Ballston Spa proposes new senior electives, literacy lab and AP, science sequencing changes at high school

Ballston Spa High School administrators presented proposed changes to next year’s course catalog and programming at the Ballston Spa Central School District Board of Education meeting on Jan. 22, 2025. Principal Robinson said the changes are student‑driven and designed to increase access to targeted instruction and Advanced Placement options.

The proposals include new senior electives, a two‑year pilot literacy lab aimed at freshmen who score low on multiple measures, additions and substitutions in Advanced Placement courses, a revision to the accelerated science sequence that shifts biology into eighth grade, a new introductory video‑production course, and refinements to the physical‑education strand model.

Administrators said the changes respond to student survey results and curriculum‑alignment concerns. “We survey the 10th‑ and 11th‑grade students and saw what they would like to take, and we used that to form our courses,” Principal Robinson said. He described new senior electives drawn from that feedback: Practical English (a half‑year course intended to serve as an English 12/English 101–style co‑taught section), Film as Literature, Horror Genre Study, Exploring Banned Books and Exploring True Crime. He said existing senior electives with low selection rates—listed in his…