Vol. IX
October 8, 2014
Issue II
New Students on Campus by James Edson
Ever since the beginning of the school year, the students of AHS have realized that something is different; there’re more of them! In fact, there are about fifty more students than last spring, bringing the total enrollment to over a thousand students. What has caused this sudden influx of students to AHS? Are they exchange students? Are Californians discovering that Oregon is a cheaper and less crowded place to live? In September of last year, there were 1001 students enrolled at Ashland High School. This September there are 1011. So are there only 10 new students? Well, not exactly. Last spring, the number fell to 960 enrolled students, due to students either dropping out or moving away. So in reality there are about 50 more students than last year, which explains all the new faces on campus. However, this still doesn’t explain the increase in class size. The perception of larger classes, as it turns out, is illusory. This year, the state of Oregon has increased the standards required for graduation. In years past, students needed to pass the state tests of reading, writing, and math, but since the passing scores for these exams have been raised, the system has shifted to sovmewhat of a proficiency based system. Every student must perform to state standards on any number of assessments, including either the SAT, PSAT, ACT, AP exams, Work Keys (career ready math skills), or other, more individualized assessments.
Not every student at AHS is prepared to meet these heightened state standards, however, so to help these students meet them, new classes have been created that serve to give extra support in trouble subjects. In total, eight periods of support classes have been added to the school’s class schedule, including Writing Lab, Math Lab, Geometry Lab, and Algebra Lab. With the addition of these new classes, however, there are no more teachers than there were last year. This means that some teachers have to restructure their classes to accommodate these smaller support classes. Some classes, especially the ninth grade Humanities blocks are particularly overloaded. In addition to all of this, the class sizes differ more than in years past, mainly due to the sheer number of electives available. Chinese classes, for instance tend only to have fourteen students, while Foods classes tend to be filled up. For returning students, there are probably a number of factors that make it seem like there are more students than last year. There are 250 freshmen we might not know, seven exchange students we definitely do not know, yet around 50 students who are new to the district. Class sizes only seem bigger because teachers have adjusted their schedules to teach more support classes than last year. Finally, with last year’s seniors leaving for college and this year’s freshmen stepping on campus for the first time, returning students can definitely notice a change.
Sierra Webster (12), new to Ashland High School, poses for The Rogue News. photo/design by Katy Barnard