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PHS Looks to Add Four New AP Courses
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
04:36PM / Friday, February 12, 2016
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Pittsfield High Principal Matthew Bishop asked for the additional courses on Wednesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee is looking to provide four new Advanced Placement courses at Pittsfield High School, bringing the total offerings up to 23 there.
 
The courses would be AP Human Geography, AP Computer Science Principles, and two pilot programs — AP Seminar and AP research. The School Committee is also looking to add the AP Computer Science Principals course to Taconic High School.
 
"We actually had to apply to be one of the schools to pilot [seminar and research]," PHS Principal Matthew Bishop said.
 
Those two courses are "capstone" courses which will lead to a special degree for students who complete both as well as other AP courses. The capstone work is designed much like college dissertations — particularly the research class.
 
The seminar course allows students to pick a topic and the exams focus on having students present an opinion, argue the point, and the defend it against inquiry. The class takes the place of a contemporary issues class, which was similar. Bishop said recently the contemporary issues class took on a massive research into the prison system and turned out an in-depth presentation. The advanced placement seminar course will be like with students picking a research topic that interests them but that the advanced placement credits will make it more rigorous, he said.
 
The research class mostly centers around a research paper but again, the students are asked to present it to a panel and defend it. 
 
"It mimics the Ph.D. thesis project," Bishop said.
 
Students who complete those courses and other advanced placement courses can be awarded an "Advanced Placement capstone diploma" upon graduation, and Bishop hopes there will be a few of them in a couple years. 
 
The advanced placement human geography will be a feeder class into AP World History. PHS will be the only school west of Springfield to offer it and it is designed for the 9th grade. The AP Computer Science Principles course will be a feeder to the already existing AP Computer Science.
 
Bishop said the school isn't adding any staff by adopting the programs but rather phasing out other classes. For example, instead of running four classes of history, there will be three and the AP course. 
 
The School Committee sees the courses as a strength and Bishop said one of the biggest reasons for high school students choosing schools is the AP offerings. He said the size of the school allows more AP offerings than smaller districts.
 
"It seems to me we have the ability to be a magnet school for the county," School Committee member Anthony Riello said. 
 
The School Committee has been concerned about the level of marketing the district does to keep students here. The city loses about $2.5 million annually from students opting to receive education elsewhere. The School Committee says the schools have a lot to offer but that hasn't been communicated effectively to parents. The administration plans to put more emphasis on promoting the district in the coming year.
 
Mayor Linda Tyer added that many PHS students have graduated and gone onto successful careers, which should be "showcased."
 
"There is success to promote from our own student body," Tyer said.
 
Not only is PHS expanding and promoting its AP offerings, the school is also emphasizing some career technical education classes. CTE department head Christa Levesque presented details about four of the six CTE classes the school is offering.
 
The class that particularly stood out for the School Committee is the business technology program. The students there are asked to design a product and then nearly every discipline contributes a lesson. 
 
Student Nick Simonds said he thought of a sweatshirt that both heats and cools the person wearing it. Science teachers worked with him to figure out the science behind it. English teachers taught him to write and edit a business plan; math teachers explained income statements and finances. The student makes business cards and translates the business cards into other languages. 
 
"The students are getting real opportunities," Levesque said.
 
Also relating to business, teacher Timothy Kettles runs a finance academy class. He said the certified program was established in 2001 and mixes financial coursework with extracurricular activities. In 2012, the advisory board was organized and is now overseen by a combination of local business leaders and educators. 
 
Kettles said the classes include strategy for business, business management, principals of investing, accounting, and sports and entertainment marketing. The program's extracurricular opportunities include a "dress for success" program, tours of local businesses, a stock market challenge, hands-on marketing efforts, and career exploration. 
 
Kettles said there are two articulation agreements with Berkshire Community College for the programs. Students who graduate from it can have their fundamentals in business class replaced with another elective and the same goes for the accounting course.
 
Levesque said the school also offers building and property maintenance classes and a culinary arts class. 
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