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How To Get On An Honors Student Path in Middle School
Who isn’t proud to have honors students in their family? Honors courses are offered for advanced students who consistently show academic aptitude that exceeds their grade level, often as early as elementary school. As teachers and directors of honors programs know, honors students are developed, not discovered. In other words, becoming an honors student, like most types of success, is not solely dependent on innate abilities. If you have a middle schooler who appears to be an above-average (or way above-average) student, now is the time to look into programs that can help your child reach her or his potential. Students who finish middle school on a faster track have many advantages entering high school.
But, Everyone Is Not on an Ivy League Track … and That’s Fine
Before we launch into the main point of this post, I want to start with an important caveat: we are not encouraging every student to get on an Ivy League track! In fact, we hate to see children pushed to unrealistic levels when their innate abilities may not match the most elite students. As parents, it’s our job to carefully assess our children and help each one reach his or her potential. Our programs will help all students reach their potential, but it’s not our goal to turn everyone into an Ivy Leaguer. Needless to say, there are a lot of hugely successful people who didn’t attend an Ivy League school and plenty of failures who did.
Why Honors/AP Courses Matter, Including Overlooked Benefits
Honors and AP courses reveal honors students’ meddle and demonstrate their academic “chops” to college admissions officers. In fact, academic rigor in high school is one of the most important factors in college admissions. Honors classes progress at a faster pace and deal with course material in greater depth than do regular classes. Excelling in high school honors classes can transform students’ entire academic careers, allowing them access to top-notch colleges and universities. Once there, some schools allow advanced students to skip entry-level and general-education classes and begin pursuing their studies at a more advanced level.
Many colleges and universities in the United States give college credit and/or advanced placement to students with outstanding grades in high school honors classes. In this way, graduation requirements can be completed early, or students can simply benefit from more course flexibility.
The Overlooked Benefits
1) Honors and AP students spend more of their time with higher achievers and mature into more responsible young adults; 2) Honors and AP students get a better high school education and are more prepared for college. AP classes, in particular, have strict educational guidelines, and students rarely get shortchanged by less-motivated teachers, and 3) When top students attend better colleges, they are once again surrounded by higher achievers. This often has short-term and long-term benefits. Think about how your peers have contributed to your own successes.
Master Math, Strategic Reading, and Intentional Writing Cultivate Future Honors Students
Children in our Master Math, Strategic Reading, and Intentional Writing programs receive an immense boost towards ultimately taking honors courses in high school. These students master the most important academic fundamentals for math, reading comprehension, and writing. They do better in school and get accustomed to higher achievement.
Our Strategic Reading and Master Math programs will improve all elementary and middle school students’ odds of being eligible for honors classes once they reach high school. So, let our experienced and caring tutors help your child do well in their classes. That way, they can become the honors students you want to be and set themselves up for future success.
As some of you know, I have four daughters. My girls were on different academic tracks and have different temperaments. When I write about any topic on our blog, I’m speaking from professional and personal experience. My wife and I made plenty of mistakes, but one thing we got right was not treating all of our daughters the same.
Contact us today at Lafayette Academy.