Question: Questions have been received concerning the change in instructors for Biology II at the high school and inquiring as to if the change is occurring and why. {August 8, 2016}
Yes, there is a change in assignment where the instructor who taught Biology II is no longer teaching the course to create room in the instructor’s schedule to teach all sections of Biology I. The impetus behind such a move is to create consistency in the quality of instruction in several core courses offered at LaBrae High School. As Ohio has mandated the new End of Course exams in Biology, Algebra I, and Language Arts, and quality points earned off of the passage of these exams determines whether students earn a diploma, the mandate has caused LaBrae to assess how we can best assure that all students subject to this graduation requirement are prepared to pass the exams, earn sufficient quality points on the exams, and thus, graduate from high school. This objective is best accomplished by ensuring quality and consistent instruction in the tested areas by assigning, where possible, the same teacher to deliver the instruction in the tested subject area. To this end, almost all courses corresponding to the End of Course exams have been assigned to one teacher. The only exception is with English I, or freshmen English, as it wasn't possible to align all sections with one teacher as a language arts teaching position was eliminated when a teacher resigned this summer. It is our mission to provide quality instruction to all students to facilitate students meeting, or exceeding, the State requirements. LaBrae can, and must, balance meeting this objective and still maintain the rigor offered in our higher level science courses.
