Re:

["gerald bracey" <gbracey@erols.com>]

This program doesn't go far enough.  Kindergarten, dammit, kindergarten is
where the pre-AP programs shud be.  Just ask the Education Trust.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol Holst" <kceh@airmail.net>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Cc: <taasblue@yahoogroups.com>; <ACTNOW2003@yahoogroups.com>;
<WS@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU>; <rscriticalteach@lists.execpc.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 9:09 AM
Subject: [arn-l]





------------------------------------------------------------------------
HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Front
page


Feb. 18, 2004, 1:47AM

`School will be harder' in HISD

Sixth-graders face pre-AP English class next year
By JO ANN ZUÑIGA
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


RESOURCES
HISD will automatically place sixth-graders in "pre-advanced placement"
classes beginning next school year.

The class is designed to prepare them, or at least make them aware of,
the more rigorous advanced placement courses available in high school.

Students who do not want to take the pre-AP course will need their
parents' permission to opt out.

HISD will require next year's sixth-graders and high school students to
take more rigorous English courses to better prepare them for college or
the workplace, a decision the nation's foremost college testing
authority considered groundbreaking.

Superintendent Kaye Stripling announced the initiative Tuesday at the
Houston Independent School District's annual State of the Schools
address. The initiative would automatically place sixth-graders in
classes that are designed to prepare them for, or at least make them
aware of, the more rigorous advanced placement courses in high school.
Students who pass the AP tests earn college credit while in high school,
and district officials would like to see more students take them.

"Beginning next school year, school will be harder," Stripling told a
crowd of about 1,900 educators, students and community and corporate
representatives at the George R. Brown Convention Center luncheon.

The plan for sixth-graders could make HISD the first district in the
nation to introduce pre-AP requirements at the middle school level, a
spokesman with the College Board said Tuesday.

"This is a tremendous initiative that the Houston school district is
undertaking," said Trevor Packer, director of the College Board's
advanced placement program. "We have not seen any other districts
requiring students to take pre-AP or AP classes. This will allow all
those students to have the option of attending college."

More than 60 percent of U.S. high schools participate in the AP program,
and about 1 million students took AP exams in 2003, Packer said. In
HISD, 5,053 students took AP exams last year, district officials said.

Besides saving college-bound students time and money, the AP courses
also are used by some universities as a consideration in their
admissions processes.

But too few high school students, especially minorities, take the
courses, Packer said. About 17 percent of the students who took the
exams last year were minorities, he said.

Compared with test-takers from five years ago, however, the percentage
of minorities more than doubled, he said.

In some instances, many students were not steered toward the AP
programs, he said.

"Previously, students were not considered `AP material' unless they were
gifted and talented," Packer said. "But the number of students taking AP
has grown wildly over the past five years."

Some districts limit AP class eligibility to students with high
grade-point averages or teacher's recommendations, he said.

HISD's program for the sixth-graders is designed to help students
prepare for the AP class. Students who do not want to take what the
district is calling "pre-advanced placement" will need a parent's
permission to opt out of those courses.

The initiative also requires pre-AP English teachers to complete the
necessary certification, Stripling said.

Eventually, Stripling said, seventh- and eighth-graders also will be
required to take pre-AP courses.

At the high school level, AP courses in English, math and science will
be required for those students who are academically successful or who
have scored well on the PSAT.

About 9,700 10th-graders took the PSAT last year, a test that shows
potential for the SAT, another barometer used for college admission. The
district last year began requiring sophomores to take the test as part
of the PSAT for All initiative.

Corporate donations to the HISD Foundation helped pay for the testing.
About 23 percent scored well enough to be automatically enrolled in
advanced placement courses, Stripling said Tuesday.

Yates High School valedictorian Thieu Nguyen called the PSAT a necessary
test "for our future."

While students may take numerous tests, they likely think, "man, I need
to get a good score" on the PSAT for scholarships and other
opportunities, said Nguyen, who was among the students who spoke at
Tuesday's luncheon.

Stripling acknowledged that those new, more demanding courses will
require training and certification for teachers. HISD is working with
the Texas Education Agency and universities to find the money for
teacher training.

One critic of the initiative, HISD Assistant Principal Robert Kimball,
questioned the push for the pre-AP and advanced placement courses.

"There are kids who can't even pass the regular class, and they're going
to be forced into AP classes?" asked Kimball.

"I'm all for high standards, but we're not ready to go there yet. We
have to save those 30 to 40 percent of kids dropping out first," he said.

Robert Stockwell, HISD's chief academic officer, said tutorials and
other help will be available for students who may flounder.

"Kids surprise us and sometimes even themselves when they discover they
can do this more difficult curriculum," Stockwell said. "But that's why
we have the parent option as a safety valve."

The initiative, he said, will help the district adapt to a more
competitive environment.

"Colleges and jobs are requiring higher level of knowledge and skills,"
he said, "so we really have no choice but to strengthen our students."
------------------------------------------------------------------------



Sex for Life
Unpaid Overtime?
(Nice ads, y'all. Get us all thinking about the Aviance nights of our
youth and we won't worry too much about being worked half to death.
Brilliant marketing strategy. Snide comment courtesy of a tired mom who
copes by delivering snide comments).
HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Front
page
This article is:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2407489

-----------------------------------------------
Report list problems to listmom@interversity.net