New classes are considered for curriculums
every year, and this year features the
consideration of three AP classes in three
different departments: science, social studies, and
English.
The classes currently pending introductions to
curriculums are AP Environmental Science, AP
Human Geography, and AP English Language &
Composition. However, this does not mean that
these classes will definitely be a part of the courses
offered for next year.
“In the required classes, the district has
stopped supporting funding for Honors in social
studies in favor of AP at the sophomore and junior
level,” Brian Adam, the Social Studies department
chair, said. “We are looking into offering
AP Human Geography this year to see if there is
enough interest as an AP elective.”
Dual credit options are also becoming popular
in departments such as Foreign Language and Science.
Currently, dual-credit is available at UMSL,
Meramac Community College, Webster University,
Missouri State University, and Missouri Baptist
College.
“Increasing the list of these offerings is something
that we are pursuing,” science department
chair Beth Karfs said. “We would likely try to
get courses that we already teach approved for
dual-credit before seeking out something new.”
Before a class is taught, there must be room
for it in the teachers’ schedules and it must be
able to fit around other classes already available
in terms of curriculum and time commitments.
Maintaining reasonable class sizes is also a priority
to consider when deciding how many classes
and what classes to leave out. Often, this means
not offering one class in favor of another.
“To provide some perspective, this is my 10th
year teaching at Central and we have not added
any courses to the science offerings in that time,”
Karfs said. “The deadline for making changes to
our offerings would be when students receive the
course guide for registration in January.”
Teachers look at registration, credit fulfillment,
and needs of the students to determine if classes
not currently in Parkway will be added. Currently,
versions of English Language & Composition
as well as Environmental Science are offered at
Parkway South high school and Parkway North
high school while regular Environmental Science
is offered here.
“Once courses are approved in the district
course proposal process, known as Course
Proposal, deciding which course is offered at
each school is a site (or school-based) decision,”
Parkway school district science department head
Jennifer Proffitt said.