A controversial proposal to combine honors and college preparatory English classes will go before Santa Barbara Unified School District trustees on Tuesday night.
Previously, students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District would decide whether to sign up for college prep classes or honors classes.
Under the new plan, students from both classes would be in the same room but remain on different rosters for the teacher to see. Teachers would offer differentiated instruction to the students, but be able to decide during the semester if a college prep student should have an honors curriculum.
Honors classes are typically for students who exceed the grade level, while college preparatory classes are generally for students at grade level or below. Loopholes in the system exist, however.
Some parents advocate heavily for students to be in the honors program. Other students in college prep courses might be qualified for honors classes but for whatever reason did not sign up for them.
“The data collected over the past decade clearly show us that the course selection process has not always accurately identified whether students would consistently achieve at exceeding-grade-level standards,” the district report for Tuesday’s meeting states.
“In fact, enrollment in advanced courses reinforced student achievement that fell into predictable patterns identified by culture, race or ethnicity.”
The change would apply to both high school and junior high students.
As currently proposed, beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, high school students would register for either an “H” for Honors or a “P,” which is access to honors. For the 2023-2024 school year, students would register for English 9 and 10, and receive “access to honors,” without them having to choose.
Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, junior high students also would register for either an “H” for Honors or a “P” for access to honors. For the 2023-2024 school year, they would regiester for English 7 and 8, without an honors or college prep preferenace. Math, science and social studies students during that school year would still choose an “H” or a “P.”
In the 2024-2025 school year, junior high students, except those in math compaction, would no longer choose honors or college prep, and all would have access to honors designation in the classroom.
According to the Santa Barbara school district’s most recent data, 86% each of Asian and white high school students were taking advanced courses, followed by 56% of black/African-American students, 51% of Hispanic/Latino students and 50% of socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
In junior high, 89% of Asian students were enrolled in honors classes, along with 87% of whites, and 52% each of Hispanic/Latinos and socioeconomic students.
The district only released data for black/African-American students for 2019, finding that 76% were taking honors courses. The number of black/African-American students in 2020 fell below the federal guidelines for reporting to protect identity, SBUSD spokesman Nick Masuda said.
“We believe that every student deserves to learn at the highest level,” Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said at a recent district event discussing the topic.
Dos Pueblos High Principal Bill Woodard explained that the goal was to alter what he called a “predictable pattern.”
“Historically, students have self-selected either English 9 or 10, honors or CP, both cover the same California content standards, but we have created a system where up to 70% of our students are requesting honors in some schools, but unfortunately, the numbers don’t reflect the population we serve,” Woodard said.
“And as the junior high data shows, this gap really begins, and stays remarkably consistent, and predictable, into high school. So we are here to uproot that predictable pattern.”
Some parents are upset about the district’s proposal, however.
Caroline Harrah, a parent of a high school student and PTA president at Santa Barbara Junior High School, called the district’s idea of universal access “a misnomer.”
“If the district truly wants to address equity,” she said, “they must do a better job supporting elementary — that is, every elementary school, every elementary teacher and every elementary student — with the resources they need to ensure students are prepared to excel in honors-level coursework in junior high and high school.
“Today, those resources are uneven at best, inequitable at worst. This is where the district should focus its resources, in my view, and would truly result in universal access.”
San Marcos High physics teacher Joshua LaForge explained what universal access is — and what it isn’t.
“Universal access is not lowering the rigor or expectations for any of the students at any of the schools,” he said. “It is is a commitment that all the students must learn at each grade level.”
LaForge said it is not putting all of the students “together in classes” and just hoping for the best.
“It is planning for the unique mixture of needs that are always present in every class,” he said.
The school board meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the district office at 720 Santa Barbara St.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
