Monday, April 29, 2024
The Gatesville Independent School District's On-Ramps partnership with the University of Texas to offer Gatesville High School students college courses at GHS has been successful, said Superintendent Barret Pollard, who recently gave an update on the program during a GISD Board of Trustees meeting.
"The classes are pretty tough - students are taking the equivalent of what they'd see if they were freshmen enrolled at UT," Pollard said.
Students who receive a grade of a D or higher in the courses are eligible to receive college credit and have the option of accepting that grade or declining it in hopes of receiving a higher score later.
"The course with the lowest eligibility and acceptance rate was College Algebra," Pollard said. "This course is typically the first on-Ramps course taken by students and it is typically taken by our advanced sophomores."
To improve the success rate for those enrolled in that class, Pollard said the district will change the sequence of math courses students take to better prepare them for the college course.
"We want to give them another year of experience - an additional year of math," he said. "We will offer Algebra II Honors in 10th grade. Then, juniors can take either On-Ramps College Algebra, On-Ramps Pre-Cal, or Pre-Cal. We thought by giving them that additional year of experience, it would improve their success.
"The kids are doing really well in these classes with the exception of the algebra class, so hopefully this change will help with that."
On-Ramps classes offered at GHS include:
* Rhetoric in the fall taught by Robbie Finley; 100% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 100% accepted it.
* Rhetoric in the spring taught by Robbie Finley; 88% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 88% accepted it.
* U.S. History in the fall taught by Bonnie Latham; 100% of students enrolled were eligible for credit and 88% accepted it.
* U.S. History in the spring taught by Bonnie Latham; 100% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 100% accepted it.
* Biology, yearlong, taught by Sarah Blanchard; 100% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 100% accepted it.
* Chemistry yearlong taught by Lisa Truss; 100% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 92% accepted it.
* College Algebra yearlong taught by Jennifer Penny; 48% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 31% accepted it.
* Pre-Cal yearlong taught by Melanie Catsoris; 86% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 71% accepted it.
* Statistics yearlong taught by Venus Leung; 100% of students enrolled were eligible for college credit, and 100% accepted it.
Although it was not listed in the memorandum provided to the school board regarding On-Ramps classes, Pollard said there were also English courses offered. One hundred percent of students enrolled in the fall class were eligible for college credit, and 100% accepted it. Eighty eight percent of students enrolled in the spring class were eligible for college credit, and 88% accepted it.
