Reply to S/O MCPS HS "Honors" English 9/10 courses

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Grouping kids by ability is not a problem.  [b]Tracking and gate keeping of courses is the problem. [/b] Students should be allowed to try a more challenging class if they feel up to the challenge and are willing to do the work.

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The bold - and this is not just an "honors" problem.  At our HS, kids used to be able to take AP Lang in 10th grade. Not many did, but the dozen or so that did really needed it. My DD was one of them. My DS was one who did not because he wasn't ready. Teachers and admin used to select who was ready, but TBH there were often wrong and rejected people who were qualified. I know because I know 3 highly able kids who were rejected.  Instead of acknowledging that the selection process was screwed up, the teachers and admin just ended access to AP Lang for all 10th graders for "equity" reasons.

Equity would be ending gatekeeping, not ending advanced opportunities.

My DD said Eng 9H was torture - the teacher spent classroom time reading aloud assigned books. A 100 page novella was assigned for an entire semester. When the teacher noticed DD needed "challenge" she gave DD a "harder" book that was about 250 pp long (in addition to her regular work). She read it in one evening and returned it the next day. The teacher didn't believe she could read it so quickly and had a conversation with her to verify that she did. That was the extent of "differentiation for highly able learners" - an extra book and a 15 minute convo.

Meanwhile, the teacher missed that 2 of DD's friends were equally able learners. One was so bored she kept falling asleep in class (head down on her desk).  Teacher viewed her as insubordinate and unmotivated, when she was really brilliant. Another kid, read King Lear under his desk, and the teacher never noticed - just kept yelling at him for "not paying attention".

Honestly, the stereotypes that teachers have about who is smart and who is not  - it's mind-boggling how wrong they are. [/quote]

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