Testimonials from Parents and Students

Parent Testimonials:

“As the product of a large public school myself who attended a four-year college and graduate school, I can tell you that both my middle school student and elementary school student are one year ahead of where I was in math and at least two years ahead of where I was in English language arts. My middle schooler is not that student who would self-select an Honors program, yet they are proudly excelling in English because their teacher is pushing them. I am certain they will be prepared for the rigors of high school, and therefore for college.” - CCUSD Middle School Parent

“I am not an academic professional; I do not have a degree in education. I trust our administration and teachers who do have this training, and have extensively researched best practices. We need to listen to our teachers, who are on the front lines. They know what’s best for our students. I trust them to course correct along the way. Going to public schools myself, and watching my kids go through elementary and I see that the kids with resources are the ones being put in these accelerated classes. When my child switched from being in 9th Honors into 10th Grade College Prep, I didn’t notice them being less challenged or bored. They’re still reading sophisticated material, doing Socratic seminars.” - CCUSD Parent

“I have two high schoolers, one highly academic and one who needs extra intervention due to learning differences. My children were tracked entering 6^th grade, and continued in their respective tracks into 9^th grade. My academic child enrolled in 9^th grade Honors English, and then after much consultation with teacher and counselor, decided on their own to switch to regular English. The teaching experience they had in 9 regular classes was stellar, and they were reading the same material and actually delving deeper into the concepts. My other child entered regular English, and is now in College Prep. I can see from their day-to-day work that the teacher is differentiating and meeting them where they are at, and they are excelling because they are being treated as a capable student.” - CCUSD Parent

“At first I had concerns about the change, but seeing what the teachers are doing with our students reinforces my faith and support for this approach. As a parent who has a graduate degree, I am impressed by my current 9th grader’s skills in their language arts class, which is way more sophisticated than when I was in high school.” - CCHS Parent

"I am a parent of two children in Culver City schools and I am also a community college professor who has actually taught differentiated classes (or what we call combined). Not only do the "non-honors" students rise up towards the level of the honors students (who model the scholastic habits of college-bound students), they learn that they are capable of more than they ever imagined. Many bright students never saw themselves as an "honors student" and never believed they might be able to succeed in an honors or AP setting. Sadly, many more were counted out by the educational system who gave up on them before they even had the chance to really know what they might be capable of. Good teachers love teaching honors classes because we can explore more complex ideas, read more engaging content, and have more engaging discussions. An Honors for All approach that expands these opportunities does nothing to harm high achieving students and brings us all up in the process." - CCUSD parent

"As the parent of two students in Culver City, one at Culver Middle, one at Culver High, I fully support the College Prep curriculum in our English department. I have seen firsthand that our English teachers are going way above and beyond for the good of our students. They are looking at each student and imagining instruction that could engage each student (while meeting standards and preparing the groundwork for a rigorous academic life). They care, are caring, and will continue to be devoted educators who stay up late thinking about the well-being of each student and our larger society. Hard workers will continue to go deeper in her knowledge and understanding while developing new strengths. University admissions officers know this. I know this. Excellence is for everybody. More routes to greatness exist on wider roads." - CCUSD Parent

"I taught English at CCMS for 25 years at CCMS, and I was part of the effort to move away from the honors label. We can and do teach honors level to every student. When given the chance, students rise to the occasion. It works. I’ve seen it in action. I saw kids achieve." - Retired CCMS English Teacher

Student Testimonials:

“My academics were all over the place in 9^th and 10^th grade. I took regular English in 10^th grade because English was not my favorite subject, and since middle school I hadn’t been encouraged to take honors. But then in the summer after 10^th grade, my friends started talking about AP English. They motivated me to take it, to get out of my comfort zone. When I first went to class, I was scared. But I had a great teacher who let me take the risk with this more academic class, and who made me feel at home. I then went on to take more APs in 12^th grade. Pushing students to go harder does help them. It helped me.” - CCUSD Student

“Even after I moved into regular English from honors, I found it challenging because of how the teacher taught. We went more slowly, and it was still challenging because we went into more detail. We had much more of an opportunity to have our own opinions about the books we read. You can always go deeper, explore more, analyze more in literature.” - CCUSD Student

“I feel like we are put on tracks in middle school, where there are the honors kids and the normal kids. If you are in the normal classes, you feel not as motivated as the honors kids and you feel like you aren’t as good/smart as them so you don’t take the honors or AP classes.” - CCUSD Student

“I’m a former student at El Marino language school, CCMS and CCHS. A troubling aspect of this curriculum change is that there is a large amount of misinformation and fear mongering going on. As a former student I welcome the change, it will make a subtle but influential difference in preparing students to excel in English and other advanced curriculum in the future. I hope parents can keep an open mind and allow a chance for this new pedagogical approach to learning.” - CCUSD Student