AP classes replace honors courses

Even with over 20 Advanced Placement (AP) courses in the West curriculum, only 28 percent of the student population enrolls in at least one AP class during their years in high school.

To encourage more students to enroll, Principal Jeremy Mitchell is working with Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) to add AP Language, AP Human Geography and AP Environmental Sciences.

“When we looked at our rigorous curriculum and at the AP curriculum district-wide, there was a realization that it was pretty much the same. The fact that we can make some classes an AP class and allow students to take the exam, it seemed like an added benefit,” Mitchell said. “EOS is an international, mostly nationwide, organization that works to involve more kids in the rigorous curriculum. If we know that AP is a good predictor of what college is like, why not get more students that sense of what the classes are like since it prepares you for college?”

Replacing honors U.S. History, AP Human Geography will be taught by social studies teachers Lara Boles and Amy Thornhill as a freshman year-long class.

“We decided to add the class since it is the one AP social studies class that we didn’t have, when it is supposed to be the most accessible one. It’s the easiest AP class to try if you haven’t taken them before,” Boles said. “Human Geography combines the study of maps and locations with how humans interact with it. It includes why people migrate, why they live where they live, what they do, how they interact with each other and what languages they learn. Essentially, it’s how humans interact with wherever they live.”

Teachers plan to use resources provided from Parkway North and Parkway South who teach this course to juniors and seniors.

“We will be supplementing the book with more hands on activities such as maps. A lot of online resources like videos and statistics will help learn what’s going on around the world. If it goes well, Parkway Central will add the class,” Boles said.

Learning more about the natural world through lab investigations and issue analysis, AP Environmental Sciences will be taught by science teachers Paul Hage and Tony Piccinni.

“Students can refine their ability to conduct environmental science investigations and study current issues facing human interactions with the natural world,” Piccinni said. “This course has a focus on system analysis and a study of dynamic interactions that are not a priority in many AP science classes.  For those students who like to understand the relationships between things in the natural world, this is the class where those topics will be explored.”

AP Language, taught by English teachers Erica Rogers and Dan Barnes will be replacing honors English III for juniors. This will be Barnes’s first time teaching an AP class.

“The district wanted to allow all Parkway students access to both AP English classes because of their recent push to increase AP options and enrollment,” Barnes said. “It will be a blend of many different approaches including timed writes, lectures, reading and more. The purpose of the course is to help students learn how to adapt and modify their writing based on different rhetorical situations. There will be a heavy focus on writing and development of a wide variety of tools to improve rhetoric.”

Students enrolled in AP classes have the opportunity to take the AP exam at the end of the year for a chance to earn college credit.

“When you get to the end of the course and take the AP test and get a three or higher, you will be able to knock out a history class depending on the college you go to. It can save you time and money in college,” Boles said. “For short term, it can help you realize that you can rise to the occasion and survive a hard class. But for students who don’t pass the class, they are still more prepared for college to work at a harder level.”

Teachers are working to have more students in AP classes by encouraging their students to take one and by having the AP fair that was in January that showcases all the classes.

“[Our ultimate goal is] ensuring that students who go to college are prepared for the rigorous coursework. AP provides opportunities to maybe skip out classes in college and adds ‘bling’ to your college application,” Mitchell said. “We are just trying to expand the opportunities and selection for students.”