home

=This space exists to promote a dialogue and share ideas around the topic of honors coursework at Automotive High School - Please respond to the following proposal in the Discussion section (tab) of this Wiki=

Honors by Contract: a plan that would allow students to earn honors credit by deepening or extending the work required to pass, or even earn high grades in regular classes. The student would agree to take on additional research, writing, or other work that would be reported back to the class, and the sponsoring teacher would approve the student to receive a grade with higher weight or greater credit.
 * HONORS BY CONTRACT: A PROPOSAL FOR DISCUSSION **

As indicated below, there are many questions about how we could best do this, but it is certainly worth discussion, and could be piloted in several ways during the spring term before making a school-wide commitment in the future. Over the years we have searched for ways both to support students who arrive at Automotive with lower academic skill levels and to provide opportunities for higher-performing students to work at higher levels.
 * BACKGROUND **

Over the past few years, these efforts have included honors classes and AP classes, and there have been both successes and failures. What has been consistent is that we have not been able to sustain a consistent plan. There are a number of reasons that may have affected that, including: Honors and AP classes also raise another kind of concern—that tracking the “most capable” students into separate classes lowers the level and expectation in other classes. As well, the contributions that more advanced students can make in working in groups with others are lost. Some of the possible benefits include Some possible issues include
 * Difficulties in scheduling classes to be available to all interested or qualified students
 * Loss of budget support
 * Starting honors tracks that assumed students who were advanced in one subject would also be advanced in others
 * Filling classes with “enough” students even if it meant lowering selection standards
 * HONORS BY CONTRACT PROS AND CONS **
 * Allows students to self-select and commit to work they want to do
 * Does not require much special programming
 * Allows classes to benefit from the work done by honors students (reports, presentations, leading discussions, exposure of whole class to higher-level work)
 * In conference, these reports will form part of the basis of the student’s re-entry plan.
 * Copies of the documents, and relevant portions of the plan, will go to Department APs and teachers.
 * Teacher willingness to supervise additional work
 * Need for a common standard for projects without micro-management
 * QUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED **
 * Would many teachers want to do this, or few? Should it be volunteers only?
 * Should credit be given by weighting a grade? By giving variable (higher) credit for honors work? By putting a separate extra-credit code on transcript?
 * What should happen if students contract for honors and then do not complete it?
 * What should be the minimum amounts or types of work required?
 * How does this fit with “natural” honors (eg., selection of students for chemistry vs. earth science)