Honors Courses at Grand Oaks High School

My son will be a freshman next year at Grand Oaks and then switching over to the 9th grade campus. He is very intelligent and plans to take AP classes when he can, but he's also planning on doing marching band. I know that he would be extremely bored in level courses, but taking all AP courses feels like way too much. I want my son to be challenged, but I also don't him to feel discouraged. I don't understand why taking away honors classes is a good thing, especially with a school of this size.

My child learns best in an environment where everyone is focused on learning. A level’s class will require her pace to be slowed down. Potentially, and I’m not willing to risk that. And with her extracurricular activities, I have no intention of forcing her to do all AP classes.

Bring back honor classes Do not cheat our children from their education

My daughter has been thriving in the honors classes and I feel they're necessary to maximize her learning potential.

By pushing only AP/DC classes you are excluding children that cannot afford the testing for those classes but desire and are capable of higher challenges than level. Additionally, the AP/DC classes are more advanced than honors are help prepare the children for college level- if pushing the students that are challenged in honors to take these courses, that opens the door to either, again excluding and lowering the bar for those children, having those children truly struggle and fail those courses, and/or having to dumb down (for lack of better terminology) the AP/DC courses to accommodate them and thus watering down those courses and eventually losing the value in taking them.

My daughter is not challenged enough with levels but cannot handle too many AP classes as she has other commitments.

It makes no sense removing honors classes based on the supposed data that honors students don’t perform better on state tests. The state test isn’t about honors material, honors classes are about expanding on the subject beyond what you test for. This “equity” strategy is seriously flawed and isn’t based on logic. Students need to be challenged and since we’re not all equal in our talents you have to have different modalities to address that. Sacrificing children’s growth for better stats is disgraceful.

I want to be in an honors class and not a level class for some of the classes I don’t want to take AP

The decision to get rid of honors classes is hurting the kids more than helping them. I

This is so unfair for so many families. Not everyone has the band width to test and apply to lone star or pay money for testing.

There is too wide of a gap from Levels to college level courses to get rid of the Honors classes at GOHS. Like any other school, there should be the option for advanced level courses that do not also count as college credit. This is important because my children want to be challenged but not concurrently enrolled in college courses. The levels courses do not offer this and it would be a huge burden on teachers. Not to mention a deterrent for people to move to this area, knowing there are other schools in the district that DO offer honors classes.

4 months ago Featured

This is putting way to much stress and pressure on my 16 year old. He wants to learn and grow but has several extracurriculars and taking four AP classes isn’t feasible. He shouldn’t be punished so the numbers reflect better for the school. At the end of the day they are still children.

Some students aren’t great test takers (AP) and can’t afford DC classes.

As an incoming Junior, this has made my life so much more stressful a I have to choose between two AP Classes, or hurting my GPA and class rank. Additionally, DC isn’t helpful for all students if they want to go to college out of state, which forces those students to choose hurting their academic future, or working themselves to death

Honors classes are a great way to prepare them for college level. Not all high schoolers are ready for AP / DC.

Some kids just want to do high school at a level higher than levels. I don’t know why we have to push these particular students into college level classes who wanted to go honors. I just want my kids to do high school, not college in high school. I get the classes can be cheaper and they can get ahead, but I just want my kids to be happy and healthy and not stressed out all the time about high school. Honors classes are a beneficial option for that balance for my daughter who is an incoming freshman. They challenge her and push her but not to the point where she’s so stressed out it’s an issue. I also would like to see more support for kids who would benefit from smaller classes and a slower pace, instead of always focusing on more rigor. The rigor is not for everyone and that should be ok. Kids can still be successful if they don’t do all honors/AP/DC classes. I know from talking with Mr. Bush last school year that this was coming. He was very upfront with the parents in the PTO meetings I attend monthly. Maybe if there was more communication about why the change (besides the generic blurb about the national statistical data shows that students who are successful in collegiate dual enrollment and Advanced Placement courses are more prepared for the rigors of post-secondary educational pursuits vs students who traditionally rely on Honors and/or Level courses) and a good comparison showing levels vs honors vs AP/DC content we could understand better. Mr. Bush seem to allude to the fact that there wasn’t a huge difference between honors and the higher level classes and that’s what I’m curious about in trying to make a decision on what path my student should go. I’m a big fan of more thorough communication and the school realizing we have many types of students at Grand Oaks and we need to help them all be successful in their own way.

Honors classes are important to prepare students for life.

First, this is a change that only Grand Oaks High School is making, not the entire district. Usually a change of this nature would be district wide. This change in class offerings seems to have a hidden agenda when it's not something the entire district is adopting. There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach, rather each individual student has different strengths and areas of growth and schools should do their best to tailor their offerings for the good of their entire student body, not just the top academic performers. Students who are no longer able to take honors classes that have been historically offered will be at a disadvantage compared to other schools and other districts who offer those honors classes. The GPA boost that honors classes give matters and students at our school will be less competitive when applying to different colleges compared to students at other schools who had the opportunity to take honors classes. Colleges are also looking more at the diversity of experience that potential applicants have, rather than just their academic success. Eliminating those honors classes will penalize students who participate in athletics and various other extracurricular activities who often miss class for competitions. These students should have the opportunity to take those honors classes instead of AP or dual enrollment classes where missing such classes would negatively impact their grade. Requiring students to go all in on academics rather than develop their skills and talents with their extracurriculars is short-sighted. Not every student at Grand Oaks will attend university in Texas. The DC credits are not guaranteed to matriculate to all the possible colleges and universities that students may attend across the country. Not every student who takes AP classes will even take the AP test. And of the students who do, not all of them will pass or get a score high enough to count for college credit. The admins say this change was

My daughter loves her honors classes! Letting them go in exchange for college classes is absolutely ridiculous.

Honor classes should be their choice not the schools!