Trio of high school courses wait for a vote

Two new Worthington high school course proposals are designed to "go deeper" into the study of psychology for students taking Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes.

A third new course is designed specifically for students whose first language is Spanish.

Jennifer Wene, chief academic officer, along with high school teachers Tricia Palko and Sean Cooke, described the courses to school board members at the Dec. 15 board meeting.

"As we look at our new vision and mission statements, we also wanted to look at our electives and our current curriculum," Wene said.

District administrators have been working on new mission and vision statements for the past few months. The latest version of the mission statement is: "To empower a community of learners who will someday change the world."

The vision statement promises to "engage students with diverse opportunities to maximize potential; provide consistent communication and dialogue with the community; provide a safe school environment" and promises "to be responsible and transparent with community resources."

The AP Psychology description calls the course "a systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals."

"Students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology," states the description.

Palko said AP Psychology would be offered at Thomas Worthington High School and IB Psychology would be offered at Worthington Kilbourne High School.

The IB Psychology course was described as "a systematic study of behavior and mental processes."

"Students undertaking the course can expect to develop an understanding of how psychological knowledge is generated, developed and applied," states the description. "This will allow them to have a greater understanding of themselves and appreciate the diversity of human behavior."

Cooke said IB Psychology students would "choose one topic and go deep" in their study.

"They would have to design their own mini-study of a psychological case," he said. "Students would have to directly apply the information they have learned."

Wene said the Spanish for Spanish Speakers course is specifically tailored toward the needs of students proficient in colloquial Spanish as their primary language.

"We needed a class tailored to their unique situation, to help them improve linguistics and communicative abilities," she said.

She said the course also would provide the preparation necessary for the students to take credit-flex exams for Spanish 1, 2, 3 and 4.

School board members are expected to vote on whether to approve the courses at a future school board meeting.

The next Worthington Board of Education meeting is an organizational session and board workshop set for 9 a.m. Jan. 11 at the Worthington Education Center, 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road.

The school board also plans to hold a regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. that day, also at the Worthington Education Center.

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