Students soon may have fewer class options

Students won’t be the only people studying English teacher Sam Rabiola’s course in comparative mythology this year.

School district officials will be taking a hard look, too.

Administrators and teachers are beginning a top-to-bottom review of all English classes offered at the city’s high schools. It’s the first step in an evaluation of all high school programs aimed at cutting redundancy  and saving money.

“In light of the focus on assessment and accountability, we are always open to looking at course offerings,” said Rabiola, chairman of the English department at Free State High School.

In the case of his course, the purpose is to determine whether Rabiola’s exploration of human beings’ persistent creation of literary fantasy is still appropriate. The district will look at 29 other English classes available to students at Free State and LHS, too.

Steve Wood, English department chairman at LHS, said he doubted the review would uncover many courses in need of overhaul.

“There’s not a lot of strange, odd classes,” he said.

But consolidation and elimination of courses is a realistic outcome of the analysis, said Ann Bruemmer, the district’s director of arts and humanities.

“We’ve got so many now it’s getting hard to handle,” she said.

All 2,500 high school students in Lawrence  10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders  must be enrolled in an English class at all times. Most are only one semester in duration.

Bruemmer, who is heading the yearlong evaluation, said each course would be examined in light of state academic standards. That should make clear which classes best prepare students for Kansas assessment tests and whether there are redundant course offerings. Enrollments in each class also will be factored.

“That will give us an idea whether we need to do some combining or dropping of courses,” she said.

In addition to solidifying the academic rigor of English courses, she said the review could lead to cost savings. Each extra class requires investment in teachers, class space and materials.

Results of the study will be forwarded to the school board before the end of the academic year, Bruemmer said.

The district is committed to involving all English teachers in the review process, she said. In fact, their input will be required.

Rabiola said that without teacher participation, the review wouldn’t be successful.

It’s likely a majority of English faculty believe existing course offerings to be appropriate, Wood said.

“You always want to make sure you’re meeting the standards,” he said. “The view of most of the teachers would be that we are doing that.”

Other stories on the English course list are fundamentals of high school education: American Literature I and II, Creative Writing, 20th Century Literature, World Literature, and Dramatic and Shakespearean Literature.

Also on the roster: The Epic Tradition, Minority Literature, Science Fiction, Writing for College-Bound Students, and Myth, Fantasy and Folklore.

Tom Christie, the district’s executive director of curriculum, said the English course review was the first phase of an effort to examine the district’s entire high school curriculum.

The focus will be on “downsizing” the curriculum, he said.

“We’re going to make a major effort this year … to begin looking at all the programs offered at the high schools and see if we can provide better services to students,” he said.