The new Grade 11 and 12 curriculum has been delayed a year — until the 2019/2020 school year — giving high school students and teachers more time to get prepared.
And making sure high school course changes still meet post-secondary entrance requirements is behind the deferral.
That’s the conclusion drawn by both educators and administrators at School District 43 who are reviewing the Ministry of Education’s latest pronouncement.
“Teachers identified this problem right out of the gate. We definitely identified that this would be the single biggest problem with the revised curriculum, to make sure the grad requirements fit with the needs of the post-secondary institutions,” said Ken Christensen, president of the Coquitlam Teachers' Association.
He said Tri-City public school teachers had been in the midst of preparing for the changes to take place next September but will now be able to put off implementation for another year, resulting in relief for some and disappointment for others.
The new Grade 10 curriculum, however, will be effective after the current school year.
Delaying the Grade 11 and 12 curriculum will provide time to make changes necessary to ensure students aren’t at a disadvantage when they apply for college, university or other programs in B.C. or elsewhere, Christensen said.
He explained that the new curriculum for high school students will stress mastery of core competencies, such as critical thinking, with flexibility in subject areas depending on student interest, as is the case in kindergarten to Grade 9 classes.
For example, the Social Studies 11 curriculum is being taken apart so students can choose the path that interests them the most. Instead of a huge survey course, students will study smaller sections, worth two credits apiece. Similar changes are planned for the Language Arts curriculum.
“How do you schedule that and how do you plan for that?” said Christensen, noting that teachers are in the midst of redesigning their courses to take in the changes.
Grade 10 students will use the revised curriculum starting in September 2018, SD43 superintendent Patricia Gartland told trustees at Tuesday’s board of education meeting.
She noted that the new numeracy assessment will be in place for students to take in January, as well as June and subsequent years, while the literacy assessment won’t be available until 2020.
The curriculum rollout effectively creates three paths to graduation depending on what grade the student is currently in. Here’s how it stacks up, according to the provincial government website (curriculum.gov.bc.ca/graduation-info):
For students who are in the following grades this school year, the expectations are as follows:
• Grade 10 students will follow the new 2018 Graduation Program requirements and take Planning 10 and write an Language Arts 12 provincial exam before graduation.
• Grade 11 students will follow the 2018 requirements and take Planning 10, write the numeracy assessment before graduation and write an LA12 provincial exam before graduation.
• Grade 12 students will finish all the 2004 Graduation Program requirements; have completed a Math 10, a Language Arts 10, a Science 10 and have written associated provincial exams. As well, they must take a Language Arts 12 course and write the associated provincial exam. Students graduating in this school year will not need to write the numeracy assessment as it is not a graduation requirement for their graduation program (they took the Math 10 provincial exam).
