Westfield High School Principal Jonathan B. Carter
WESTFIELD – An initiative was unveiled to the Westfield School Committee last night that looks to change attitudes toward learning at Westfield High School next year.
Beginning next fall, Westfield High will begin referring to honors courses as “pre-Advanced Placement” in an effort to set more students on the path toward taking AP courses, taking and passing AP exams, and preparing themselves for the next level of education.
“We are moving forward with making a slight change to our program of study at Westfield High School,” said Westfield High Principal Carter of the new pre-AP designation last night. “Nothing really changes in those courses in terms of weight. In the past those courses have received a higher weight towards a student’s GPA. That will continue under the current honors model.”
Carter stated that what he’s hoping to do is enhance the “rigor and expectation” in these courses with the help of the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative (MMSI), and will be helping to train teachers in ramping up these courses.
“We’re looking to better prepare students for when they can better promote through the years to an AP course,” he said. “We think this is a positive result of our relationship with MMSI, and we feel that ultimately that pre-AP designation is really going to plant that seed in student’s minds that this is not the end – it’s only the beginning in terms of preparation for AP and beyond.”
School Committee member Kevin Sullivan asked just how many new courses and initiatives would be available in the fall. Carter responded that the school is looking to strengthen AP curriculum.
“Right now, we offer 15 AP courses. Next year we will offer 19 with the addition of a few science offerings, as well as the initial beginnings of AP Music and AP Art,” Carter said. “While we are obviously focused on our science, technology, engineering, and math initiatives, we are still very much focused on not only rewarding students who excel in art and music, but giving them an opportunity to receive that pre-AP weight, as well as the AP weight that goes along with it.”
“We hope that one day, Westfield High School will be able to offer an AP course that any student would be able to aspire to take. If that student has an affinity for art and music, that could be that one AP course they could take in preparation for going off to college in the future,” he said.
School Committee member Diane Mayhew was curious about how the new initiative would affect the student GPA scale.
“We’re still on a 4.0 scale. For our top students in the top 10, you will see GPAs that are in the 4.5, 4.4, 4.3, 4.2 range. Nothings really changing with regards to that, other than the destination,” Carter said. “So if you took honors geometry last year, you’d be looking to take pre-AP geometry next year. The idea is that those students – again, we’re thinking long-term – we want them to be focused on preparation and learning the skills that’re going to allow them to take an AP course before they graduate from high school, have success, and also to prepare them for when they’re freshmen in college.”
Regarding the current structure of the Advanced Placement system at WHS, School Committee member Bill Duval asked how students are “dual enrollment students.”
“That’s a great question. We still would like our students to have that college campus experience,” Carter said. “If and when possible, we do encourage students to take dual enrollment at Westfield High. The only stipulation that we’re making is that if they can take that course at Westfield High as one of our 19 AP course offerings, and then we’re going to encourage them to take any course that we don’t offer at Westfield State or some other institution.”
“Do you know off hand how many students are dual enrollment?” asked Duval, to which Carter replied around 20 students, most of which are seniors.
“We’re actually looking at a case right now where there is a student in one of our middle schools that is interested in taking the first course in a foreign language that we no longer offer,” he said. “And if they can take that course at Westfield State, it would put them on the pathway to taking that AP exam as a senior at Westfield High School.”
Westfield Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion asked Carter whether students will be required in the future to take the AP exam if they’re taking the course itself.
“Part of our agreement with MMSI – the fact that we’re getting close to half a million dollars on this initiative – all of our students who take an AP course, and all the incentives and support they get from the grant, they’ll be required to take the AP exam,” Carter said.
“Last year’s data on AP tells us that the 313 AP exams that were taken last year reflects only 66 percent of the students who actually took the course. So students were actually taking the course, receiving the bump in GPA, but weren’t sitting through the exam,” he said.
“There are some issues there that we’re addressing as an institution. It’s high expectations, personal responsibility, and accountability that we’re trying to instill in our young people,” Carter said. “If you sign up for an AP course, the expectation is that they will sit through the exam. You don’t get credit at the college level for an AP course unless you take the exam.”
“What we want to be sure is that a student that is getting credit for the AP is truly committed to the rigor of preparing and taking the exam,” Scallion said following the meeting. “As we know, you can have a student enter college with all kinds of college credit, and I don’t think some of our students and parents realize that they have the capacity to do that.”
Scallion said that she is excited about WHS’ partnership with the MMSI.
“I think that what we have to show kids is that we believe in them, we’re going to support them, and they can do it,” she said. “So these are important, big first steps, and I’m just very proud of the efforts at the high school. This is a very big move.”
