Looking ahead to the 2022-23 school year, the KO English department has decided to stop offering English 4 Honors to sophomores as part of a long-term plan to unify the English program for students.
Head of the English Department and English 4 Honors teacher Catherine Schieffelin, explained what went into the decision, “It was not a decision that was made hastily,” she said. “It was something we have been talking about for a few years. It’s also part of a much larger process of leveling and tracking in the English department.”
For the past few years, KO students have been able to self-select into either English 4 or English 4 honors, without needing a teacher recommendation like in years prior. This has led to a shift in the number of honors classes; this year there were five classes of English 4 Honors and two classes of English 4. Ms. Schieffelin noted that this self-selection process has lessened the divide between the two classes by decreasing the rigor in the honors classes. “Those differences between the honors level and the regular level are not quite as distinct anymore because a lot of the support that would happen in the English 4 class is happening in the honors section now too,” she said
Currently, the noteworthy differences between English 4 and English 4 Honors include a generally stronger demand of the honors students: reading an additional summer reading book, larger homework assignments, greater writing expectations, and reading one additional text throughout the year.
The English department carefully reviewed research revealing that differentiation is not always beneficial. English teacher Cameron Biondi explained the consequences of offering an honors and regular course. “A lot of the research shows that if you have those tracked paths, it actually divides students in ways that it leads them to worse outcomes,” he said. Ms. Schieffelin agreed and added reassurance that removing English 4 Honors can advantage all students. “We did lots of research that supports the idea that unleveling can benefit both the strongest and weakest students in the class,” she said.
The English department is looking forward to creating a harmonized writing program for freshman and sophomores that focuses on building a strong foundation in writing skills. “We want to create a much more cohesive and incremental writing process for the freshman and sophomore years,” Ms. Schieffelin said. “We want to have a consistent and intentional progression where English 4 teachers are developing young writers, so that they can choose to take English 5 or challenge themselves by taking an AP class [junior year].”
The hope is that these classes will have diversity in student opinions, viewpoints, and skills, which are all qualities Ms. Schieffelin deems incredibly essential to a productive classroom. This transition will also align the English department with the History department at KO; all history students take Global Cities (in the freshman year), Modern World Studies (in the sophomore year), and choose to opt into either U.S. history or AP U.S. history as juniors.
Ms. Schieffelin hopes that the English department can continuously adapt to the needs of the community and make appropriate changes to the curriculum to benefit the students. “I want us to be self-reflective and get feedback from students on what’s working and what’s not,” she said.
Ms. Schieffelin offered reassurance to families that are upset about the change in the curriculum. “If students or families are frustrated that there isn’t an honors option, I would want them to know that there are so many ways for sophomores to grow as writers and find that rigor,” she said. “It will absolutely be there within the English class, but there are so many opportunities for students who are passionate about reading and writing to grow outside of the classroom.” Opportunities for students who are passionate about reading and writing to get involved are KO News, epic, English electives, and several others.
The English department is excited to initiate this change that will offer a cohesive writing program for students in their sophomore year.
