CHCCS consider honors and hybrid classes

Community members can voice opinions today about a proposal to add more honors classes to the local school curriculum — either online or in a hybrid form with regular classes.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board’s proposal to add honors social studies and science classes arose from concerns that some students were bored in regular classes and felt pressure to take Advanced Placement classes to raise GPAs.

The system does not currently offer honors classes in core science and social studies classes.

ATTEND THE MEETING

Time: 7 p.m. today
Location: Chapel Hill Town Hall
Info: chccs.k12.nc.us

“The board asked in December that we bring back a proposal that would offer honors classes face-to-face or virtually,” said Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen.

The proposal suggests honors science and social studies courses, except world history, be offered online for the 2010-11 school year through the North Carolina Virtual Public School program.

Then the courses would transition to the classroom beginning the following year, with the eventual goal of replacing standard-level courses with honors level by 2015-16.

But some teachers worry the online proposal could degrade the quality of education, while the hybrid proposal could complicate lesson plans.

“How can you provide a lab experience online?” Bert Wartski, a Chapel Hill High School science teacher, wrote in an e-mail.

Other concerns include worries that the honors classes would segregate the student body based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and native language due to the achievement gap.

As a solution, the administration has suggested hybrid classes, in which honors and regular students would be taught side-by-side in the same classroom. But the hybrid model has also met a mixed response from teachers.

“A hybrid class would allow those students who want additional rigor and GPA points to get it, but it would not detract from the diversity of the class,” Lisa French, a Carrboro High School social studies teacher, wrote in an e-mail.

Wartski does not support the hybrid model for science classes.

“There are some labs that I would do with honor students and not regular students,” Wartski said. “Should I just ignore half of my class as students do a lab and the others do a worksheet? The hybrid model is flawed, at best.”

But Pedersen said it’s a proposal that addresses student needs.

“The worry is that some students, perhaps many, are not being adequately challenged.”

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