Mixed-level classes could soon retake the spotlight at Evanston Township High School.
Months after hearing concerns from the community about its decision to combine regular and honors senior English, the school is close to announcing a team to review the classes.
The School Improvement Team could name the 21-member advisory committee on mixed level classes by the end of this week, said SIT co-chair Tyrone Nelson. The committee, which will meet for three years, will include school officials, parents, students and teachers. The team asked applicants to commit to the committee for at least one year.
At the start of the school year, ETHS combined regular and honors-level senior English classes, hoping to improve the success of lower-achieving students. But parents, concerned the mixed classes would not give students enough individualized attention, complained about the classes at several fall public meetings.
Following the controversy, Superintendent Eric Witherspoon asked SIT to create a subcommittee to examine the courses.
When asked whether the community feedback influenced the superintendent’s decision, ETHS Curriculum Instructor Laura Cooper said she didn’t know. Witherspoon was not available for comment.
If the applications for the advisory committee are any indication, there is still a strong interest in examining the new curriculum.
The SIT received a total of 57 applications for the committee, said Nelson, who teaches in the fine arts department at ETHS. Nelson, who is reviewing the applications along with co-chair Diane Davis, said the goal is to create a diverse, balanced team.
“We don’t want this to be all pro-mixed-level courses, and we don’t want this to be a venue for people who are opposed to mixed-level courses to join so that they can continue their work,” he said. “It’s a home for us to really take an educated, think tank-like approach.”
It’s important for the committee to include all perspectives, including students’, Nelson said. About nine students applied for the three student spots on the committee, he said.
But by Tuesday night, not enough teachers had applied to fill the four spots reserved for them, the fine arts teacher said.
He said he hopes the committee will have recommendations for Witherspoon by the end of the school year.
The new mixed-level classes are not the first at ETHS. The history, fine arts and applied arts departments have had non-tracked classes for years, ETHS Public Relations Director Kathy Miehls said.
“I graduated from here in 1964,” she said. “We had them then.”
Miehls said the new mixed-level classes are a research-driven effort to help close the achievement gap between white and minority students.
“When you put kids in enriched and in regular, generally speaking, those students (in regular) turned out to be students of color,” she said. “And we don’t want that here.”
Still, some parents doubt the effectiveness of combining different level classes.
“I don’t think it serves anyone well,” said Steve Greenberger, whose son is a sophomore at ETHS. “I think it’s based on a sense of trying to achieve racial justice, which is a laudable goal, but I think it’s inconsistent with attaining maximum educational performance.”
