On February 16, all students received an email from the Upper School administration detailing several major changes to the MFS curriculum. English 11/12 seminars, honors and AP course qualifications, and the test scheduling policy have all been updated.
English Seminars: Honors and College Prep
In previous years, 11th and 12th grade Honors English seminars operated differently from College Prep seminars. According to Dan Sussman, who teaches several of these seminars, there used to be “totally separate honors classes that were still seminars in the sense of a single semester … but in a given semester, there were only ever two of them.”
“The plus side was that they were designed as honors classes from the ground up,” Sussman said, adding, “The negative aspect is that, from the honors student perspective, they had almost no choice. There would be an array of really interesting and specific English classes that they couldn’t take. If you think of the typical honors English student as being someone who really enjoys English class and gets a lot from it, it seems even more backwards, to have those students have less exciting choices compared to everyone else.”
In the new English curriculum, any class can be taken as either an honors class or a college prep class. Honors courses would have a heavier focus on analytical writing than CP, and more complex vocabulary and grammar units. These different “tracks” will allow students to have more choice and variety within their English seminars.
Honors and Advanced Placement Qualifications
Another change to the curriculum regards placement requirements for Honors or Advanced Placement classes. According to the Upper School Honors/AP Coursework at MFS document detailing the change, “students who have earned a cumulative grade below 87 in a CP course or below an 83 in an Honors/AP course are not eligible for Honors/AP courses in that discipline the following year.”
In other words, to advance from CP to Honors, students must end the year with an average of an 87. To advance from Honors to AP or remain in Honors or AP, students must end the year with an average of an 83. This standard is now applied to all courses, and for some, there are additional requirements to advance, such as a test or writing sample.
Spanish teacher Robert Nasatir said he thinks it will be “useful to have standardized numbers across disciplines. I think it’s really helpful … It was chaos before. We had so many different numbers. I think it was hard on students, and it was hard on advisors.”
Multiple Exams or Major Assessments
The final change made to the curriculum gives students the opportunity to alleviate some stress when they have several major assessments —- such as tests, essays, and projects —- due on the same day. The new change to the curriculum, as described in the Upper School Mid-Year Policy Updates, allows students who have “three or more major assessments in a single day to reach out to teachers to make alternate plans for the completion/submission of one assessment.” Then, it remains at the discretion of the teachers who have assigned these to determine which assignments or assessments to move. Students are encouraged to contact teachers three or more days in advance, and they should be prepared to take the assessment earlier than the original due date if the teacher decides that course of action.
AP Psychology teacher Jackie Scully said, “The idea is great. I don’t think any student should be having that pressure of preparing for three or more assessments in the same day … I hope it works, [and] that the communication is going to help. I do see that maybe in the beginning it could be a little challenging … I’m afraid there might be so much communication and mixing and moving around that there could be a little confusion or it might put stress on teachers.”
Scully continued, “It’s a lot of moving parts. I know it is difficult, particularly for seniors, because by the time you’re a senior you can take all these different courses. A calendar would be great … [a testing calendar] is a little easier for 9th and 10th grade … I like the idea that we are giving choice and agency to students … It’s about preparing and being proactive.”
