A New Honors Program At Finley Middle School On Its Way?

If the Glen Cove Board of Education chooses to move forward with plans proposed by administrators in the district, a complete honors program could be implemented at Robert M. Finley Middle School in as early as a year. 

School officials said the program would provide sixth, seventh and eighth grade students with accelerated instruction in English, math, science and social studies. The middle school currently offers honors classes in those subjects for students in seventh and eighth grade only. 

Superintendent Dr. Laurence Aronstein said that the new honors program — if it is implemented correctly with trained staff members, proper resources and long-term goals — will provide students with a more advanced course study than regular education courses. For example, the sixth grade honors classes in the proposed content areas would require students to complete a curriculum writing project during the summer. 

"Honors means that the course is significantly more rigorous than a regular course," Aronstein explained during a presentation at a school board meeting on Monday. "The curriculum goes deeper and that means that it is enriched, and the curriculum is also accelerated, which means that it will have advanced content, skills and materials utilized in it." 

Requirements

Under the current proposal, the district would use a selection criteria based on scores on state assessments, grades from the previous year, teacher recommendations and writing samples to determine whether a student should be admitted into the program. Qualified students, administrators said, will have the option of participating in any or all honors classes. 

School officials noted, however, that a student's performance will be monitored once he or she enters the program to ensure that academic standards are met. A minimum grade point average has not been announced, but many parents anticipate that it will be at least 85 percent.  

"In order to remain in honor classes, students will be evaluated on an ongoing basis and those students who are not rising to a rigorous standard, may be asked to leave," Aronstein said. "At the end of each year and the beginning of each year, students will be re-evaluated in terms of their participation for the next year. Placements will be continuously evaluated." 

Goals

Test scores, administrators said, is what the district will primarily use to evaluate the program's success. Board members said they want the honors program to help increase the percentage of students scoring at a mastery level on the state's ELA, math and Regents exams as well as help improve students' PSAT and SAT scores. The program also aims to enhance students' critical, creative and higher order thinking.

Staffing

Aronstein stressed that no additional staff will be needed to establish the new honors instruction. Instead, some schedule changes would take place so that current teachers can be shifted to meet the program's request for two honors teachers for each subject at each grade level.

The current proposal also calls for creating a chairperson/coordinator for the program, and that person would be responsible for, among other duties, coordinating curriculum and staff development, coaching teachers and providing tutorials. 

With costs for textbooks and other educational materials as well as compensation for teachers as the primary expenses, administrators project that the program will cost the district $128,600.

Timeline

Aronstein proposed three options for implementing the program in a timely fashion:

- Start the instruction at all three grade levels in one year.

- Begin the program in two years, starting with the seventh and eighth grade in the first year, and the sixth grade the following year. 

- Phase the program into the school in three years beginning with the sixth grade. 

Decision

Members of the board called the current proposal "a starting point" and noted that the board will review it for further discussion and consideration. The board will hold its next meeting on March 22 at the middle school at 8 p.m.

Patch wants to hear from you. Which implementation option do you like? Share your thoughts about a new honors program at the middle school by leaving a comment below.