The York County School Division may have seven new courses next year after a presentation at Monday night’s school board meeting.
Each year, the board hears a proposed revision to the Program of Studies, a list of courses offered within the division. At the school board’s November meeting, board members heard about two new courses on the docket this year: Advanced Course Experience (A.C.E.) and Student Technology Leadership Corps.
At Monday’s meeting, costs associated with the A.C.E. course emerged as costing the division $2,000 with $1,400 going toward materials and $600 going toward writing curriculum. A $1,200 cost also emerged for the Student Technology and Leadership Corps with $600 going toward materials and $600 going toward writing the curriculum.
The Advanced Course Experience is a course for 7th and 8th graders that is supposed to prepare students for challenging high school courses like those in the Advanced Placement program. The Student Technology Leadership Corps is designed to advance student understanding of technology and leadership through providing tech support for students and staff.
Five more courses were presented with the Program of Studies:
- Introduction to Programming & Game Design
- a Latin course for 11th-graders
- a Latin course for 12th-graders
- MYP Design
- Electricity and Renewable Energy
Introduction to Programming & Game Design will introduce seventh- and eighth-grade students to the basics of game programming and development of online games, graphics, audio and animation. The course would cost the division $770 for curriculum writing and would include interactive game design and robotics.
Both Latin courses would allow students to enter the International Baccaleureate program without having taken French or Spanish in their middle school years. A YCSD document notes that the course would not cost the division anything.
In the 2014-15 school year, Yorktown Middle School will require all students to participate in the Middle Years Programme. The MYP is a set of curricula developed by the nonprofit foundation International Baccalaureate that teaches middle school students to be more resourceful.
To fully participate in the MYP, students must take an MYP design course, which the division did not yet have in place. The new MYP Design course would fulfill that requirement and asks students to design solutions to real-life problems. The course would cost the division $300 and does not require that the projects be from a particular school of design like fashion, interior or graphic.
The division also suggests creating an Electricity and Renewable Energy course as a result of a recommendation by the New Horizons Regional Education Center. The course would not cost the division any money and would teach students the basics used by electricians while working with wiring and equipment.
The updated Program of Studies will go before the school board for a vote at its Dec. 16 meeting.
