As a result of many SJHHS students not fitting in either category of ERWC or AP Lit, the English department had no choice but to make an additional English 4 class.

According to Ms. Gidion, an English 4 and ERWC teacher, planning for the sizes of each class was not easy in the beginning.

In order to place students into their English classes, the school needed to have the students’ SAT and ACT scores to see where the students would be best fitted. But, the SAT and ACT scores were not returned until the school year had already started.

“The class sizes shot up last minute because people ended up testing into it, some people dropped Lit, and there was so much movement that they just had to open up a new class.”

In addition to testing into English 4, many students requested to be in the class, based on their strength of English skills. While AP Lit is a challenging course focused on delving into deeper concepts, and ERWC is centered around building skills to benefit students going into college, many students have found English 4 to be a happy medium.

“It’s great for those students who aren’t super English-y, and don’t want to take Lit, but have a solid foundation of skills. That’s why we created English 4,” said Mrs. Gidion.