Middle schools in the Prior Lake-Savage school district will phase out their existing advanced programs in favor of one track for students who need high-level classes, the school board decided Monday.
A committee of administrators, teachers and parents spent months reviewing advanced classes at Twin Oaks and Hidden Oaks middle schools. The two are located across the street from each other but have offered different programs since 2007. In addition to honors classes, Twin Oaks has an International Baccalaureate (IB) program, while Hidden Oaks offers Pre-AP, a program meant to prepare students for Advanced Placement classes.
The board's vote means the schools will not seek formal status as IB or Pre-AP sites. That move is due to rising costs and changing expectations of the organizations that certify the programs, said Jeff Holmberg, a district administrator who chaired the committee. The changes will also help align advanced classes taught at the two schools, he said.
"We're eliminating a lot of redundancies [created] by having IB, Pre-AP and honors," Holmberg said. "We're creating one advanced track for kids."
The changes won't all be made next year, partly because the district didn't have a plan ready when registration started for 2010-11, he said. The schools will still run Pre-AP or honors courses in English and math this fall. Twin Oaks will offer the IB program to incoming sixth-graders.
Administrators will develop and roll out a new advanced program over the next three years. Among other things, the plan will expand advanced classes to new subjects such as social studies, science and potentially elective courses, said Twin Oaks Principal Dan Edwards.
This fall, gifted and high-achieving students in sixth grade will also take science and social studies classes together.
But the plan has frustrated some parents, including Betsy Sandell, who served on the committee. When the group started meeting, Sandell said, she expected it to come up with a more detailed plan to replace any dropped programs.