Tuscarora High has a plethora of honors level, Advanced Placement (AP), and Dual Enrollment courses. However, despite the copious amounts of these high level courses here at T.H.S., students are not taking these upper level courses. As the new administration has entered Tuscarora High, a main focus of the new administration and the School Improvement Plan team has been to increase the number of advanced coursework students by 5%. The new administration brings new hope to students, parents, and the entire Tuscarora High School community that advanced coursework will once again become a fixture at the high school.

By taking honors, AP, and dual enrollment courses, students are able to challenge themselves at a greater level than being fixed at the typical grade level courses. They are setting themselves up for success if they are college bound, as they get used to the workload and demands of higher level classes. As long as teachers continue to push their students to challenge themselves in harder classes, Tuscarora will undoubtedly see greater growth in its students and academic successes. Being a highly diverse school both demographically and academically, Tuscarora offers roughly 20 AP classes in a variety of subjects for students to take. Classes ranging from AP Psychology to AP Computer Science and even to AP Calculus, Tuscarora’s students have everything in the palm of their hands; it’s just a matter of their decision to challenge themselves. Surprisingly enough, only 52 percent of students surveyed at T.H.S. take one honors level or higher course while 37 percent of students surveyed take three or more honors level or higher courses. As the trend demonstrates, less and less students are inclined to take multiple courses above the honors level, posing a significant issue to the academic success of Tuscarora as well as other schools in Frederick County Public Schools. If students are not willing to challenge themselves now, these habits may carry on to their future endeavors when they seek employment in an effort to provide for their future families. If students do not challenge themselves now, they will never discover their fullest potential of the many things they are capable of doing. The unknown is undeniably scary, yet with such supportive teachers and administrators at Tuscarora, students have access to some of the best resources who believe in them even when they may not believe in themselves.

Many teachers and students have been interviewed, giving their opinions on advanced classes and how they are encouraged at T.H.S. When Emely Martinez, a freshman, was asked if her teachers have ever encouraged her to take advanced classes, she responded with “My Spanish teacher has been encouraging me to advance into Spanish 3, even though I have both of my world language credits.” She also later states that she believes that advancing into higher level classes would benefit her in the future when applying for colleges and interviewing for jobs. In another interview, Mrs. Reed, who is an art teacher here at T.H.S., was asked if she encourages her students to take advanced classes. In her response she stated “Yes, of course. I see so much potential and possibility in all of my students. Even those who are not always productive. I tell each of them to continue with art classes. It is a creative outlet that everyone needs.”

At Tuscarora High School, students strive for great success in the classroom. When teachers push students to advance their learning through upper level, advanced coursework, the students’ minds will grow and they will see positive improvements in the classroom. The positive reinforcement seen from students after the confidence of success is something that every teacher at Tuscarora High School hopes to see in each and every student that walks through the doors of T.H.S. As a new administration has entered our building, there is an emphasis on expanding advanced coursework. This emphasis will return advanced coursework as a staple at Tuscarora High School.