Reply to APS — love our elementary but not excited about middle and high school options

Forum Index » VA Public Schools other than FCPS

Reply to "APS — love our elementary but not excited about middle and high school options "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Arlington Tech should start in 6th grade. It would then provide an option for parents/students who want something other than their neighborhood middle school, and it would create a strong community of kids who attend for 7 years like HBW.[/quote]

We don't need any more special option programs for middle schoolers. Kids should have more time to figure out their best learning style and explore some interests before being pinholed into a program that might not suit them or for which they may not be suited.  We also don't need any more highly selective (via lottery) programs for a very small # of students.  That's the biggest complaint about HB; now people want to make AT the same way.
[/quote]

Totally disagree. We definitely need more options at the MS level in APS. I know so many kids who could use something different from the standard middle schools. [/quote]

So how are you going to assure that those are the kids who "get in" the alternative school?[/quote]

Don't know that you can assure it but with more options come more opportunities for kids to self select into a school that fits them. [/quote]

Handful.  Maybe handfuls. 
Students self-selecting isn't what primarily happens.  Parents mostly select.  [/quote]

Ok so what's the problem with that? Parents know their kids. The point is that we need more options at the middle school level in APS because there are too many kids who are not well served by the existing middle schools.[/quote]

Parents do not always know their kids and definitely do not always know their kids' learning styles. Parents often push their own agendas and visions FOR their kids onto their kids. And very few really have sufficient insight at their children's youngest ages to really know whether one pedagogy is truly better suited to their child's learning.  And parents also put siblings into the same programs because it's more convenient than having their kids at different schools, even though an option program might be a good fit for one child but not particularly suited for another.  Many of the students in our various option programs would still be top performers in their neighborhood schools. Just because they "love" their program and are doing well does not mean they needed it. Whereas other students could very well learn better with less stress and challenge in those alternative programs, but may not have the opportunity or access to them.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics