District to seek Cambridge ACE English course at Citrus and Crystal River high schools to boost acceleration

District staff proposed adding one Cambridge ACE course — English General Paper — at Citrus High School and Crystal River High School to expand opportunities for students to earn state-weighted acceleration credit.

Miss Lindeman, director of secondary programs, told the board the course emphasizes analytical writing, critical thinking and project-based learning and that students who pass the ACE English General Paper exam earn acceleration credit in the state calculation. She said ACE can serve students who would not otherwise qualify for dual enrollment, and that Lecanto High School’s existing use of a similar course appeared to correlate with higher acceleration results.

Staff presented district acceleration data and state benchmarks: the state average for students earning acceleration was cited at 68 percent; Lecanto High School reported roughly 73 percent while Citrus High School and Crystal River High School reported about 47 percent and 35 percent, respectively, on the district slide presented. Staff said the program is a low‑barrier pathway that can help more students earn acceleration credit and thereby improve the district’s performance on the state high-school grade component that counts acceleration.

The proposal requires an application and an annual contract with Cambridge ACE, plus one-time and ongoing professional learning for teachers. Staff described an initial teacher-training cost (face-to-face is more expensive; a virtual option is roughly half the price) and gave a rough estimate for some initial training lines (staff referenced approximately $600 for a training line item). Staff also cited comparative district revenue figures from other county districts that offered ACE, noting those districts reported millions of dollars in weighted FTE funding tied to ACE in recent years. Miss Lindeman said both Citrus High and Crystal River had administrative and teacher interest and that schools would cover start-up training costs.

Board members discussed resource constraints, curriculum balance with IB and AP offerings, the district’s broader dual-enrollment strategy and the need for parental information and annual review of outcomes. Staff said Cambridge must inspect campuses and approve the application; they aimed to have a contract and training schedule in place so the course could be offered at the start of the next school year if the district completes the application and teacher training.

No formal board vote was taken; staff requested permission to proceed with the application process and said they would return with contract details and an implementation timeline for formal action.