In an email that was sent out late Friday afternoon, the Barrington School District announced changes to its honors course options for ninth- and tenth-grade students. 

Barrington High School will no longer offer an honors distinction option for social studies courses or English courses for freshmen or sophomores.

In his email to students’ families, Barrington High School Principal Joe Hurley wrote: “The course selection process for grades 8-11 will begin next week. Please note that when selecting classes for next year, Social Studies will return to its original course selection prior to the 2021-2022 school year, which did not include an Honors Distinction option. English will now be offering one heterogenous course in both grades 9 and 10, with no Honors Distinction or Honors option being offered at any grade level.” 

The announcement follows previous changes to the honors curriculum at the high school. District officials altered the program of studies going into the 2021-22 school year, eliminating some honors courses and replacing them with an opportunity for students to earn an honors designation or distinction. 

Officials said the change would result in better access to an honors distinction for more students, and while that may have been true, the change resulted in about 15 percent fewer students achieving the honors level. Critics said the change was poorly communicated to students and teachers, and was difficult for people to understand.

Students’ comments

Friday’s email ended a period of uncertainty where students and parents waited to see what the district would do with honors at the high school. During the school committee meeting on Thursday, March 10, the student representative to the school committee, Sarah Jageler, said students had shared their thoughts recently about the honors distinction issue. 

Jageler said some students spoke about the benefits to the deeper learning that accompanied the honors distinction work, while others listed negative aspects or problems with the program. She said students had issues understanding the requirements needed for achieving the distinction. Students reported that some teachers were not sure about the requirements. 

Jageler said some students felt the honors distinction was not worth the work that was required. Some students offered suggestions on how to improve the situation: create a clear explanation of what was needed, and a clear rubric of what was expected.

Some students reported to Jageler that they chose not to explore the honors option because there were so many unknowns. She said others wanted more frequent assignments or to remove the grade requirement attached to the distinction. Some students wanted the school to return to how honors classes had been prior to the change, she said. 

Jageler said she had four pages of notes from the Honors Distinction Student Forum at the high school.

Parent concerns

Some parents spoke out about the honors program situation during the public comment portion of the school committee meeting on March 10. Maura McCrann, the wife of school committee member Patrick McCrann, shared her frustrations regarding honors. 

“I’m disheartened it’s not on the (meeting) agenda tonight,” she said. “We have no way to get information.”

Devyn Smith was also frustrated with the situation. He said that given all the concerns from parents on this topic, it was shocking that the school committee was not having a conversation about it. 

Smith and McCrann were frustrated that the district would be sending out an email announcing the changes, which is what happened the day after the meeting. Smith said the district’s approach to the issue was a reflection of the lack of communication by the administration, adding that the district treats parents “like they’re four-year-olds.”

“We care about out kids,” Smith said. “We want them to be successful.”

Another parent said she hoped Paula Dillon, the district’s director of curriculum, would “turn her back” on “de-leveling” the high school curriculum.

Problems with the process

The changes to the honors program that were announced in the district’s email on Friday, March 11, were created without any review or approval by the school committee, said a member of the school board. 

The recent changes in the honors program were discussed by members of the BHS School Improvement Team, Mr. Hurley, and some teachers at the school. They were announced in the email sent out on Friday afternoon, but never went before the school committee. McCrann said he was not sure if his fellow school committee members were aware they had been cut out of the process. 

“If the topic had been on our agenda for the March 10 business meeting, the school committee would have had a chance to publicly discuss the matter before the decision was disseminated to all members of our educational community,” McCrann wrote in a message he shared with the Barrington Times. “Unfortunately, the topic was only on the list of things to be on future agendas. As a result, the school committee and the community need to wait until our April 7 business meeting for such a discussion.”

McCrann said state law requires that the School Improvement Team shares its recommendation with the superintendent of schools, and the superintendent shares that recommendation with the school committee.

“The process for making changes to the program of studies doesn’t appear to be as transparent as the work of the School Improvement Team is meant to be, per Rhode Island law,” McCrann wrote, adding that his comments were his alone and that he did not speak for other school committee members.