Jeff Bates, Business Teacher/CTE Coordinator

and Daryl Moore, Principal

PROFICIENCY CREDIT

MATH AND SCIENCE CREDIT VIA PATHWAYS

BELOIT HIGH SCHOOL

Beloit High School needed to develop alternative math and science classes

because our students are becoming more diverse. Some students are taking

College Algebra, Calculus, AP Calculus, Statistics and Chemistry, but these classes are not for every student.

Most of our students’ exit-level math is Algebra II or Geometry, but this is a high level of math for some of our students.

Their exit-level science class was Chemistry, which was also too high for some.

We needed a math class and a science class that had practical applications. These classes would not be approved by the Kansas Board of Regents, but would count locally as satisfying one math and one science credit.

The classes we needed to develop would provide students with every day science,

financial and math applications.

The staffing problem we were facing is that we did not have a math or science

teacher that could fit this class into his or her schedule. With the financial climate in education, there was no money for adding

staff.

We looked to our CTE curriculum areas, since those are the programs that often

use application rather than theory to help struggling students better understand

academic concepts.

For the math credit, our solution was to have the Business teacher teach a

Personal Finance class and count it as a math class.

Ironically, the Business Dept. was already developing a Personal Finance

class at the urging of their Advisory Board.

For the science credit, our solution was to have the FACS teacher teach an Intro

to Human Development course and count it as a science credit.

For the math credit, the business teachers researched curriculum and discovered a

new (at that time) Financial Algebra Curriculum by Cengage Learning that met

both the needs of our students and the KSDE requirements.

Financial Algebra, Student Edition, 1st EditionRobert K. Gerver - North Shore High School, Long Island, New York Richard J. Sgroi - Bedford Central School District, Bedford, New York (Retired) ISBN-10: 0538449675 ISBN-13: 9780538449670 576 Pages Hardcover ©2011

For the science credit, the FACS teacher researched curriculum and found that other high schools were using “Human Development” by McGraw-Hill that met both the needs of our students and the

KSDE requirements.

Human Development 9th editionby Thomas Crandell, James Vander ZandenUS edition Features:Media: Hardback, printed in ColorLanguage: EnglishPublisher: McGraw-HillISBN-10: 0073370428ISBN-13: 9780073370422©2009

*** This is a college-level text, which was all that was available at the time. It is our teacher’s understanding that a high school-level text is being developed due to the increased amount of interest resulting from inclusion in various pathways. ***

The KSDE website provides guidance for developing courses such as ours for

Proficiency Credit.

It an be found at:

http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1660

There are two ways to be able to offer math or science credit through a CTE teacher:

1. Proficiency Credit Through Collaboration ( This is outlined in more detail on the KSDE web-site)

2. Substitution for local level graduation only.

PROFICIENCY CREDIT THROUGH COLLABORATION REQUIREMENTS:1. A procedure that addresses how credit

through collaboration will be awarded and which staff members will be collaborating.

2. The teacher awarding academic credit must be a Highly Qualified, fully certified teacher and have time in their schedule to collaborate.

3. Collaborating instructors work together to determine objectives and levels of achievement.

4. Scheduled meetings must be held through the school year to discuss student progress.

5. Collaborating teachers must complete a course description, syllabus, and scope and sequence.

SUBSTITUTION:1. The class must be listed in the Parent

Student Handbook as a class that will be substituted for a math class for the purpose of graduation only (not to fulfill the Regent’s math requirement).

2. The teacher of the class must be Highly Qualified in their area and at the appropriate grade level.

ADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATION:

1. The Math Dept. knows what is being taught and would be a good resource for the person teaching the class.

2. The Math Dept. would have resources which could be made available to students in the class.

ADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATION:

3. May be listed as a math class on the transcript.

4. Common Core standards can be easily incorporated.

DISADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATION:

1. Requires a time for the teachers to collaborate which is difficult to schedule.

2. Makes course coding more complex.

3. A Math Dept. Instructor may be held responsible for the test scores of the students, even though the class was taught by someone else.

ADVANTAGES OF SUBSTITUTION:1. The process is simple and everything is

done in house.

2. Course coding is done on the Career and Technical Education level.

DISADVANTAGES OF SUBSTITUTION:

1. You may be tied to a canned curriculum unless you supplement with other resources.

2. Your curriculum is not directly linked with the math dept., so you may be a separate piece of the puzzle and not a part of the typical math sequencing if efforts aren’t made to collaborate.

ADVANTAGES OF AWARDING PROFICIENCY CREDIT:

1. Greater flexibility of staff and schedule.

2. Courses that can be tailored to specific students needs after high school.

3. Easily done from a policy and process stand point.

ADVANTAGES OF AWARDING PROFICIENCY CREDIT (CONT.):

4. Great number of curriculum options and materials.

5. Opportunity to link to Career Clusters/Pathways, and generate additional CTE weighted Funding.

DISADVANTAGES:

1. The courses are not approved as part of the Regent’s curriculum…..but that is often not an issue for the students served by these classes anyway.

LINKING WITH CAREER CLUSTERS

We aligned the Personal Finance class with competencies found in the FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES PATHWAY.

“Consumer & Personal Finance B”

Technical level class #22220 1 credit

LINKING WITH CAREER CLUSTERS

We aligned the Human Growth and Development class with competencies found in the FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES PATHWAY, as well as the TEACHING/TRAINING PATHWAY.

“Human Growth and Development B”

Technical level class #45014 1 credit

IT’S A SIMPLE PROCESS THAT HAS HELPED MAKE OUR STUDENTS MORE SUCCESSFUL.

• Contact us for more information:

Jeff BatesBusiness Teacher/CTE Coordinatorjbates@usd273.org

Daryl MoorePrincipaldmoore@usd273.org

Beloit Junior-Senior High School1711 N. WalnutBeloit, KS 67420785-738-3593