Anonymous wrote:How do you combine an AP class and a non-AP class. Can someone explain how that works.

For one of the AP/regular English classes... You teach towards the bottom. Then, for example, you give an assignment, for which you can read literally a choice of comic book, a 2nd grade reading level book, a middle grade book, or one or two actual books. I'm not sure of the exact number for each assignment but I know for sure there were at least the comic book, 2nd grade, middle grade, and one famous regular book. It's sad. And the fact that everyone probably gets graded the exact same is unfair and embarrassing. Oh yeah, there was also a choice to watch a movie instead.

Not an exaggeration. And don't complain if your kid does poorly on the AP test because I don't think anyone (parent or kid) officially complains at the beginning of school or during the year, according to our kids. (They could be doing the "privacy" nonsense and trying to pretend that your kid is the only one complaining, where parents clam up because of shame. This happened pre-Covid at an APS elementary school and they got away with it for several years before more than a few parents started meeting at school events and comparing notes. Its harder for them to get away with it now.)

Anonymous wrote:I know I am incredibly lucky - my kid got into HB for 9th. Anyone able to answer a few qs?

He wants to do a fall sport at the neighborhood high school. How does that work? I read there are sports buses that leave early but do they go to each school? Do the kids just miss that class every day?

Is there still a shadow day- and is it in the next week or so since we only have 14 days to decide?

Is it still true that there are no intensified classes- and AP classes are co-taught with non-AP?

Kid isn’t sold on the school despite being excited about it before - we’d be crazy not to try it right?

Yes some AP classes are taught with the general class.

The HB AP classes in general are not taught at a difficult level. Our kids have or will have taken all the "hard" ones (APUSH, AP Lit, Calc, Chem, Phys, etc.) and they were taught easier than the same classes at other schools in FFX and MoCo, when compared with their friends on their sports or "academic" teams. Average AP scores for the classes have generally been on the lower end. If a kid at HB is struggling with most of these classes, they would have had a much harder time at a neighboring school, and it doesn't prepare well for a future stem major at a good college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:interesting idea but really presumptive and to think that all students would want HB. are you going to have automatic opt in for arl tech and IB too? for TJ? This all sounds really unworkable. who's going to manage all this?

Managing this task is straightforward for Schoolmint. Yes, it’s fine to include AT, but IB has specific requirements that should be separate. WL already has sufficient diversity.

As for TJ, that's an external program, so it feels like you're just complicating things. We all know that HBW has the most significant diversity challenges.

What you are proposing is not straightforward AT ALL. I don't think you have any idea how this works. Which is very typical of those outside of HB who think they know all the answers.

You can get demographic/diversity info on all APS schools, including HB, at this link, under "Strategic Plan Dashboard." It's all public info.

https://www.apsva.us/statistics/

Anonymous wrote:interesting idea but really presumptive and to think that all students would want HB. are you going to have automatic opt in for arl tech and IB too? for TJ? This all sounds really unworkable. who's going to manage all this?

Managing this task is straightforward for Schoolmint. Yes, it’s fine to include AT, but IB has specific requirements that should be separate. WL already has sufficient diversity.

As for TJ, that's an external program, so it feels like you're just complicating things. We all know that HBW has the most significant diversity challenges.

interesting idea but really presumptive and to think that all students would want HB. are you going to have automatic opt in for arl tech and IB too? for TJ? This all sounds really unworkable. who's going to manage all this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is HB more diverse than north Arlington schools?

+1. There is very limited data on both programs, HB and AT.

By design, the county tracks them with their neighborhood schools.

pretty sure I've seen demographic data on HB before. It is less diverse than many of the other Arlington schools. They are limited in what they can do admissions wise. Long ago APS had a system to increase diversity but then some while families sued (for ATS I think) and they had to disband this. We can see this trend continuing with the Trump admin's attack on DEI today.

This is why HB has its current system of allocation of slots by elementary and middle school. It's not perfect but it is the best they can do without running afoul of the law.

So for those of you who criticize HB for not being diverse enough, I wonder what you would have them do?

Talked about this many times. It should be automatic opt in for all students. If you win the lottery, you are given a tour of the school while class is in session, so parents have idea of the environment and curriculum.

Right now its just proactive parents who enter lottery, which has demographic impact.

He wants to do a fall sport at the neighborhood high school. How does that work? I read there are sports buses that leave early but do they go to each school? Do the kids just miss that class every day?

Most high schoolers have their last block of the day, H block, as a free block. There are 8 blocks for classes at HB so it doesn’t affect taking the typical 7 classes. The H block is timed so you can take the provided bus back to your home school for your sport. My kid did this for track this year and it worked well. The ppl above who mentioned crew, they probably picked up at HB because they were they to the river and HB is already so close. HB has a bus to each high school each day for sports participation.


Is there still a shadow day- and is it in the next week or so since we only have 14 days to decide?
Yes, you will get an email next week with the date for your optional visit day and instructions.


Is it still true that there are no intensified classes- and AP classes are co-taught with non-AP?
There is intensified for math at all the HS levels. The only AP/non AP combined classes my kid had was AP Lang and AP Lit in 10th and 11th grade. Maybe one more for a social studies but they did not take APUSH and it was not combined with the AP.

Kid isn’t sold on the school despite being excited about it before - we’d be crazy not to try it right?
Not crazy, but this is your only chance to try it. Kids do change their minds and go “back” to their neighborhood school. But it’s at least worth giving it a chance in most cases.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is HB more diverse than north Arlington schools?

+1. There is very limited data on both programs, HB and AT.

By design, the county tracks them with their neighborhood schools.

pretty sure I've seen demographic data on HB before. It is less diverse than many of the other Arlington schools. They are limited in what they can do admissions wise. Long ago APS had a system to increase diversity but then some while families sued (for ATS I think) and they had to disband this. We can see this trend continuing with the Trump admin's attack on DEI today.

This is why HB has its current system of allocation of slots by elementary and middle school. It's not perfect but it is the best they can do without running afoul of the law.

So for those of you who criticize HB for not being diverse enough, I wonder what you would have them do?

Anonymous wrote:How do you combine an AP class and a non-AP class. Can someone explain how that works.

Not sure you're going to get a great answer from a group of parents, none of whom have seen it first hand. My kid did take these combined classes, and from what I saw, there were sometimes different assignments for the AP and non AP kids. I'm sure there were other differences too, but again, I was not in the class so can't speak to it. Suggest your kid finds some juniors and seniors and asks them directly and you can also ask this question of the school admin when in the parent meeting.

I think it's necessary at HB because they don't have the numbers to hold separate AP and non AP classes. It's not great, but it's better than not having AP at all. It's not well advertised, I only found out when my kid went to sign up for these classes for the first time. Someone responded earlier as an HB parent who did not even know this was happening! There is a lot about HB that people do not know. People think it's like a private school but I doubt a private would ever do this. People also think the classes sizes are tiny. Well, on paper yes, the AP Lit and English 11 classes would each look small. But in reality they are taught together by same teacher same room same class period so it's 2 classes in one in reality and then they are not tiny after all.

I also noticed that some teachers ran out of time and were rushing to complete the AP curriculum and didn't leave time to review. Not sure if this is because of the combined classes that left less time for AP material or other factors (like HB's faster schedule).

I encourage anyone looking at HB to compare the course offerings with your home school. My kid found there were enough AP classes at HB. But there were also AP classes of interest that he would have taken had he been at his home school that HB just didn't offer. Same with electives. He liked the electives he took at HB, but maybe would have taken sometihng else if he was at his home school. HB is a very nice environment and they do very very well with what they have. But they just don't offer as much as the home schools. So there are trade offs.

Another thing to know is that there are no counselors and no counseling department. Your kid's TA is their counselor. This too has ups and downs. The up is the TAs can get to know their sutdents very well. (This doesn't always happen but it often does). The downside is that they are not trained counselors. They try but they jjust don't know what they don't know, for isntance about the college process. I had to rely on info from friends with kids at the home schools and do a lot of research and really stay on top of things. There was things my kid's TA just didn't knwo about applying to college. I felt like I was the counselor and was just asking him to do this or that.

I thnk the best part about HB is that it's a very nice accepting community where the kids are known, don't fall through the cracks, and like going to school. HB was a wonderful experience for my kid and I'm grateful he had it. But it's not for everyone either so know what you're getting into.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is HB more diverse than north Arlington schools?

+1. There is very limited data on both programs, HB and AT.

By design, the county tracks them with their neighborhood schools.

Anonymous wrote:Is HB more diverse than north Arlington schools?

+1. There is very limited data on both programs, HB and AT.

How do you combine an AP class and a non-AP class. Can someone explain how that works.

I can speak to the sports bus thing. My daughter's crew team sends one bus to HB and one to ATT after picking up kids at yorktown. I assume the same is true for other schools and sports.

Anonymous wrote:How many 9th graders are added each year?

26 last year https://www.apsva.us/school-transfer-data/