Honors Courses
Onslow County Schools' courses which receive an honors credit should have an Honors plan created by the teacher or team of teachers at each school site. This document should indicate why the course receives honors credit. In addition, teachers of honors courses should keep samples of student work which will be submitted during the annual review process. The documents linked below provide the timeline, information regarding the submission process, and some samples.
Honors Implementation
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2017-2018 Honors Process Files
The following documents support the planning and submission of units for teachers across Onslow County Schools. Honors Guidelines for 2017-2018 Honors Planning Template Sample 1 Honors Planning Template Sample 2 Frequently Asked Questions Honors Review Optional Worksheet (checksheet) ELA Honors Rubric (Fillable) Math Honors Rubric (Fillable) Science Honors Rubric (Fillable) Social Studies Honors Rubric (Fillable) |
The honors review process serves two main purposes.
First, to ensure that students are receiving a qualitatively different experience in a course which reflects a deeper level of rigor which will prepare them for courses at even more challenging levels. And second, to provide teachers with support when they work to justify the high expectations of an honors course to parents, administrators, and students.
One ancillary benefit is that as we have more and more quality units submitted, we will be able to share those across schools and thus decrease the workload of our teachers. This type of collaboration across schools is something that is difficult and, by teacher reports, rare, in Honors level courses currently.
NCDPI does not have the capacity to perform a review process. However, NCDPI makes it clear that we at the LEA level are to do so. This is guided by NC State Board Policy which is clear that each LEA shall have a process to ensure academic rigor in Honors courses and that a review process be conduced at the LEA level following the rubric provided in the Honors Implementation Guide.
First, to ensure that students are receiving a qualitatively different experience in a course which reflects a deeper level of rigor which will prepare them for courses at even more challenging levels. And second, to provide teachers with support when they work to justify the high expectations of an honors course to parents, administrators, and students.
One ancillary benefit is that as we have more and more quality units submitted, we will be able to share those across schools and thus decrease the workload of our teachers. This type of collaboration across schools is something that is difficult and, by teacher reports, rare, in Honors level courses currently.
NCDPI does not have the capacity to perform a review process. However, NCDPI makes it clear that we at the LEA level are to do so. This is guided by NC State Board Policy which is clear that each LEA shall have a process to ensure academic rigor in Honors courses and that a review process be conduced at the LEA level following the rubric provided in the Honors Implementation Guide.
NC State Board Policy
3.1.2. Honors courses - Course content, pace and academic rigor place high expectations on the student, demanding greater independence and responsibility. Such courses are more challenging than standard level courses and are distinguished by a difference in the depth and scope of work required to address the NCSCoS. These courses provide credit toward a high school diploma and require the end-of-course test for those courses identified as such in the NC accountability program. An honors review process shall be followed, as outlined in the latest edition of the North Carolina Honors Course Implementation Guide. The state course weighting system awards the equivalent of one (1) quality point to the grade earned in Honors courses. Effective with the freshman class of 2015-16, the weighting for Honors courses shall be one-half (.5) of a quality point.
3.1.2. Honors courses - Course content, pace and academic rigor place high expectations on the student, demanding greater independence and responsibility. Such courses are more challenging than standard level courses and are distinguished by a difference in the depth and scope of work required to address the NCSCoS. These courses provide credit toward a high school diploma and require the end-of-course test for those courses identified as such in the NC accountability program. An honors review process shall be followed, as outlined in the latest edition of the North Carolina Honors Course Implementation Guide. The state course weighting system awards the equivalent of one (1) quality point to the grade earned in Honors courses. Effective with the freshman class of 2015-16, the weighting for Honors courses shall be one-half (.5) of a quality point.
