who would like to have an accelerated academic experience for their kids.  My inference is that DCPS wouldn't mind of those parents opt to leave the system, but if I'm correct about that, the inherent motivation being expressed by public officials reveals a terrible sickness.

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