Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Jessica Wu
Staff Writer
This school year, the Mira Costa English Department introduced a freshman accelerated English program intended to provide a more challenging option for ninth grade students.
The English Department created the class in response to requests made to the school board from students and parents.
“We were asked by students and parents why we don’t have [the program] in ninth grade because many students coming in are ready for a higher level of English,” school board President Nancy Hersman said. “We thought that if we had larger classes for the honors English, then we could still try to keep the other ninth grade English classes to a reasonable size.”
The 60 students are divided between teachers Deborah Hofreiter and Shannon Vaughan.
“The students were chosen based on their STAR testing scores. They also had to write an essay that was read by two to five English teachers,” Hofreiter said.
Taking an accelerated course freshman year can begin the honors track earlier in addition to offering participating students a more challenging English class (compared to a regular college prepatory (CP) class).
“The curriculum is considered accelerated because of the amount of the work we do in the class. We cover more things [than the CP English class] in a shorter amount of time,” Hofreiter said.
Furthermore, many students expressed interest in the opportunity to intensify their workloads, since some consider freshman year to be significantly less strenuous than the following three years of high school.
“I like the fact that they offer accelerated classes to freshmen because it gives us the chance to challenge ourselves earlier on,” freshman accelerated English student Axel Zwissler said.
However, there is some question as to whether taking an accelerated class so early is worth the difficulties that come with such an ambitious work load.
“I enjoy learning at a higher level, but it will be very difficult to get an A in the class. I’m not sure it’s worth it since freshman year isn’t recognized by UC schools,” freshman accelerated English student Allie Campbell said.
Since having an accelerated class for freshmen is new to the school, teachers have not taught freshmen at an advanced level. However, the outlook on the future of the class is optimistic.
“The classes are too big, but the kids are great. They’re all very eager to learn and excited to be here,” said Vaughan.
However, some freshmen believe that the class is unnecessary and that CP is acceptable.
“I think the freshman CP English class is at a good level and is where most students should be in their freshman year. I just don’t think accelerated English is quite necessary right now,” freshman CP English student Danielle Kay said.
It is unclear whether this trial program will be successful enough to become a permanent part of the English Department’s curriculum.
“The class is going well. As of now, it’s a work in progress, but I have faith that it’s going to be great,” Principal Julie Ruisinger said.
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