MMSD board of education votes on the future of honors classes

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - The Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education voted on the district’s honors classes, deciding how the coursework would be brought to students moving forward, expanding the options for 9th graders.

“What we’re talking about, you know, dominantly or more importantly is the expansion of honors opportunities for all students,” said board president Ali Muldrow ahead of the vote. “The new system would look like embedded in every classroom is the opportunity for our student to get honors credit.”

Monday night, a motion to eliminate stand-alone honors courses failed to pass, but another motion succeeded. The motion that passed will put in place earned honors in every core class for 9th grade across the district, starting in the fall of 2023. It is a system in place at several schools, which would be implemented across the district while also keeping the stand-alone system for other grades.

One MMSD parent who spoke before the vote, Michael Titelbaum, raised concerns about a lack of presented research into any new system before the vote.

“From the first time the idea of eliminating stand-alone honors was presented, it had been presented as a decision that had already been made,” said Titelbaum. “Are the students going to be adequately served by the system we wind up with, not just the students who have been taking these classes but the students who should have been taking these classes?”

Others at the meeting questioned if teachers would receive the proper compensation for the workload of honors and non-honers coursework in the same class.

“It’s something for us to consider it, not something for us to throw out,” said MMSD superintendent Dr. Carlton Jenkins.

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