Advanced Comp. I Application

STORY BY DYLAN COLEMAN »
When picking classes, students are given the option to
choose the regular English class, or the advanced English
class. For freshman, they are given the choice to take
Honors English I, sophomores are allowed to take Honors

English II, while the juniors and seniors are given the option to take Comp I and Comp II through Johnson County

Community College.
Previously, the only thing a student needed to do to get
into the advanced classes was fill out a form.
Now, the English department has decided it was time
for a more in-depth application process. The previous form
still needs to be filled out, but now there are additional
criteria required in order to enroll in the advanced classes.
These include: summer reading, staying at a B average
in the english class, and applying with a essay. As of this
year, all grades have the same application process.
Sophomore English teacher Shannon Pickett knows that
the district has been growing, and that the district has

been accommodating students and their needs by providing differentiated levels of English classes.

“When I first started here fifteen years ago we didn’t
even have honors classes,” Pickett said.
”Then it progressed to we’re going to have one section,
and then two… I think this is our third year that we’ve
had two sections of English. We were finding that there
were more kids who could do it, and we needed a second
class.”
But along with the growth, there was a downside –
more kids wanting to take the honors course than the the
school was equipped to handle.
“We really didn’t have a set process other than getting
recommendations from the 8th-grade teachers. Anyone
technically could have signed up,” Pickett said. “We were
occasionally getting people that could take the class, but
they weren’t motivated to do it, so they weren’t
doing well.”
Pickett noticed
that some kids were
placed wrong, and they
didn’t have the right mind set.
“We occasionally got some kids
that just weren’t placed well, like
they should’ve been in regular English,” Pickett
said. “Over time, we’ve seen more late work coming
in, [and a] lackadaisical attitude such as: ‘it doesn’t matter
if I get my stuff in one time.’”
After realizing that the admission process in needed to
be changed, Eudora looked towards other schools to see
what they were doing.

“…We looked at models from other schools… We
noticed that most of the schools in the area are requiring
summer reading,” Pickett said. “That alleviates some of the
cramming during the school year.”

As Eudora adapted the application process, they realized that only highly-motivated students should attempt to

take Honors English.
“I think the biggest thing is,” Pickett explains, “we
want people who are going to work hard, be reliable, that
are going to participate, especially in class discussions,
go the extra mile, and know that there is going to be a lot
of outside reading [and] writing.”
You would think with adding a longer application
process, that fewer kids would apply –and hat wasn’t the
case.
“The junior- and senior-level numbers were about
the same,” Pickett said. “The only grade that had fewer
applications was the 8th grade as they prepared to enroll in
their freshman year.”

“I don’t know if doing the essay scared them off,” Pickett said, “We only saw lower numbers there.”

But some previous Honors English students decided to
leave.
Sophomore Lexi Bishop, a previous Honors English I
and II student, decided that the whole application process
wasn’t worth the time and stress for next year.
“I did not apply for Honors English next year, partly

because of the application process and summer requirements,” Bishop said.

Even though Bishop thinks the new guidelines are more
stringent than they should be, she believes that it will help

students more that are wishing to go into any english-related field.

“I feel like the new application process is a bit extreme,
but it makes sense due to it being an honors course,”
Bishop said. Even though Bishop won’t be taking Honors
English next year, she knows that the students and the

teachers will both be preparing for more demanding academic experience.

“You’ll have to be very dedicated to complete the appli-
cation and summer requirements, and I feel like the teach-
ers will take this very seriously, so the students should as

well,” Bishop said.
Pickett believes this change is for the best, and is glad
they took her suggestion.
“I was one who brought this up to begin with…I’m a
proponent for it. I understand the rigor that’s needed from
both the student and teacher perspective and I just want
to make sure standards are kept high.”