If you have a student in elementary school, you may have heard about the latest advanced learning opportunity for middle school students – Accelerated Science. The accelerated science pathway is meant to support students who have an early passion for science and are interested in pursuing additional advanced science coursework in high school. Like the middle school accelerated math opportunity, Accelerated Science will take the middle school science curriculum and compact it into two years instead of three, providing students with the opportunity to take a high school science course the 8th grade year.
The course sequence mirrors accelerated math. Students take Science Accel I in 6th grade, which will cover all 6th grade content and skills as well as some of the 7th grade content and skills. In 7th grade students will take Science Accel II, which will finish out the 7th grade content and skills as well as cover all the 8th grade TEKS. Students taking Science Accel II will take the 8th grade Science STAAR exam in 7th grade. In 8th grade, the students will take a high school science course, which will count towards science credits for graduation and may count towards a STEM endorsement. (At the time of publication, the high school course has yet to be finalized.)
The timeline for implementation is focused on the class of 2031, current 5th grade students for 2023-2024. They will be the cohort of students who will have access to the first Science Accel I opportunity in 2024-2025, the first Accel II opportunity in 2025-2026, and the first high school science course opportunity in 2026-2027. A multi-year rollout will allow the district to build and implement a quality experience for our students and teachers, and communicate the opportunity to our stakeholders.
Accelerated science will be open-enrollment, so anyone who is interested in science and willing to take advantage of the rigor of the accelerated course is encouraged to enroll. We will also be exploring automatic enrollment options in the future, which would involve the district identifying students who, based on their data pattern, should be taking advantage of the opportunity. Just like other auto-enrollment courses, there would be an option to opt out for anyone who does not wish to participate.
The new course option will be available to rising 6th graders on all middle school course selection sheets this spring for enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year. If you have questions, please contact your middle school counselor.
Michelle Swain is the Director of Gifted and Advanced Academics at Round Rock ISD.