As the end of the school year approaches, Indian Prairie School District 204 is reviewing the curricula for some of its high school courses and mulling some changes to take effect next fall.
At the district’s school board meeting on Monday, Nicole Howard, an assistant superintendent in the district, presented on four different high school courses currently under review and being updated for the 2026-27 school year: English 9, Honors English 9, Anatomy and Physiology and Anatomy and Physiology Dual Credit.
All four are already offered in the district, Howard explained. English 9 or Honors English 9 is a requirement for graduation, while the anatomy and physiology courses are electives.
According to Howard, classes offered in the district are reviewed every five years, at which point the district examines the scope and sequencing of the courses, student performance and other factors, and teachers then discuss best practices and ways to refine the courses. During the second year of that five-year cycle, curriculum changes are implemented, and the district continues to look at additional revisions, with review continuing into the third year. The review cycle then starts again a few years later.
In looking at the district’s ninth grade English curriculum, Howard explained at the meeting some of the distinctions between the standard and honors courses.
English 9, she explained, is a yearlong class divided into four thematic units focused on “empowering diverse identities,” “the power of knowledge,” “navigating societal expectations” and the “search for truth and justice.”
The course is designed to help students develop skills in reading, writing and academic discussion, Howard said, with a focus on literary analysis and working toward argumentative essays by the end of the year.
The honors version of the ninth grade English course, however, includes more complex texts and “intensive writing instruction,” according to Howard. It’s divided into three units in the first semester, and four in the second semester.
The honors course includes timed literary analysis, as well as a choice novel and research components towards the end of the school year, Howard said. It is meant to prepare students to take future Advanced Placement, or AP, courses.
But, while courses’ curricula are reviewed and adapted over the years, some things stay the same — like William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” being one of the text options for both the standard-level and honors English 9 courses.
“It’s just a powerful piece that continues to sort of engage our students,” Howard said at Monday’s meeting discussing the updated curricula. “It’s always interesting to see how the student perspective changes over time. … In some years, they really home in on, kind of, the suicide, mental health portions of it. And, in other years, they really focus in on just the expectations of family, and what that means and how it weighs on young people.”
As for the district’s review of its anatomy and physiology courses, Howard on Monday provided an overview of the differences between the standard-level course, and the advanced option students can take to receive credit from the College of DuPage.
The standard-level course covers 12 broad topics, she explained. The class begins with teaching students relevant terminology and studying major internal systems like the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. During the second semester, students learn about structural systems, the nervous system and things like the senses and reproductive functions. It also includes things like lab experiences and creative modelings.
The district has opted to scale back this regular course to make it “more accessible” to students, Howard explained, in contrast with the college-level course. She said the district is expecting to see increased enrollment in the standard course as student interest in health-related fields continues to increase.
The dual credit version of the course, in contrast, includes 18 “highly specialized topics at a college-accelerated pace,” Howard said. In the first semester, it covers terminology as well as study of the muscular, skeletal and nervous systems. In the second semester, the course looks at “sensory input from the internal systems responsible for maintaining and reproducing life, like the special senses — vision, hearing, balance.” It also covers things like the blood and cardiovascular system, the respiratory system and the endocrine, digestive and urinary systems, and includes labs and clinicals.
Unlike the standard-level course, the dual credit option separates anatomy, or structure, from physiology, or function to allow for deeper investigation, Howard’s presentation notes.
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Beginning next school year, the district is proposing that the dual credit anatomy and physiology course also be given for honors credit, Howard explained. She said at the meeting that the district is currently reviewing which of its dual credit classes should also be categorized as honors courses.
The district is also proposing the purchase of new resources for both of the anatomy and physiology courses, Howard said. The district is looking at a set of texts and six-year digital license for the standard course at a total cost of $38,380, and an additional $79,235 for a set of textbooks and six-year digital license for the dual credit course. The latter comes at a higher cost, Howard said on Monday, because the district tends to have more sections of the dual credit version of the class.
The course updates and purchase of new resources discussed Monday are set to be officially approved at the district’s school board meeting on May 4, Howard said. There will also be training offered for teachers in advance of school starting next fall.