Home / Blogs / Mindy Wallis's blog / ETHS Proposes Changes to Freshman Humanities Curriculum
ETHS Proposes Changes to Freshman Humanities Curriculum
Changes to the ETHS Freshman Humanities Curriculum will be discussed at the D202 Board meeting on Monday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m. in room N-112. There is a plan to change the configuration of honors classes.
The high school currently offers straight honors, mixed honors/regular, regular and enriched levels of humanities at the freshman level. Next year they propose to combine the regular and mixed regular classes, and will offer straight honors, mixed honors/regular and enriched levels of humanities at the freshman level.
Placement for straight honors will be students scoring at or above 95% on either the EXPLORE or MAP test.
It appears that they have not informed parents of incoming freshmen of this change nor do they intend to solicit input from parents prior to making the presentation to the Board.
I encourage concerned parents to attend the upcoming meeting.
The agenda is available here: http://www.eths.k12.il.us/boardofed/agendas/021108a.pdf
Click here to contact Board members: http://www.eths.k12.il.us/boardofed/contact.htm
Click here to contact the Superintendent: mailto:witherspoone@eths.k12.il.us
This was sent to my e-mail from a concerned Evanston parent:
Hello Evanston Parents:
The ETHS English and history departments are proposing a de-tracking of
freshman humanities that will affect students attending the high school
THIS fall. No mention of this plan was made public at the recent
orientation nights; it is being rapidly pushed forward without the
community’s input. While some studies show that de-tracking can yield
positive results in areas such as school equity, behavior, and academic
achievement, such benefits are reaped only when a program of this
magnitude is implemented properly.
The current ETHS proposal lacks the qualities of a potentially
successful plan because:
o ETHS is using an inappropriately short timeline - similar plans take
an estimated three years to execute; ETHS has less than four months
remaining in the school year for curriculum changes, staff training,
and assessment design.
o ETHS has not yet started staff development, which is the most
critical aspect in determining the plan’s success; ETHS made formal
announcements to its humanities department staff regarding these changes
in a meeting last Monday
o Community input has played no role in this proposal; studies show
that parent stakeholders are critical to the success of such a change in
curriculum
o ETHS has done little hard research; two neighboring districts have
attempted such a plan or have executed such a plan. Neither district
has been contacted to determine best practices
If implemented properly, many in the community agree that multi-level
classrooms with rigorous, differentiated learning led by highly trained
teachers could be beneficial to students along the entire spectrum of
achievement. It is an admirable goal. Our concerns are not the "IF"
regarding this proposal, but the "HOW" in terms of the proposal's
unnaturally precipitous execution. This is not a well-thought-out
proposal.
PLEASE ATTEND THE ETHS BOARD MEETING THIS MONDAY NIGHT AT 7:30 PM TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE. THUS FAR, THE COMMUNITY HAS NOT BEEN CONSULTED; PLEASE SHOW THAT EVANSTON PARENTS WANT AND DESERVE INFORMATION CONCERNING THEIR CHILD'S EDUCATION.
Thank you,
Nancy Baker
Nichols Parent
Post new comment