December 17, 2013|By Stephanie K. Baer, Chicago Tribune reporter
St. Charles schools may no longer have the option to take Physics Honors next year as District 303 moves to align itself with changes to the Advanced Placement program.
At a Learning & Teaching Committee meeting Monday, district staff presented board members with a proposal that would eliminate the Physics Honors classes at both high schools in order to comply with a decision by the College Board to replace AP Physics B with two year-long courses: AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2.
Starting next school year, AP will begin offering the two courses, which are both algebra-based, and will discontinue the AP Physics B program.
Michelle Fitzgerald, executive director of instructional support, said the district's physics teachers "felt very strongly" that the Physics Honors course was equivalent to the AP Physics 1 curriculum, so there would no longer be a need for the honors course once the district implements the AP revisions.
Board member and committee chair Kathy Hewell expressed concern that not giving students the option to take the honors course would deter them from taking a more rigorous physics course.
"I think AP Physics 1 would scare them off," Hewell said. "They probably also have two, three, four other AP courses at that time."
Under the proposal, students who are taking the honors course this year would have the option of taking an extended AP Physics course next year that would prepare them for both the AP Physics 1 and 2 tests. Fitzgerald said students in the honors course may be a bit over prepared for first course and a bit under prepared for the second.
Hewell and board member Ed McNally also took issue with the fact that neither the AP Physics 1 or 2 courses are calculus-based. The board members said they were concerned that a student who decided to pursue science or engineering in college may lose an opportunity to apply their AP work to college credits.
According to the program website, the revisions were based on recommendations by National Research Council and National Science Foundation and have been endorsed by higher education officials.
Currently, the district does not offer AP Physics C, which involves calculus concepts and is usually taken after or in conjunction with a mathematics course that includes calculus, according to the College Board website.
However, some students will opt to take the AP Physics C test on their own, Fitzgerald said.
"When I did physics in college it was calculus-based," Hewell said. "Getting to the true part of understanding it you need calculus."
The full board will review the proposal for final approval at its next meeting on Jan. 13, along with several other recommendations for the district's world language program and new math and music courses.
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