Belvidere High School looking to increase Advanced Placement, college-level courses for students

Saturday, April 03, 2010
By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times

Town school officials plan to increase both the number of Advanced Placement classes and the amount of classes that allow students, at no charge, to earn credit at Warren County Community College.

Both sets of courses -- offered to juniors and seniors -- represent "great opportunities for students," said interim high school Principal Chris Halloran, adding that colleges want to know what college-level courses students have taken while in high school.

The only AP offering at the high school this year is calculus, but officials hope to add AP courses in English, Spanish, physics, biology and psychology, Halloran said. School district officials budgeted $10,000 for 2010-11 to cover supplies for the AP courses, he said.

Those courses are contingent on the anticipated enrollment and approval by the nonprofit College Board that oversees AP courses, Halloran said. Based on their AP test results at the completion of the courses, students can earn college credits or be exempted from taking certain courses in college, he said.

According to the state report card for 2008-09, 10 Belvidere High School students took AP calculus that school year. That number represented about 3.8 percent of the juniors and seniors that year, falling below the state average of 19 percent, according to the report card.

A broad AP program represents that extended learning is important to a district, Belvidere school board President Brian Smith said, creating a favorable impression of the school and its students.

"This is going to go a long way helping our kids compete when they apply for college," Smith said.

Through dual-enrollment with Warren County Community College, the school district hopes to increase the number of college-credit-eligible courses offered to students at no cost. The courses would be taught by high school teachers approved by the college, Halloran said.

Belvidere High School students can currently take two courses, chemistry and English, and earn 10 college credits at the community college. School officials want to offer four more dual-credit courses, including AP biology and three computer courses.

That move would increase the total number of potential credits at WCCC to 27, Halloran said. The proposed arrangement still needs to be worked out with the college, he said.

"It's a great program that the community college offers," Halloran said.