College-prep English course coming to local high schools

By Stephanie Bertholdo Acorn Staff Writer

The curriculum council has won approval by Las Virgenes Unified School District’s Board of Education to implement a college-prep English Language Development (ELD) program at Agoura and Calabasas high schools.

Cathy Meininger and Kathy Kreyeik presented information to the board during a recent meeting.

According to the report, "The course will prepare ELD students for the transition to mainstream college-prep English courses, while enabling ELD students to fulfill college prep requirements during this transitional phase."

Students will study literature that’s similar to other high school college-prep classes in terms of depth, but shorter literary works will be used because English learners need additional time to finish the required reading.

ELD students will also be given the same opportunity in essay writing. Students will be challenged with the same writing standards requirements as other college-prep English classes, but will be required to do more rewrites and editing.

"Essay structure practice will build over time, leading to commensurate college-prep level skills by the end of the course," the report said.

Meininger said that the council is trying to make the program stronger with specific guidelines. The program, explained Meininger to the board, is relatively small. At both Agoura and Calabasas high schools, the class would only be offered during one period, with a combination of all four grade levels.

By the end of the ELD course, students will have gained the skills attained in English I. Meininger labeled the program "an intermediate step to mainstream English class."

School Board President Terilyn Finders asked whether the course could be used for science or math. Meininger said it depended on how well students were prepared in middle school. She added that support time for other classes is available at Calabasas High School. ELD teachers have their own curriculum and science teachers need to modify their curriculum for English learners, she said.

The ELD college-prep program would count for UC credit but wouldn’t be mandatory. "We don’t want to make it mandatory because every child coming (into the program) is so different," Meininger said.