Have an eighth or ninth-grade sibling trying to decide which English class to take next year? As of December 12, they won’t have to. The Edina School Board, as well as administrators at both middle schools and the high school, acted on a recommendation from the board’s Teaching and Learning Subcommittee. They struck regular English 10 and Enriched English 10 from the class list at the high school and added Pre-AP English 9 and Pre-AP English 10. According to a district FAQ sheet, the classes comprise a “rigorous two-year … course in English Language Arts over grades 9 and 10.”

The new course, introduced to help Edina meet the new state Common Core Standards, which mandate that schools prepare all students for reading and writing at a college level by the end of high school. The course also will serve to better prepare and encourage students who might not normally take AP English classes as upperclassmen, to take AP American and World Literature.

Tim Klobuchar, the EHS Area Leader for the English department said that the new course was almost approved “a few years back,” but was postponed until the department went through a comprehensive curriculum review process this year.

As part of the new curriculum, teachers will focus on tailoring their instruction to specific students. District Director of Teaching and Learning Jenni Norlin-Weaver explained that “in a differentiated instruction model, teachers will have different groups of students reading different books and doing different activities based on their abilities.” Carol Burris, an adminstrator at a school that has implemented a similar program, wrote that the most important thing “is not what you teach but how you teach.”

In order to determine how to group students, teachers will mainly rely on formative assessments throughout the year, according to Mr. Klobuchar. Mrs. Norlin-Weaver said that formative assessments include small quizzes and activities over the course of the unit to see how well students understand the material.