The high school convention of taking college-level courses ahead of time is a practice that has been going on in high schools for a long time. It’s a means to give high-achieving students the ability to get a head start on their rigorous college curriculum, as they earn credits towards a degree. But as equity continues to be a heated topic in the nation, the battle now rages on inside schools that allow AP courses or college credits to be obtained as part of their schooling. And one school district is looking to ban the practice in the name of equity.
Piedmont City Unified School district near Oakland, California is a small district that predominantly educates white students that come from wealthier homes. Current data reports that 58% of the student body is white, while Asian/Pacific Islanders account for 14%, and Blacks make up only about 1% of the district. On Wednesday, the school board held a board meeting that covered a plethora of topics, but one that stood out regarded college credits. As presented by the district’s superintendent, the second docket item on the list for review was a provision allowing students to count college credits earned on their transcript. The superintendent and various staff want to nix that practice.
As the ruling currently stands, Alternative Credits towards graduation were allowed to be obtained from an outside accredited school from the district. This act was recently amended this way following the onset of the pandemic as a means to provide more flexibility to students during closures. But two years later, much of the staff feel that this ruling needs to be ended, as they claim it hurts student equity. They have proposed that going forward, no courses taken at a fee-based or private accredited school should be counted as college credit on the student’s transcript if they are enrolled at Piedmont High School.
*story by go2tutors.com
