High Schools to Drop One Chemistry Class
The general chemistry course will be dropped from the curriculum at two Capistrano Unified School District high school campuses in favor of another chemistry course that officials say is faster-paced and more challenging.
Both courses--general chemistry and regular chemistry--contain the same core curriculum and are offered at Capistrano Valley and San Clemente high schools. But Deputy Supt. Barbara Smith said that regular chemistry is more enriched, providing students with a quicker pace, a higher level of problem-solving and more complicated equations.
Capistrano Valley science department Chairman Brian Manning told the school board this week that “teachers feel the level of all students will increase with one chemistry class.”
Teachers from Dana Hills and Aliso Niguel high schools, which are not participating in the pilot program, supported the idea.
According to figures from the Capistrano Unified School District, 469 students are currently enrolled in general chemistry and 725 students in regular chemistry at the district’s four high schools.
The school board will assess the pilot program at the end of the 1996-97 school year.
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