City School Board eyes new courses

By Rachana Dixit

Published: August 7, 2008

Charlottesville City School Board members discussed adding new courses to the high school’s curriculum during its Thursday work session.

One was a math course — Algebra, Functions and Data Analysis — which was established by the Virginia Department of Education in order to bridge the gap for those students who were experiencing difficulties in Algebra II after taking Geometry the previous year.

“We felt we were denying those students an advanced study diploma,” said Lois Burke, chairwoman of the high school’s math department, during the board’s meeting. “This is really for that student who may be struggling a little in math.”

Burke said the course is mainly designed for 11th-graders, although some seniors are enrolled.

“I have 50 kids right now that we plan on having for this fall,” Burke said.

The new math course can be taken to fulfill the third math credit for standard diplomas, which require that students have three math credits to graduate. The only other course that fulfilled this requirement before was Algebra II, which has a more comprehensive curriculum.

The standards for the new math course were released last year and the curriculum was released this spring. And unlike most, the new course centered on experimentation will not have an end of the year Virginia Standards of Learning exam.

The course, Burke said, is “very hands-on. Lots of experiments, lots of data analysis, lots of real life situations.”

Board members were generally agreeable to the new course. But since this was the School Board’s first official work session after it adopted a new meeting format, the body could not take action on the item. The earliest they will be able to do so is Aug. 21 — after students will have completed two full days of school.

Board member Colette Blount expressed some reservations about having students change their schedules once school is already in session.

“Class readjustments in the second week of school, I see that as not beneficial to the students,” Blount said. Even if the School Board had taken action on the item Thursday, textbooks would still take three weeks to arrive.

However, CHS Principal Thomas Taylor said the new course could be named as a section of Algebra II temporarily so students do not have to change their routines. Until the books arrive, faculty will need to get publisher permission to make copies.

“Instruction will not be interrupted either way,” Taylor said.

A study skills course, designed to cultivate organizational aptitude, and academic and social skills, was also presented to board members.

“What is involved in this course is lessons on being proactive,” Taylor said.

Students enrolled in the course, which Taylor said can have as many as 100, are those who have already chosen a study hall period. Participants, mostly incoming ninth-graders, were looked at with the help of the high school’s and Buford Middle School’s counseling departments, targeting those who are not passing multiple classes and are not enrolled in reading courses.

“These are students who self-selected a studying period already,” Taylor said. “This would be offering more structure and giving them a hand up.”

The School Board will vote on the adoption of both courses during its next business session later this month.