Reply to Will Deal challenge a smart kid?

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Reply to "Will Deal challenge a smart kid?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]HS counselor here.

OK, so don't believe it. Believe whatever you want. Believe that differentiation in a Deal humanities classroom where some students work below grade level, others at grade level, and others ahead of grade level (possibly 2 or 3 years ahead) provides the best possible preparation for high school for the "smart kids" in the room. If differentiation in the classroom was guaranteed to bring out the best in every advanced MS student living in NW, why would any municipality in the country bother funding and running full-time middle school GT programs? This discussion pertains to challenging "smart kids" at Deal, not average kids.

If you really want an answer to your question, consider attending an open house at the Takoma Park MoCo MS Math/Sci Magnet, or the Eastern MS Humanities Magnet in Silver Spring, or, better yet, the Hunter College MS in NYC (they admit around 6% of 5th grade applicants).  [/quote]

Do you mean that every single student going from Deal to private is behind? I've read the private school board for years and many people have said their kids haven't had a problem transitioning. Does that mean they are delusional? Could you, perhaps, have any biases?

In the same vein, I find it odd that every private offers extensive differentiation. A friend of mine pulled her kid out of a big-3 because the math wasn't challenging - though it was fine for her other kids. So many kids entered in pre-k and/or got sibling preference that it cannot be that every kid there is a super star.

People have narratives they need to back up and use random anecdotes to back it up. I've tried to be helpful - but I don't think answering these really do much. Likely the OP's have their minds made up; they now seek validation. [/quote]

The college counselor poster caveated her statements.

She said that parents she'd worked with who had students coming out of Deal were surprised to find they were behind "[i]magnet school students[/i]" and the "[i]strongest students at top privates[/i]."

So not every suburban public. Not every student at every private.

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No, she went way further than that (e.g., poo pooed the math programs from elementary school onward, etc. etc.).[/quote]

Come on, DCPS has overhauled its ES math curriculum in the last several years for good reason, putting far more resources into math teacher training. It's no secret that DCPS math programs down the chain were lackluster across the board until quite recently, even in JKLM.  S/he made a factual statement which has made you defensive.  
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They are also making significant changes to math at the middle school level. Look at the transition at Deal, for example, where they have slowed down numbers of kids doing accelerated math significantly. This may not be the end state, but the reality was too many kids were not ready for Algebra / Geometry and their PARCC Alg and Geometry scores reflected that.

With the most recent results, there are fewer kids taking it advanced math, but the pass rate for Alg is really high, both for the kids doing it in 7th and 8th.

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