Anonymous wrote:You totally misread my post. I didn't mean to offend. I wasn't suggesting your child doesn't belong in honors class. I was simply pointing out my point of view in answer to other posts that seemed to question whether honors classes are filled with too many students who aren't prepared for that level course. Then I went on to address your issue by suggesting the test might have been an ecart. Clearly it wasn't. Okay, move on.

Regarding the part of my post that was not directed to you...

In fact, most students are not skilled at writing well thought out sentences by 7th grade. Sure they can relay facts and offer opinions decently but Middle school is when teachers help students broaden writing skills exponentially. It shouldn't be necessary to guide students in sentence writing in honors English because these should be the students that write for pleasure and attend writing classes and camps outside of school. So I don't think the fact that most kids in the class weren't already skilled writers is a reflection of teachers in general. I think they are right where they should be for the general ed curriculum. I just don't think they should take an advanced course unless they show advanced work.

Anonymous wrote:I agree that too many kids sign up for honors class. My 7th grader was an A/B student all through elementary. She signed up for one honors class in the subject she has the most interest in. When I talked to parents from her elementary school the vast majority of them stated their kids were enrolled in ALL honors for 7th grade.

I'm not one to judge but most of these students were in the average or even low reading and math groups in 6th grade. I volunteer a lot so I am familiar with the grouping. My DC was in the highest Gen Ed group for all classes except SS in elementary. But that doesn't mean she needs to be in all honors classes.

DC's honors teacher this year was VERY frustrated that several of the students didn't know how to write a proper sentence the first week of school. The assignment was to write an essay about yourself in Honors English but it spiraled into a lesson on proper sentence structure. What a waste of class time in an honors course! I purposefully didn't sign my child up for History or Math honors because I knew those subjects were not a passion of hers and she would likely struggle for a B. She will undoubtedly get A's in those subjects in the standard (non-honors) class, there's no shame in that.

Lastly, just in case the test the OP was referring to was an Ecart test, keep in mind they are assessments to determine where the students are at a given time. Often they are given at the very beginning of the year with no intention of the majority of students passing. Rather to make sure there isn't a student who should move ahead to AAP level course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say y'all have a point, but having done more research, there's credible evidence from other past students and from other parents that this particular teacher is very poor. Even in her non-honors classes, the kids are confused. Parents tell me that their complaints to the administration have met with 'yes, we know there's an issue with her but we can't do much about it'.

The facts are the facts. When you have kids on the honors track going through the math classes pulling As and Bs and hit an Algebra 2 honors class and the majority start failing, putting it back on the children without exploring further is absurd.

Having read through more threads on this board (and not being from this area originally), the theme seems to be 'my kid is smarter than yours and your kid doesn't belong where my kid does'. Maybe it's the competitive nature of the DC area, I don't know, but ... wow...

FWIW, I've never been a 'pusher' and don't care if my DC decides not to take honors. I DO care if my tax dollars are paying for teachers who have a history of not teaching.

You need to think that statement through a little bit more.

That same attitude that you cite (bolded) also often causes Type A parents to push their own children to do things for which they're not prepared. Similarly, it causes them to push school systems to accommodate their children.

You are describing an "open enrollment" course. Do you understand what that means? There is absolutely no barrier for entry.

Maybe the teacher is bad, that could be a problem. It's also similarly likely that some children are in the class who really do not belong there. This is not a "my kid is smarter than yours" observation; my kids are still in Elementary School, so I have no idea yet whether they'll be able to handle an honors curriculum. But the bottom line is if the teacher in fact is mediocre and the students are ill-prepared, you have a recipe for disaster. And given the self-entitled attitudes that prevail in this area, you have a lot of finger pointing. Of course, when you point a finger, three other fingers point back at you.

Personally I cannot imagine any sort of test in the first two weeks of school that could be based on material the teacher has inadequately taught. So, as one pp said, it sounds like there was an assessment test of some sort to take a baseline of where the class stood. 85% failed, which suggests in that particular case that they are not at the same level from which the class is starting. And she's giving you fair warning she will not dawdle to catch the snowflakes up with the material. That, to me as an outsider who doesn't know you, your school, or anything else about your circumstance, appears to be what is going on here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps the twenty-five percent who passed are excited to finally have a class that addresses their needs?

As for "always the teacher's fault"
* 25 pct sounds about right to me for an open enrollment honors class protest.
* so, when I had a class of children hand picked for having failed a state competency test, and I still couldn't pass more than half of them by June, was this a success I should be proud of, or all my fault?

I hope you don't teach math. Go back and read the first post again.

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps the twenty-five percent who passed are excited to finally have a class that addresses their needs?

As for "always the teacher's fault"
* 25 pct sounds about right to me for an open enrollment honors class protest.
* so, when I had a class of children hand picked for having failed a state competency test, and I still couldn't pass more than half of them by June, was this a success I should be proud of, or all my fault?

Anonymous wrote:I'd say y'all have a point, but having done more research, there's credible evidence from other past students and from other parents that this particular teacher is very poor. Even in her non-honors classes, the kids are confused. Parents tell me that their complaints to the administration have met with 'yes, we know there's an issue with her but we can't do much about it'.

The facts are the facts. When you have kids on the honors track going through the math classes pulling As and Bs and hit an Algebra 2 honors class and the majority start failing, putting it back on the children without exploring further is absurd.

Having read through more threads on this board (and not being from this area originally), the theme seems to be 'my kid is smarter than yours and your kid doesn't belong where my kid does'. Maybe it's the competitive nature of the DC area, I don't know, but ... wow...

FWIW, I've never been a 'pusher' and don't care if my DC decides not to take honors. I DO care if my tax dollars are paying for teachers who have a history of not teaching.

Anonymous wrote:12:48 here - yes, the class I described is open enrollment.