Braintree High School proposes modest course renames, pathways and graduation-language changes in program of studies first reading

Braintree School Committee members heard a first reading Monday of proposed updates to Braintree High School’s program of studies, including course retitling tied to Project Lead The Way, expansion of a business pathway, relabeling of English-language-development courses and proposed language on the district’s competency determination for graduation.

The presentation by a Braintree High School administrator outlined mostly modest, year-to-year changes. The engineering, health-care and anatomy courses would be retitled to reflect adoption of Project Lead The Way curriculum and would be coded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as advanced courses, the presenter said. Introduction to Business would expand into a full-year course for 10th graders in the business-finance pathway. English courses for students in the English learner program would be renamed from “intensive/strategic” labels to “ELD English 1 and 2” to clarify sequential placement.

Why it matters: the revisions affect course sequencing, student placement and how the district describes graduation requirements. Committee members pressed administrators on how the program will reflect recent state guidance removing MCAS as a required graduation test and asked for clearer, up-to-date language before the committee votes.

Administrators also described small but substantive changes in specialized programs: extending a learning-strategies course into grade 10, adding a college-and-career readiness course for grades 11–12, and offering a 10th-grade chemistry class in those specialized tracks to align students with the mainstream science sequence. The committee heard that CP precalculus will be relabeled “honors precalculus” after review of the course’s rigor and student enrollment patterns.

Committee members asked for specific edits before a final vote. One member noted the program still lists “competency determination” language tied to MCAS and requested that the section be updated to reflect DESE guidance; administrators said they will place the competency-determination language on the Jan. 14 policy subcommittee agenda and recommended phrasing identifying the school committee as the local decisionmaker. Members also requested clearer table-of-contents pagination, spelled-out acronyms for families, and a redline version showing edits since last year.

The document is scheduled for further revision and a final vote at an upcoming meeting; administrators said they can provide updated course-selection pages earlier to guidance counselors so scheduling can begin.