Lowering the standards, raising the budget

Leveling Concerns

I have three students in the District. To be honest, our concern looking to next year was for our soon to be 6th grader and the opening of the new 6th grade center.  However, I have recently reviewed the class offerings for the 9/10 students and was shocked to see there are fewer pre-AP offerings.  My older child took pre-AP classes and we found value in the courses.  He was challenged more than he would have been in an honors class and it made him aware of what an AP class would entail.  In order for him to be enrolled in the pre-AP class, a teacher had to recommend him.  This ensured that the classes would be taught at the level prescribed.  Since our experience with the pre-AP classes were so positive, we were looking to do the same for younger children.  Our student has all honors classes this year and has 95 or better in each class.   

The proposed course selection guide (2019-2020) has eliminated the pre-AP English and I heard will not be offering any pre-AP (although history still has those courses in the proposed guide.).  Instead, students will only have the option of honors or academic.  Students do NOT have to be recommended by a teacher for any of the honors classes.  My concern is that the honors classes will be geared toward all the students and not be able to be structured rigorously enough for those looking to elect AP courses in the future.   

With this new classification system, would current honors students take academic courses?  Would the students that would be pre-AP take honors?  Would they all be put together?  How is this new classification good for our students?

~Concerned Parent

I’m a student at CASH who took pre-AP bio and pre-AP English in the 9/10 center. Many of my friends took the honors levels of these courses instead. When I entered AP classes, I was much better prepared for the workload and more challenging aspect of the courses. I am concerned that students who didn’t have the opportunity to take pre-AP levels will not be as successful in AP classes. AP classes are very demanding and not for everyone - let the students who want to take them have courses that get them ready.

~Concerned Student

Scheduling Concerns

Past practice on the campus was that teachers entered course recommendations

for students. Parents and students had the opportunity to discuss with teachers any recommendations that they were unsure were the best academic fit. Current practice is that students complete their own scheduling online without any specific teacher guidelines (unless students specifically ask teachers). The course selection guide doesn’t provide information on sequencing of courses for different levels of students, like guides in many competing districts do. Further, many students have found that the levels they selected were changed and they were seated in pre-AP and AP courses when they requested honors or academic level courses. 

Budget Concerns

The course selection guide also raises some monetary concerns. The 2018-2019 course selection guide for the Senior High School included the new courses: zoology, nutritional chemistry, marine biology, and botany. The Intermediate High School offered microbiology. NONE of these courses have a curriculum guide or materials. Students are currently enrolled (and have been all year) in all of the options above except botany. Parents have requested curriculum materials on multiple occasions and not received anything.

All of the above courses are again being offered with an additional offering of nutritional chemistry in the Intermediate High School. Curriculum and materials will cost the district additional funds. Offering these courses and touting their availability without any materials or curriculum is irresponsible and misleading. Additionally, the proposed course selection guide again has free summer school listed for students who do not pass their courses during the school year.  

Transparency concerns

The community was informed that for better campus safety, the district was eliminating student crossing between the buildings.

• The district retrofitted science classrooms at the Intermediate Building for the ninth and tenth grade students. Thus, many science classrooms in the Senior High School sit empty. 
• Students were unable to sign up for specific art courses because they were not offered in both buildings.
• The district offers the same AP course in both buildings, but taught by different teachers with differing levels of training and experience in teaching at the AP level.
• Teachers were involuntarily transferred to effect this change.

Currently

• Students cross for CAD, foreign language, historical preservation, and music classes.
• Course selection guide offers aquatics/lifeguarding for tenth graders - crossing buildings will be required.

Why, in the interest of eliminating crossing, did we make changes that reduce the resources available to students and disrupt learning and progression, when the stated goal was not achieved and will be further undermined if the current course selection guide is approved?

Your thoughts?

Do you have experience with the changes in the course selection guide? Thoughts on the above changes and concerns? Share them in the comments.