Honors Classes Part 2

Gualano, Gabriela

Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2013, July 8). More diversity in honors classes: An update. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/more-diversity-honors-classes-update-heather-wolpert-gawron

After a previous post about unequal demographics in honors classes, Wolpert-Gawron and others at her school decided to increase outreach to all students.  A major reason for fewer Latino students in honors classes was that they simply were not even applying.  All English classes were visited by Wolpert-Gawron early in the year to discuss applying for honors the next year.  Families were called and informed about honors in their native language, and provided parent informational workshops.  Also, AVID teachers explained honors during their classes.  For the upcoming school year 14% of honors students are Latino.  It’s still a small percentage, but it’s a great and significant improvement over previous years.

What a great and encouraging start for this school’s honors programs.  I applaud their efforts for recognizing the huge disparity in honors students, and attempting to bridge the gap.  Though the school recognizes there still is work to be done, they made a huge jump for the upcoming school year.  The school also used a variety of assessment measures to determine honors for the next year.  Report card grades, test scores, teacher recommendations, and a writing test are all considered when determining class placement.  As noted in the article, teachers have different grading styles, writing preferences, and teaching styles.  A variety of assessments better ensures that students have a fair chance of demonstrating their strengths.  Class grades may be average because of a low test grade, or neglecting to turn in homework.  However, the writing sample may be superb.  It will be the student’s responsibility to live up to the expectations in honors, but at least the student will be given the opportunity to try.

The article concentrated on ELA classes.  How did math, science, and history fare?  There are also often number differences based on gender.  Was that a factor at this school, and how did the new method approach it?