ROGERS — Rogers high school students will have a different set of options when they start considering their course schedule for the 2010-2011 school year.
The Rogers School Board voted Tuesday to approve several changes to the Rogers School District’s secondary curriculum.
The changes include removing 10 courses, changing 29 courses and adding seven courses, said Phil Eickstaedt, the district’s executive director for secondary curriculum.
However, he noted the added courses are the result of consolidation or extension of other courses, not true additions. For example, Jazz Band IV will be taught alongside other jazz band courses, he said.
Many of the deletions and changes are meant to make the high school curriculum more rigorous, especially in math and science, Eickstaedt said last week.
The board voted to eliminate genetics, zoology and ecology, and only offer astronomy and geology in alternative high schools.
Instead of taking those classes, students will be encouraged to take classes such as environmental science and AP biology.
The board also voted to loosen prerequisites for many of the classes. Pre-AP biology students currently have to receive a B in their previous science course. Next year that will be only a recommendation.
Eickstaedt said those changes are meant to remove artificial barriers to students enrolling in difficult classes. More students can succeed in those classes than stringent prerequisites may allow, he said.
Many of the changes came from recommendations from the Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Sciences, part of a national effort to improve math and science education.
The initiative is set this year to put up to $230,000 into that effort at Rogers High School and Heritage High School, Tommie Sue Anthony, president of the initiative, said last week.
Rogers Superintendent Janie Darr said she thought the curriculum changes were fine.
However, she said the district might want to change its curriculum review policy to focus on one area each year instead of reviewing the entire curriculum. That would allow for more focus, she said.
She also said the district needs to be careful about how many classes it adds. There are more than 200 classes in the high school curriculum, she said.
“It’s very comprehensive,” she said.
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