Parents: Middle School Honors Criteria is 'Unfair'

While curriculum issues took center stage at Monday’s Board of Education meeting at , over a half hour of meeting time was devoted to discussing the Middle School Honors Program, which is being proposed for incoming sixth graders for the 2011-12 school year.

Several parents said that they felt the criteria for the middle school honors program was unfair and risked selling some students short.

An “honors task force” was created to specifically deal with issues regarding entrance criteria for the program, according to Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Technology Dr. Shari Camhi.

The group considered whether sixth grade was too early to begin an honors program and if the criteria was too narrow.

The task force – which reportedly consisted of fifth and sixth-grade parents – also debated whether it might be “too rigorous” for sixth graders to take part in such difficult courses.

Teachers of fifth-grade students were very vocal about their thoughts on an honors program during committee meetings, said Camhi: “The agreement amongst the folks on the task force was: is the criteria too narrow? Were we only selecting from a very small group of students?” she said.

To be considered for honors, scores are compiled from students’ ELA, Math and independent reading. A teacher recommendation is also required, Camhi said.

Other issues regarding the honors program involved those children who were “on the border,” and missed the mark by only one point.

Board trustee Joel Sunshine said that granting entrance to those students who were one point short could nearly double the program.

Trustee David Huggins expressed a similar concern, that perhaps the honors program is becoming too “watered down.”

“If we set a criteria here as a board, why is it being circumvented?” asked Huggins.

BOE President Ida McQuair said the current entrance criteria “must have worked” if only three students reportedly left the program, and three entered, as they showed potential in their grades and received proper recommendations by teachers.

“If Dr. Camhi told me 15 kids had to drop from the program, or there were 20 kids that should’ve been in the program, then I’d say our criteria didn’t work,” McQuair said.

When the floor was opened for discussion, one resident asked why ELA scores from fourth grade were being used to determine sixth grade honors capability; she did not believe it was fair to use scores from two years ago.

"It's unfair," she said.

Resident and task force member Amy Franklin said her oldest daughter was a student who was on the border, coming up one point shy in Science. Later, she became an AP scholar and was ranked ninth in her class.

“Isn’t it OK to give more kids an opportunity who belong in an honors program than cutting down at 10 or 11 years of age?”

This curriculum issue awaits to be resolved.