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Expand the definition of excellence at South Side High School

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I recently read about Special Education Partners’ opposition to the Rockville Centre School District’s policy mandating that all students, including those with special needs, enroll in International Baccalaureate English and history courses (“Parents urge Rockville Centre School District to stop requiring International Baccalaureate classes for students with learning disabilities,” Oct. 18-24). While parents and administrators seek a resolution to this disagreement, I encourage them to include the voices of stakeholders who have actually been in the classroom for these I.B. courses: current students, alumni and teachers.

As a graduate of South Side High School’s I.B. program, I believe that requiring every student to enroll in I.B. English and history — regardless of ability and interest — is a mistake. I appreciate the district’s desire to encourage students to embark on academic pursuits outside their comfort zones, and I commend the district for not preventing any ambitious student from enrolling in an advanced course. However, requiring students to enroll in specific advanced courses is unfair to students at both ends of the ability spectrum. Students at one end of that spectrum struggle, while those at the other end are held back when the curriculum is diluted to accommodate all. Advanced courses, whether I.B. or Advanced Placement, are designed to offer advanced material. When everyone is considered advanced, who is?

Over a decade after graduating from high school, I still vividly recall my time in Mr. D’Elia’s I.B. history course. It’s the course that I remember most from South Side. Why? Because it had the heaviest workload of any course that I’ve ever taken — college and graduate school included. That an advanced course like that one should be required for all students, regardless of their ability or interest, is, at best, misguided and, at worst, cruel. Forcing students into a course in which they are uninterested and for which they might be unqualified is a toxic combination for achievement and self-confidence.

Administrators, who focus heavily on test scores and rankings, will likely point to studies that show that requiring students to take advanced courses has a democratizing effect on test scores, especially as it relates to students of color and those from low-income households. They will likely point to South Side’s high national rankings, too — rankings based in large part on test scores and the percentage of students enrolled in advanced courses. It seems, however, that the administration’s concern with democratizing education — an extremely important goal — starts and ends at South Side and those rankings. If the administration wants to fully commit to democratizing education, it should consider offering more A.P. courses in addition to the I.B. curriculum.

A.P. courses are, after all, more widely accepted at colleges for credit. With the cost of higher education skyrocketing, this isn’t a trivial point. Every college credit a student earns in high school makes it more likely that he or she can afford to complete a college degree. Shouldn’t administrators look beyond the school’s rankings and focus on how best to serve a student’s entire academic career, which includes post-high school, too?

What seems lost in the district’s current policy is that students have different skills and interests. The mandate to require I.B. English and history, as opposed to I.B. art or math, for example, seems arbitrary and subjective. Some might argue that if any advanced courses were to be required, they should be in the STEM disciplines. I believe a more humane approach to promoting advanced achievement — if administrators don’t want to diminish the percentage of students enrolled in advanced courses — would be to require one or two advanced courses in subjects that students choose. To supplement such a policy, a broader selection of advanced course offerings could be implemented, which would not only lead to more diverse classrooms, because of shared interests in stimulating subjects, but also allow individual students to excel at their individual talents, which aren’t confined to certain socioeconomic backgrounds.

Although not completely alleviating the concerns of some parents, this policy would help to align course choice with student ability and interest while still providing a mechanism to push students to stretch their boundaries. Maybe then a young man with a passion for painting would receive the necessary nudge to recognize that he can express himself at the top of his class in an I.B. art course. Or a young woman, with no interest in becoming the next J.K. Rowling, but with a desire to become the next Sheryl Sandberg, will be provided the tools that will launch a great career in tech through an A.P. computer science course.

Superintendent Johnson and his team should certainly be applauded for the great work that they have done with the district. But by listening not only to parents, administrators and academics, but also to current students, alumni and teachers, South Side can become a place where even more students thrive — and do so in disciplines where they are truly exceptional.