Reply to MCPS High School 10th grade Honors English: Is there a more challenging option?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]MCPS Pre-IB English for grades 9 and 10 are not just for magnet students, but are only offered at schools with IB programs: B-CC, Einstein, Kennedy, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Seneca Valley, Springbrook, and Watkins Mill. [/quote]

This is not the case at B-CC.  All 9th and 10th graders are in the IB MYP.  So, it's just regular old Honors English in 9th and 10th grades.

I was soooooooo disappointed when I discovered (as a PP mentioned) that in MCPS, "Honors" just means non-remedial.  There's challenge in Math (accelerated) and in Social Studies (AP NSL in 9th grade).  But as far as I've seen, not in the other subjects at least in 9th grade and sounds like not in 10th grade either. :([/quote]

Just want to challenge the above, specifically for BCC and thus, also for MCPS as a whole.  Although BCC is an IB school and all BCC 9 and 10 English classes are MYP compliant, 10th graders can take AP Lang instead.  At least half a dozen kids did so my DC's sophomore year (very recently).  Some of them came from Westland, some from Eastern MS Magnet.  All did quite well.

A few were denied access to AP Lang in 10th grade because their 9th grade teacher refused to recommend them. I knew those kids personally, and I can tell you they all would have done well in AP Lang (2 of them came from Eastern magnet, where they basically had already done some aspects of AP Lang).  Later we found out that some teachers refuse to recommend students unless they are sure they will get an "A".  Since many bright kids are bored as crap in 9th grade English, they can be getting Bs due to boredom, and the teacher writes that off as stupid or unmotivated.  My DC got a B one or two quarters due to extreme boredom; however, her teacher recommended her anyway even though other teachers had a different practice.

AP Lang in 10th is not a well-advertised option at BCC.  Ask or insist on it; get the counselor to schedule it.

FWIW, AP Lang, according to College Board, has NO prerequisites and any student should be able to take it.  At BCC, there is an "application" process, which is bogus IMO, as AP doesn't have any prereq's. It involves getting a "recommendation" from an English teacher and completing a timed, supervised essay.  But, even though I think the application process is lame, I would advise following the application process, seeing what the feedback on the application essay is and proceeding/contesting from there.  For example, some kids were turned away because they "didn't respond to the prompt".  I see this all the time -- it's not bad writing, but the kid takes off in their own direction.  Bright kids usually only need to have it explained once that application essays aren't free essays.  Once they know, they don't make that mistake again.  It's not a reason to keep them out of AP if they essay is otherwise well-argued and written.

If you are not at BCC, use the above as leverage at your own school.  There is no reason to tolerate disparities in opportunity between MCPS schools.  If BCC kids can handle it, so can plenty of other kids at other schools.

My DC was very glad she could take the AP class, did not find it hard and got As. [/quote]

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