By Cassie Jerich, Current Staff
The math department at the West Bend High Schools has been trying to solve the same math problem for two years.
Over the summer the department settled on a plan to shift precalculus from an honors level class to an Advanced Placement program. They proposed the plan to the school board in October and received final board approval on Nov. 13. Starting next fall, the new AP class will be offered to WBHS students and may be taught by Melissa Werth and Haley Ransom.
“(The name) Honors Precalc pretty much only means something to WBHS, because all schools teach it a little differently,” Werth said. “Whereas AP Precalc is going to be standardized, you have the AP designation, colleges and universities know exactly what you were taught and these are the concepts that you should have mastered.”
AP Precalculus will also allow students to have access to AP classrooms where they can have more practice and teachers who teach this course will have more resources, Werth says. New online resources will also become available to these students.
Ransom hopes that more seniors will take the course because it now offers a college credit possibility.
“This year, 2023-2024, is the first time that it is being offered nationwide,” Ransom said.
According to Ransom, students who pass the AP test will earn credit for college algebra from most universities, which will satisfy a general education math requirement.
“I am excited that it is going to be an AP course so that I am able to get an actual college credit for it instead of just kudos for taking an honors course,” East sophomore Morgan Corley said.
(Top image: West Bend East High School math teacher Haley Ransom leads her second period honors precalculus class. Photo taken today by Cassie Jerich, Current Staff.)
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