The 2009-’10 program of studies will be on the agenda at the WW-P school board’s next meeting on Tuesday, November 25.##M:[more]##
Every year, the board reviews the program of studies, which outlines the courses that will be offered the upcoming year. The program is given to the parents of eighth graders who will be incoming freshmen at the high school level and those who are new to the district.
During the board’s meeting on November 18, the board reviewed a draft that included changes for the coursework anticipated for the following year. Aside from minor language changes throughout the document, there were a handful of material differences over last year’s.
Under the section of the program that outlines the communication of student progress, school officials added language about the Campus Portal in order to encourage more parents and students to log on to Infinite Campus — the district’s new web-based student database system. Steve Mayer, assistant superintendent, said officials want to continue to advertise and encourage its use in as many ways as possible.
The program of studies also includes a new technology course — Advanced Topics in Computer Science, which replaces AP Computer Science B, the follow-up to AP Computer Science A — because the “B” course was discontinued by AP officials. The course, however, is very similar to its predecessor and extends the concepts learned in the first course, incorporating such topics as recursion, algorithm efficiency, data structures, sorting and searching, networking, graphical users interfaces, security, robotics, artificial intelligence, and parallel programming.
Another difference is a change to the algebra and trigonometry course, which is now allowed for 11th graders, as opposed to just those who are in 12th grade. “We are seeing more and more students ready for the higher level math courses,” Mayer said.
Two Spanish courses — Conversations in Spanish and AP Spanish Literature — will also be new for 2009-’10. The courses were approved last fall and the curricula were written over the summer. Conversations in Spanish, which allows students to continue to work on their oral proficiency and conversational skills, has a prerequisite that a student successfully complete Spanish 5 and be recommended for the course by a teacher. The AP Spanish Literature, equivalent to a third-year college Introduction to Spanish literature course, also requires a teacher recommendation.
