FARMINGTON – SAD 9 directors will consider increasing the value of high school advanced placement and honors courses today for the next school year.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. but directors are scheduled to go into two executive sessions shortly after to hold two student disciplinary hearings at the Mt. Blue High School library.

High school Principal Joe Moore wants to increase the weight or value of the courses to reflect the quality work that is done when students take the more challenging programs.

As it stands, students who take easier courses can bump some advanced placement and honors class students, Superintendent Mike Cormier said.

The weight of the advanced placement and honors courses are added to numerical averages at the end of the year.

Moore proposes to increase the value of the advanced placement courses from five points to eight points and for honor courses from three points to five points.

Now, the addition of the existing weights increases the grade point average to award a half-grade increase for the AP courses and slightly less for honors courses, Moore wrote in a memo to Cormier that’s included in the school board members’ packets.

A survey of area high schools with comparable programs indicated that the value of courses increases the grade point average by a complete grade as opposed to a half, Moore wrote.

The change in Mt. Blue High School’s weighting would bring the increase to a full grade and put “our students on a more level playing field of academics with a majority of other Maine students,” Moore stated.

“We want to encourage as many students as possible to take the most challenging academic courses,” Moore stated. “The AP and honors courses are our most challenging. Grades are the currency we use in school and for our most motivated students it is an effective motivational tool. The additional weight is a positive ‘payoff’ for our students.”

Moore has met with students enrolled in AP courses and parents, AP instructors and the director of guidance, Ben Milster, to discuss the proposal.

“All of these stakeholders favor an increase in the weight of the AP and honors courses,” Moore wrote. “I fully support and encourage an increase in the weight.”