Honors Classes

Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2013, March 28). Honors classes: A need for more diversity. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/more-diversity-honors-classes-heather-wolpert-gawron

Gualano, Gabriela

Wolpert-Gawron works at a diverse middle school where approximately half the students are Latino and the other half Asian.  It would make sense that honors classes would mimic these statistics, but that is far from true.  Instead, honors classes are about 98% Asian and 2% Latino.  The school decided that enough was enough and there needed to be a change.  Students themselves can be their own worst critic as Latino students say honors are for Asians and Asian students say AVID is for Latinos.  Wolpert-Gawron and the school are attempting a solution by increasing outreach to all students in all classes.

It is very interesting that middle school students have strongly established stereotypes about honors and AVID classes.  These views are preventing some students from achieving their true potential as they stick to the classes they are familiar with, and neglect to challenge or support themselves.  Although middle school sounds young, these decisions are often made a few years earlier in elementary school.  Already young children have decided if they are good or not at school.  The school believes the gaps in achievement are not purely ability, but more often morale or misperception of tracking.  In order to change these, the school began emphasizing honors classes more clearly, and specifically explained the application and testing process to students.  Parents and students demand honors classes, but then society complains when there is a gap between achievement.  Hopefully, Wolpert-Gawron and her school will be able to further explore this issue and come up with some kind of solution.