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Program Offers Aid in Honors Classes: Students in Gilbert to Test Academic Support Course

Posted on: Monday, 1 May 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Jackie Leatherman, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

May 01--Students who want to take honors classes at Gilbert's Highland High School -- but have not passed the exams to get into them -- can now be accepted into the program with the help of one class starting next fall.

Students can apply to enroll in the Advancement Via Individual Determination program, an in-school support program that places "academically average" students into honors classes.

The program, which works closely with the Advanced Placement program for earning college credit, was created in 1980 and has grown to 2,300 middle and high schools nationwide.

The Gilbert Unified School District governing board adopted the program at its regular board meeting on Tuesday as a pilot for the district.

Eighth-grade teachers were asked to identify prospective honors students and invite them and their parents to a presentation.

Of the 32 students who attended, 28 have submitted enrollment applications for the class that will be offered next year.

If accepted, the students and their parents must sign a contract that commits them to the class five days a week for a year, along with extra homework and a promise to work hard.

School officials say if the honors courses are too difficult for the students, they can transfer into lower-level courses before the first nine weeks of school.

If they can succeed in the honors courses without the program's support, they can withdraw from the class.

"We want to push (the students) up there," Highland principal Ken James said. "Try it, we are going to support you."

For Martha Slater, the class has opened challenges for her twin eighth-grade sons, who have been accepted into the program next fall.

"I don't think that is going to be a bad thing," she said. "They are going to have the support there. I don't feel like I can help them with their homework very often. They have the opportunity to take these more difficult classes and have a tutor there to help them and a support team to help them through it."

Slater said her sons were unavailable for comment because they were celebrating with their older brother, who is an honor student at Highland High School, at a local smoothie shop.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Tribune

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