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Shorewood students, teachers detail pilot eighth‑grade Honors ELA to broaden access to advanced study
Summary
Presenters described a pilot eighth‑grade Honors ELA at Shorewood Intermediate School designed to sit between district enrichment and the Center for Advanced Academics, expand access without tuition, and emphasize critical thinking, writing and presentation skills; student speakers said the class is more sustainable than previous online options.
The Shorewood School District on Feb. 24 heard a presentation on a new eighth‑grade Honors English language arts pilot intended to give more students sustained, tuition‑free access to enriched instruction.
Jennifer Murphy Dam, the district's advanced learning coordinator, told the school board the program was designed to “fill that gap” between district‑wide enrichment opportunities and the limited, independent online classes formerly available through the Center for Advanced Academics (WICITY). The pilot meets once a week and assigns additional readings, weekly writing and research projects, Socratic seminars and more frequent teacher feedback, she said.
“The goal was to provide challenging curriculum and align it with what they're already doing in class so students can enter and exit each quarter,” Murphy Dam said, noting the program’s eligibility is based on current grades and motivation rather than a single test score. For the pilot year, students must maintain a 90% or higher in their current ELA class and an 80% or higher in other classes to remain eligible.
Two eighth‑grade students in the program described why the class made a difference for them. Georgie Cashman said she had tried the online WICITY coursework and found it unsustainable when stacked on regular classwork, but called the honors option “a lot more manageable for my schedule” and said it allowed deeper engagement without the daily time sink of the online option. Sonna Tiffany Schnebly added that honors ELA “has a lot less review” and offers more teacher interaction than unsupervised online coursework.
Board members asked about continuation into high school and scale. Murphy Dam said the district does not currently offer a ninth‑grade honors ELA but that the pilot aims to prepare students to “push their learning,” and administrators will collect and analyze year‑end data to measure efficacy and participation. She reported about 22 students are currently enrolled out of an eighth‑grade class of 162, and that initial interest earlier in the year was larger (about 50 at an information session) before the workload expectations were clarified.
The program is funded and staffed within existing district budgets, Murphy Dam said, with occasional purchases of class sets from the advanced learning budget where needed. The district will consider lessons from the pilot when evaluating expansion to seventh grade next year and plans targeted outreach to increase representation from underrepresented learner groups.
The board had no formal vote on the presentation; administrators said outcomes would be reported after the pilot year and any expansion would follow normal curriculum planning and staffing processes.
