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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][twitter][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The biggest weakness we have found in APS is the English classes. Even in intensified English, my kid has only read one book as a freshman and it was Night, which is very short. They were supposed to read Romeo and Juliet but then the teacher gave up and just had them read a summary in modern English. I think the problem is that any student can self-select into intensified classes and with English it is easier to dumb down the class than it is with math. Is that worth $60K/year, hard to say but something I think it is.[/quote]

How many students does one English teacher have during a day?  If she or he assigned even a 3 page paper, how many pages would she grade in one night?  How could she or he possibly check them all for AI?   How could she meet with the kids and the drafts of 50 kids or more?  The numbers in English class just don’t allow for real back and forth on analytical thinking, the editing process, or one on one learning.  It’s the weakness many of us leave public school for — and even great public schools like APS.  My child graduating from one of the elite private schools here in the DC can write more clearly than many of the newly minted lawyers.  For me, that is worth it.  [/quote]

My kid had an amazing teacher at Yorktown for intensified english.  They wrote several papers and my kid got a lot of one-on-one feedback BUT I think this is because he sought it out from the teacher.  It's definitely possible to get writing instruction in APS.  The kid has to advocate for themselves though.[/quote]

I’m glad your kid had a good experience. My kid (at Wakefield) also read books, wrote papers, and got feedback in 9th grade intensified English. But compared to the number of books and papers we read and wrote in HS 30 years ago, it’s kind of pitiful. This isn’t just APS. I hear the same about FCPS. I assume it’s most public schools, but it’s an unfortunate trend. [/quote]

I went to public high school in the early 90s and we did not really get into a serious level of reading/writing until I took AP English senior year, which at the time was the only one offered by my high school.  (Might have been the only one at that time point?)  Before senior year, I did about what my kids are doing.  4-5 books a year and several multi-page papers.

My observation is "back in the day" we were much more aggressively tracked into classes based on ability level and it was real tracking.  Not let anyone sign up tracking.  I think that would help a lot.  I have seen that by around sophomore year, kids/parents who self-select and can't hack it really start bombing out.[/quote]

I guess it varied/varies a lot by school then. I went to school in a fairly small southern town in the 90s, and starting the summer before 9th grade, we had 2-3 books each year as summer reading, with written assignments about the books due the first week of school. In 9th and 10th grade (so pre-AP), we read 8-10 books a year. [/quote]

I too went to a small southern town in the 90s, no summer reading list and notably no AP. Were you in a college or resort town with more wealth than average?[/quote]

Just a community college in town (& definitely no resorts), but the school system was considered very good compared to others in the area/state at the time. [/quote]

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