Fairfax County school officials are speeding up a vote on phased-out honors courses, so that the English and social studies classes could be offered this fall.
The school system decided several years ago that it would no longer offer honors-level classes when scheduling college-level Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses in the same topics.
But push-back from parents, who say many students are bored in standard classes but are not ready for challenging college work, led the School Board to offer two honors courses — 10th-grade World Studies II and 11th-grade English Language and Composition — online this year.
Now, those classes could be back in the classroom by the fall. At a recent meeting, Dan Storck, the School Board’s Mount Vernon District representative, moved to offer high school honors courses in schools — provided enough students enroll — for all English and social studies courses through the 12th grade.
Storck’s unscheduled, off-the-agenda move at a recent meeting allows the School Board just enough time to vote on the honors classes before the 2012-2013 Course Offerings Catalogue is published in February. The board plans to hash out the decision at a Monday work session before voting on Thursday.
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Kathy Smith, the Sully District representative, said she was concerned that there wasn’t enough time for community outreach and proper weighing of the pros and cons. But although many board members said they didn’t know if they would vote to approve the courses, all but Smith supported speeding up the decision to be ready for next school year.
“It directly affects the outcomes of individual students — their transcripts, their college application, and their futures,” said Elizabeth Schultz, the School Board’s newly elected Springfield District representative. “That shifts the burden to the School Board to work in a compressed manner, in a more diligent manner.”
She and Megan McLaughlin, who represents the Braddock District, campaigned on their intent to bring back honors courses, which they say are necessary for students too advanced for standard classes but who would find their AP counterparts overwhelming.
But advocates of cutting honors classes say that more students are choosing to challenge themselves in AP and IB classrooms.
The number of Fairfax students participating in AP grew from 14,220 in 2008 to 15,270 in 2010, while the number of students passing the year-end exams increased from 72 percent to 74 percent.
