Written by Colin Watamura
Visalia Unified School District recently announced a policy that would allow students in entry-level college courses/community college level courses to have their grades from those classes considered for extra weighting on their high school transcripts. The policy, rolled out this past summer, sparked a debate about the different layers of consequences such policy could have on students and whether or not it is fair to all students to have these grades considered on their high school transcripts.
Kenya Ochoa, ‘19, has been an active voice against VUSD’s policy since its roll-out in the summer of 2018. She expressed her shock and concern during the initial weeks of effect and even took her concerns to the school board during the regular session of the proceeding school board meeting. One of Ochoa’s main concerns is that she feels the COS classes offered to high school students are generally easier than Advanced Placement classes and that a grade bump for these classes would not be a fair evaluation of student performance; “I personally took two college courses,” Ochoa explained, “and they were very, very easy. Pretty much the only things that were graded were going to the class and taking the test.” She went on to explain that she felt traditional Advanced Placement classes took more into account, considering other factors such as homework, classwork, participation, and project grades, which in turn makes them more rigorous.
Ochoa also noted lack of transparency as a point of concern, believing the policy’s roll out in the middle of summer with little announcement was unfair to students who would have liked to have taken advantage of it but were not able to because of registration deadlines and class capacity. She explained that she “had to go personally to the superintendent to get information about it” and that a more transparent roll out of the policy at a later date would have been a more fair alternative.
On the other side of the debate is Noelle Andrew, ‘20, who believes the policy will encourage students to take more independent and rigorous educational paths. Andrew also vocalized her thoughts at the most recent school board meeting on August 28th, expressing excitement regarding the new policy. “Over the summer I took a sixteen day chem class,” she explained, “and you don’t really have the source of friends or the resources you have at Redwood because you’re surrounded by all these older adults.” Andrew believes college classes teach students about independence because of the lack of teacher guidance that is common in high school classroom settings and that the pace and rigor of the classes in addition to this justifies the consequential grade bump. Andrew feels the policy will encourage students to “dip their toes in the water” of higher education while still having the resources they need at Redwood to support them.
Regarding transparency, Andrew feels that the policy being rolled out at a later date would still discredit the achievements of students who had taken college courses prior to the date in which the policy would take effect. She believes that, in order to be truly fair, the grade bump should be applied to all concurrently enrolled high school students who have taken a college class or classes any time during their high school career.
Ms. Audino, one of the COS English teachers at the Redwood branch of the class, is excited that students have more options and beyond what has traditionally been offered and suggests that, because the policy is new, students and parents be open-minded and give it time to have bugs worked out.
The policy, which took effect in the summer of 2018, will apply to classes taken during and since the policy’s roll-out date. Students can find more information about concurrent enrollment in the office or via the Visalia Unified School District website.
Tags: classes, college, COS, GPA, gradebump, grades, highschool, policy, Redwood, redwoodhighschool, school, transcript