Cheltenham School District’s Educational Affairs Committee on Monday reviewed a proposal to organize high school offerings into “Panther Paths” intended to help students choose courses while preserving flexibility and avoiding early tracking. The district presented two versions of the model — a career-oriented set (STEM & innovation; global citizenship; creative & performing arts; humanities & social justice; business & entrepreneurship) and a passion- or mindset-based model (innovator, advocate, explorer, storyteller, analyst).

The administration said the goal is to increase student exposure to underenrolled courses and to make course requirements explicit, not to change the district’s credit totals. "This is about naming the course requirements, not changing credit requirements," a presenter said during the meeting.

Why it matters: presenters argued clearer requirements and an organized pathway structure will help students see relevant options, reduce the default scheduling pattern that pushes many students into the same courses, and connect the district’s portrait-of-a-graduate work to scheduling and advising. Administrators said the first cohort to be scheduled under the new approach would be current eighth graders (the class of 2030), with implementation steps that include workshops for staff and students.

Key changes proposed included defining two required courses per content area while leaving 2+ elective credits for flexibility, and moving Environmental Science from an optional course into ninth grade to align with district STEALS standards and better prepare students for biology. "Moving environmental science into ninth grade will give more space in biology to learn that content with more depth," a presenter said.

Board members asked how students who do not identify with a specific path will be supported. Mia Blitzstein asked whether diagnostic tools would be used; administrators said counselors would incorporate surveys and tools such as Naviance and run stakeholder feedback sessions before finalizing requirements. The administration emphasized that students would have room to explore multiple paths in ninth and tenth grade and that any diploma endorsements (badges/endorsements on transcripts) would be discussed further with stakeholders.

Next steps: the district will gather further stakeholder feedback, finalize the portrait-of-a-graduate alignment, and present implementation workshops for staff and students ahead of phased scheduling.