Thursday, December 12, 2024
High School students often will look to challenge themselves throughout their academic journey through different accelerated courses. At the most recent North Shore School district board meeting on Nov. 7, trustees were presented with how the district plans to continue to offer various Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.
Almost 20,000 districts in the United States offer Advanced Placement courses, while International Baccalaureate are only offered in less than 2,000 districts. Chris Zublionis, superintendent of North Shore schools, who led the presentation, talked about how the district offers both course types to allow students to choose their own path.
“We offer a lot for a small high school. We have three basic advanced programs in the district, advanced placement, the international baccalaureate program and the dual-enrollment program with local colleges,” Zublionis said.
“When we think about what we want learning to look like at North Shore, we want students to be able to not only know and understand and but also to do to transfer their learning to the real world.”
Zublionis also broke down the difference between AP and IB courses, which has been a major question for students across the country, wondering what will better prepare them for college and the professional world.
“AP courses offer rigorous college level coursework. Students can take AP courses as early as ninth grade and any grade and we find that the science and math classes for AP often align more with career preparation and what students are studying in college,” Zublionis said. “The advantages are that IB courses are naturally interdisciplinary. The content is different. It tends to focus on a modern, global approach.”
The district also offers dual-enrollment options with local colleges such as Stonybrook and Syracuse. Zublionis talked about how this can serve as another great option for students to learn at an advanced level at North Shore.
“We work with three major institutions for dual enrollment courses, Syracuse, Stonybrook, and Nassau Community College,” said Zublinois said. “I remember Dr Dolan calling it the semester at SUNY, which is such a great name because if you are going to that institution or a college within that vast network of institutions that accepts it, you would get instant credit for these courses.”
The members of the board then brought up some questions and concerns that they have with the AP and IB programs. Trustee Maria Mosca brought up issues with scheduling and how she thinks it would be beneficial for students to get a earlier start on planning their AP and IB courses.
“I think that starting the support process earlier would give students an easier opportunity to plan their schedules out since it is so tight,” Mosca said. “The fact that we load up the 11th and 12th grades is so intense because there’s so much for them to accomplish at that they’re running out of time, and I feel like there is a sense amongst the students that they don’t have to start planning their schedules until those years.”
