CALABASAS : 9th-Grade Honors Classes Under Review

Las Virgenes Unified School District’s Board of Education tonight will discuss a controversial proposal to eliminate traditional ninth-grade English honors classes and replace them with a program in which students would enroll in regular classes and volunteer for more challenging work for extra credit.

The board also will discuss a less divisive proposal to revamp a program in which class sizes have been reduced for 11th-grade English students. Under the proposal, class sizes would be reduced instead for ninth graders to give incoming students more personal attention.

Both proposals are part of a two-year pilot program drawn up by the district’s secondary schools’ English department. Under the department’s plan, ninth-graders who wanted more of a challenge would be given advanced assignments for which they would earn extra credit, called challenge units.

Before being allowed to enroll in 10th-grade honors programs, students would have to receive A’s in their ninth-grade English classes, complete four challenge units and pass a placement exam.

English department leaders say average students would get better educations if they were grouped with above-average students. And with the challenge units, the department argues, it would be easier to determine whether a student is capable of moving on to honors level work.

The proposal to eliminate honors courses has sparked debate between many educators who favor the plan and community representatives who say they fear that bright students would lose their motivation to excel.

“In our discussion with parents, we found very few who believe that their children would do optional challenge units if they were already receiving an A,” the community representatives wrote in a statement opposing the plan.

It was signed by Neal Baker, Sheryl Burnam, Becca Hoover and Janet Nungester. They are members of the district’s curriculum council, a committee of parents and educators formed to improve the district’s educational programs. The council has split over the honors program issue.

Baker and the other community representatives argue that honors programs are essential in helping students get into college.

“The major universities want the students to take the most challenging courses being offered by the school districts,” they wrote.

Barbara Bowman-Fagelson, president of the Board of Education, said Monday she wants to hear more about the proposals before making up her mind. But it appears the two proposals can be dealt with separately, she said.

“We could reduce class size regardless of what happens with the honors classes,” she said. “You don’t have to do away with traditional honors classes in order to get smaller class sizes in ninth grade.”