Anonymous wrote:Is there a lot of busy work in high school?

Homework to learn is great, homework as a (false) marker of rigor is what I would call busy work.

In my kid's experience, homework is reading (to prepare for class discussions), substantive writing assignments, and whatever math, science, and language study or practice is necessary to master the material/prepare for tests (not submitted for a grade or counts for only a tiny percentage).

Anonymous wrote:Do most kids take extended chemistry, for example?

I just asked my DS, who is in chem 1 extended. He said there are 3 sections of chem 1 extended, so approximately 60 kids (out of 125 sophomores).

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t they offer AP?

That’s shocking.

Because it's drill and kill/teaching to the test. GDS courses are deep and quite similar to college course work, but without the drill and kill aspect.

Why don’t they offer AP?

That’s shocking.

Anonymous wrote:Is there a lot of busy work in high school?

Homework to learn is great, homework as a (false) marker of rigor is what I would call busy work.

There can be a lot of homework depending on the class/level. It's not busy work and can be challenging. There is time at school for organized students to get a jump on their work. Classes are every other day so homework is never assigned one day and due the next.

One of the challenges students need to get used to is GDS is a heavy class participation school. Homework is often around preparing for what they'll be doing in class. Students need to quickly get used to assessing information, forming an opinion, and advocating their opinion in writing or through discussion/presentations. The forming and advocating their own opinion part takes some getting used to for some students. There is also some group work at GDS for homework and in-class depending on the subject.

Students that are successful realize they are responsible for making sure they know what they need to know/asking questions of the teacher/classmates if they don't understand. In very generalized terms, for homework, English frequently has reading/annotating at home/prep for in-class writing, discussion, quizzes, presentations. There are some take-home short answer or essays. History has reading, often from primary-sources, some take-home short answers or research type papers, in class presentations, discussions, in-class writing/quizzes/tests. Foreign language depends on the language. Spanish generally has reading, writing, speaking and listening assignments (not all in the same assignments). In the lower level they teach vocab so homework may include more worksheets, listening to videos, and practicing some spoken phrases. They encourage students to try to speak as much as possible without worrying about being exactly correct so they will speak very often in class. As students progress, the classes are almost taught like an English class, but all in Spanish. They read and analyze literature, prepare a lot of presentations that include outside research on the topic, etc. There will be in class writing, listening, and speaking quizzes/tests and lots of presentations. Honors/UL Math gives suggested homework, but it's not graded/reviewed by the teacher. It would be difficult to do well without doing it however. The math grades are mainly based off quizzes/tests--no projects. Science will generally have problems and lab write-ups for homework along with in-class labs/quizzes/tests.

Anonymous wrote:Is there a lot of busy work in high school?

Homework to learn is great, homework as a (false) marker of rigor is what I would call busy work.

No.

Is there a lot of busy work in high school?

Homework to learn is great, homework as a (false) marker of rigor is what I would call busy work.

It doesn’t have the meat grinder reputation that Sidwell has, but there will be very high performing kids there and some very rigorous classes.

Same with FCPS outcomes. We have one in both (Potomac and FCPS) and the public school kids clean up along with the top 10% of private. But that leaves a lot of private kids taking the scraps.

Anonymous wrote:If you look at this years college outcomes it is not that impressive compared to other area privates and public MCPS. We are in 9th and the workload has not ramped up but they say that happens in 10th. It is good but we were expecting something smarter.

That's true for all of the private schools in the area. MCPS and FCPS have magnet schools, where they can take the best kids in the 99% and educate them in specific classes/cohorts.

Private schools take kids starting in PK4/K and some of them are smarter than others. Others are just rich and college outcomes reflect that.

Anonymous wrote:One thing to note at GDS regarding honors/UL classes, there aren't defined tracks for stronger students only. This is helpful especially for math. Freshmen select their math level (regular, extended, honors/UL). There is no math placement test--students just take the next math topic in the sequence based off their 8th grade math. In fact some students who finished Alg 1 in 8th take geometry over the summer to start in Alg 2 as freshmen. There is also the occasional freshman that will have finished Alg 2 in 8th, who will take Pre-Calc in 9th or even one who took Pre-Calc in 8th who can take Calc in 9th. Students can move up or down through the levels of math (regular, extended, honors/UL) year over year as they feel able. Students can take extended one year then move down to regular or up to UL the next year all the way through senior year. Honors pre-calc is notoriously hard, some take extended that year and move back up to UL for calc. UL Physics has a co-req of calculus because without it the class would be way too hard, but the vast majority of students would be in calc by senior year so it's possible to take both classes then.
The exception to this may be UL world language where if the student just isn't fluent enough to keep up, the teacher will strongly recommend they take the regular level. Even with that, if a student was willing to self-study over the summer, they'd probably let them in.
With a large course catalog, and multiple levels, there isn't a stigma involved with which classes kids are taking. As someone stated above, excellence can take many forms at GDS.

Yes, the flexibility is one of the best things about GDS. Others schools can be much more rigid.

One thing to note at GDS regarding honors/UL classes, there aren't defined tracks for stronger students only. This is helpful especially for math. Freshmen select their math level (regular, extended, honors/UL). There is no math placement test--students just take the next math topic in the sequence based off their 8th grade math. In fact some students who finished Alg 1 in 8th take geometry over the summer to start in Alg 2 as freshmen. There is also the occasional freshman that will have finished Alg 2 in 8th, who will take Pre-Calc in 9th or even one who took Pre-Calc in 8th who can take Calc in 9th. Students can move up or down through the levels of math (regular, extended, honors/UL) year over year as they feel able. Students can take extended one year then move down to regular or up to UL the next year all the way through senior year. Honors pre-calc is notoriously hard, some take extended that year and move back up to UL for calc. UL Physics has a co-req of calculus because without it the class would be way too hard, but the vast majority of students would be in calc by senior year so it's possible to take both classes then.
The exception to this may be UL world language where if the student just isn't fluent enough to keep up, the teacher will strongly recommend they take the regular level. Even with that, if a student was willing to self-study over the summer, they'd probably let them in.
With a large course catalog, and multiple levels, there isn't a stigma involved with which classes kids are taking. As someone stated above, excellence can take many forms at GDS.

Anonymous wrote:Do most kids take extended chemistry, for example?

If most means more than half, maybe. But it's definitely not overwhelming. Most do not take honors math.

Do most kids take extended chemistry, for example?

Anonymous wrote:I've said this before about GDS, which is that of all the highly competitive schools in DC, GDS seems to have the broadest range of how to be excellent. There's no pressure to be a serious athlete, for example, although there are certain sports that attract very talented athletes (e.g., girls volleyball, cross-country, track and field). And lots of GDS kids are very committed and encouraged to pursue the arts (theater, music, fine arts, etc.). The academics are strong, but no one expects all but a few kids to be in the most advanced math track.
Your child needs to be academically solid in order to be happy at GDS, but does not need to be a superstar scholar and athlete in order to feel like they belong.

Agreed. For students who want it (including my kid) there is as much challenge and rigor as anyone could want, but if you choose another path, you aren't seen as a failure.