Portledge in the Now.

Students to Shape their Academic Path

Shoshana Krieger-Joven
There is so much to look forward to in the spring at Portledge. Budding blossoms, school dances, lacrosse games, musicals, community service trips, and, of course, requesting courses for the 2024-2025 school year! The process this year is more efficient and organized while allowing for more student voice and agency than ever before. 

For the past several weeks, students have been meeting with members of the Dean Team to request their courses for next year. Teachers provided clear recommendations of which class they feel each student is best suited for based on their academic achievement, potential, and classroom comportment. Students and deans reviewed this information together to guide students in making decisions about their courses for next year.

At Portledge, we encourage students to seek a meaningful balance of rigor and success in their curricular path. As a result, many of our students like to challenge themselves beyond what is initially recommended for them by their teachers. In order to support our students in this goal, each academic department has developed clear guidelines for how to appeal to take more challenging courses. These procedures were openly shared with students as part of the course request process, and they will be sent home to all parents and guardians, as well. This way, all of our students are given the opportunity to explore the option of more rigorous coursework where appropriate and in a way that still sets them up for academic success.

Students are now afforded more choice at every grade level. As early as 9th grade, students can request almost every elective available in the Upper School. Some of the electives our students are especially excited about this year are AP Computer Science, Childhood Education, Robotics, American Sign Language, Photo/Media, and Artificial Intelligence. The range of options within our Senior Seminar Program continues to grow, as well, enabling our students to build a curriculum in their final year of high school that reflects not only their drive to challenge themselves but also their intellectual curiosity and academic interests. This is all in addition to our continually evolving IB Diploma program, where we see more and more students participate as either full Diploma candidates or course candidates in a couple of classes. 

In the days after spring break, parents and guardians will receive emails clearly outlining their child’s requests and the necessary follow-up procedures surrounding any appeals. We encourage you to review our Upper School Course Descriptions and the Appeal Process for each department in the linked documents. We expect that with these updates to the process, we will be able to provide students with their schedules on an earlier timeline than in previous years. We are excited about this increased transparency surrounding course requests. It will ensure that our students are appropriately informed, guided, and supported in developing their curriculum and planning their academic pathways.
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