Higher level classes in Bryan ISD get a makeover

The Bryan school district has taken a first step to bring its pre-AP classes up to the standards that school board members thought were already in place.

Trustees this week agreed to pay nearly $150,000 to have a company that specializes in teacher training work with pre-AP teachers over the next three years.

Becky Darce, executive director of curriculum and instruction for the district, said the district's courses don't match the definition of pre-AP classes set by the Texas Education Agency.

Darce said the courses need to be more challenging, and the district needs to work harder at keeping students in the program. About half of the students that start pre-AP classes go on to successfully take AP courses, she said.

The district's passing standards for AP exams are low, and enrollment at both high schools don't match the demographics of the campus, she said.

Darce said a review of the district's courses revealed that there wasn't much difference between pre-AP classes and regular classes.

Pre-AP courses are intended to have more and different types of work, she said.

"I think over time, when we started the pre-AP courses, maybe we felt like they were [more challenging]," she said. "But as we've scrutinized and as the rigorousness in courses increases, the rigor in pre-AP courses has lagged behind."

Maritza Hoffman, the school board's vice president, said she thought regular teacher training was already in place and didn't understand why pre-AP courses weren't keeping up.

"It seems to me that teachers shouldn't be teaching those classes if they're not trained for those classes," she said.

Trustee Kelli Levey said it's frustrating that the district has to hire someone to teach the teachers about a program that's been in place for some time.

Douglas Wunneburger said the company, Laying the Foundation Inc., will help the district move toward its goal of aligning courses across the district.

"The more campuses you have, the harder that is to do," he said.

Wunneburger said the Bryan school district struggles with teacher turnover, and having a steady stream of new teachers makes it difficult to keep everyone trained at the appropriate level.

"This is just one way, without addressing the turnover, to get those new teachers up to speed," he said.

Kelly Kovacks, associate principal at A&M Consolidated High School, said the College Station school district pays for teachers to take training from the College Board, but it's not a requirement. Teachers are required to go to an annual conference designed for pre-AP teachers.

Kovacks said the district's pre-AP classes are based on TEA guidelines and the level of rigor required by the College Board, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making sure students are prepared for college.

"They have requirements for preparing kids for an AP course," she said.

She said the College Station school district evaluates courses with AP exam scores and retention rates from pre-AP classes from middle school to high school.

"Our AP scores do show our kids are well-prepared for the test," she said.

Kovacks said nearly all of the district's pre-AP students go on to take AP classes.

By the end of the school year, Darce said, the district's curriculum will meet TEA standards for pre-AP courses, and the next steps will be implementation.

Laying the Foundation is one of the few companies recognized by the College Board and the TEA for such training, Darce said.

"The alignment between courses has not been what it needs to be," she said. "It's going to be a significant change next year and years following when they step into a pre-AP course," Darce said.