As Montgomery County fills its high schools with advanced-level college-prep classes, many parents worry the district has pushed too far too fast, leaving what used to be the “typical” child left behind and stressed out.
Since 2001, the district has nearly doubled its Advanced Placement courses from 19 to 37 and greatly expandedits International Baccalaureate offerings. The rigorous classes, from multivariable calculus to studio art, are designed for students to earn college credits.
But as the schools have encouraged more students to take them, less-challenging options have been de-emphasized and squeezed out.
Karen Levi-Shandler has a 12th-grade son at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School whom she describes as a normal, active teen, but not an academic high-flier. As he struggled with honors-level precalculus, he wanted to transfer to an on-level statistics class. “We had to argue for months to get him out of there,” Levi-Shandler said, adding she worries he was pressured to stay to boost the number of minorities in advanced courses — Levi-Shandler’s son was adopted from Latin America.
“There are kids who are suffering because they’re being pressured, and nobody wants to say, ‘There’s something wrong here,’ ” she said, voicing a concern shared by other parents who spoke with The Examiner.
In some schools, such as Rockville High School and Northwood High in Silver Spring, principals are opting to discontinue 12th-grade honors English, effectively a middle-level course, forcing students to choose between regular or AP English.
Debra Munk, principal at Rockville, voices concern for families upset by the switch, but said students who’d been through honors English in 11th grade should be prepared for AP English in 12th grade.
“We have to remember the whole climate of education is changing,” Munk said, defending the district’s aggressive shift toward college preparation. “Sometimes parents who’ve grown up in the old landscape don’t realize their children are growing up in a different world.”
Insisting she’s kept all electives for which there’s a high-enough demand, Munk conceded one worry in this dire budget season: “This year, the extras just aren’t there.”
