Cliff Buchan
News Editor

With a dozen Advance Placement and 12 College in the Schools classes available at Forest Lake High School, Principal Steve Massey believes steps toward adding rigor are coming.

But Massey, in a report to the school board on Jan. 5, said those efforts need to continue and be expanded. That is a key challenge facing educators, he said.

The push for more class rigor and relevance is justified, he said, based on the number of students taking ACTs and making plans for post-secondary education.

Seniors last April were study subjects. Massey said some 38 percent of the seniors last spring took their ACTS and only 41 percent had plans to further their education beyond high school.

That, the principal said, was alarming.

High school committees, including one focusing on rigor and relevance, continue to study the issue. One goal, Massey said, was to continue to offer classes that foster a meaningful learning experience and prepare students for career pathways after high school. The district needs to do more than offer classes that simply move students toward high school graduation.

A good start

Massey believes the current AP and CIS offerings are a good start.

With a combined 24 classes, Forest Lake High School is offering ìas much or more than mostî high schools, Massey said. He called it ìone of (the schoolís) best kept secrets.î

In AP and CIS programs, students earn college credits and high school graduation requirements at the same time.

The challenge, he said, is continuing to deal with the 59 percent of students who are not making any college plans. ìWhat about the rest?î he asked.

Answers may be found in how classes are offered and getting career messages communicated to students at an earlier age. Those plans need to be in the formation stage when a student is in grades 9-11. Waiting until the senior year of high school is too late, he said.

ìOur challenge and task is to raise the bar anyway we can,î Massey said.

Some avenues may be found in bundling existing courses and expanding student opportunities in the classroom. Starting the career dialogue with students at an earlier age will also be helpful, he said.

Massey said it is also important to instill in students today the fact that a college entrance transcript that shows rigor may well be more important than a studentís overall high school grade point average.

New honors system

Massey was also on hand last week to answer questions as the school board got its first look at a new proposal for how the high school bestows academic honors to graduates.

Currently, ISD 831 graduates are recognized with three categories of ìhonorsî based on cumulative grade point average. Such a system, the board was told in a report, encourages students to opt for less rigorous courses in order to preserve a higher grade point average.

The plan presented last week follows recommendation shaped by a committee of teachers who formed in 2002-2003 to study the matter.

The framework of the teacher recommendation would create a program that would honor students for their GPA and a rigorous course of study that would augment Advanced Placement and College in the Schools classes.

The proposal would allow students to grade with ìhonorsî by achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. A student would graduate as a ìscholarî depending on the number of AP or CIS courses taken during high school with a grade of ìBî or higher.

The program, if adopted by the school board, would be phased in over time. The first graduating class that would fall under the new academic honors and scholar program would be this yearís Grade 9 students who will graduate in 2009.

The proposal will come back to the board for approval at a later date during its second reading.

At the request of new board member Eric Langness, additional consideration will be given to students who complete their high school requirements via post-secondary enrollment options outside the halls of Forest Lake High School.

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Forest Lake Times
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Forest Lake, MN 55025
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