Weighting CIS English Courses

I saved so much money by taking these classes before going to college and there is literally no other class that would have made me as prepared for college

8 years ago Featured

My high school CIS classes were the most instrumental in preparing me for college level courses. They were challenging, informative, and taught me the analytical thinking skills that I use everyday. CIS classes are incredibly important, and no capable student should be discouraged from taking them because of how it might affect their GPA.

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CIS Composition and Literature are undoubtedly some of the most difficult English classes at Irondale. I don't want to worry about my grade taking a hit so I can really learn in a class I think will really improve my writing. I don't think I should be punished for pushing myself and a weighted GPA would prevent that from happening. My very capable friends are considering not undergoing this course so they don't need to worry about a dive in their GPA. Please weight this class.

I took two CIS courses during the 2016-2017 school year (my senior year). As a current college student, I can honestly say that the rigor of my CIS classes is the by far the closest to the rigor of the college classes I have now. My CIS classes prepared me for college coursework through their inclusion of scholarly criticisms, discussion-based learning, and writing assignments that required extensive research and commitment to my paper topics. Many of my current professors emphasize that students need to engage independent thought and create independent arguments in order to be successful in college; CIS classes pushed me to just that (CIS pushed me way more than my AP classes ever did, yet AP classes are the ones that are weighted).

I took the CIS composition and literature courses in the 2009-2010 academic school year. These courses were absolutely necessary for my future education and made me into the writer and analytical thinker that I am today. Even as a person who has gone in to a STEM career, these courses were absolutely instrumental in improving my communication skills. Furthermore, the level of work and comprehension required in these courses met or exceeded that needed in weighted AP and honors courses. Arguably these were more valuable to my future education as well as more challenging than any course that would traditionally be weighted. Weighting of these courses would then give an incentive for more students to take these courses without a risk of lowering their GPA and would give value to the amount of work they put into doing well and getting the most out of the coursework.

In my time at Mounds View High School, I took 6 AP classes and 2 CIS classes. Now, partway through my freshman year of college, I am so grateful for the CIS courses I took, and can confidently say that they did way more to prepare me for being a college student than AP classes ever did. In my CIS classes, I was expected to do very difficult work with what would be considered, at least by high school standards, to be a minimal level of teacher involvement. If AP classes are weighted, Mounds View should also weight CIS classes.

I have taken both AP classes and CIS courses. I can confidently say CIS has been more challenging than any AP class I have taken I am still in the midst of my CIS course. AP classes are weighted, so why shouldn't the classes that are more challenging than AP be weighted as well?

As a student who has taken all types of AP and ARCC classes, I can confirm that the curriculum and expectations of my CIS Literature class far surpasses any of the courses I have taken before. Students are treated as real college students, meaning there is a much higher expectation of us. This class is different in that students are not temporarily learning the material to pass an exam, but are actually developing critical thinking skills by attacking advanced topics such as culture, privilege, and power. The unique style of this CIS class takes the emphasis off of tests and percentiles and focuses on enhancing our writing and communication skills and truly preparing us for college courses. This is a University of Minnesota class– it should be waited the same if not more than an AP class since the amount of work in comparison in exceptional. This has been my most rewarding class throughout high school and I would love to see more students take it in the future. That being said, I do not want students to be deterred by the fact that an unweight course at such a high level could potentially hurt their GPA. Students should be compensated for all their hard work, not discredited.

I am currently taking my second CIS course at Mounds View High School and I can speak from experience that these are classes unequal to other English courses. We delve into current world issues and are learning how to express ourselves as critical thinking members of society. I believe that for everything I put in these rigorous courses that I am getting something out. I hope that opportunities to take them will be present and advocated for future students.

As a student who has taken both types of courses I can assure you that CIS classes are much more intense that most AP classes. We do a lot a analytical thinking in CIS courses that goes way above a proficient high school standard. We deserve to reap the rewards for our hard work.

I have taken three CIS courses during my senior year, and no AP class has matched the amount of rigor and involvement that CIS courses provide. As a student who has struggled with tests in the past, I appreciate CIS even more because the courses emphasize student communication and skills rather than a percentage on a test. I continue to tell my peers that CIS classes will truly help students as they advance to post secondary education options because they provide more preparation for college classes than any other classes I have taken during high school. Due to the immense amount of work CIS students do, I believe that CIS students completely deserve weighted credit.

Please... this is the most rewarding and most challenging class I have taken in my four years at mounds View High School. I want it to continue being available for other students, and weighting it may influence that.

I think CIS should be a weighted class. I did a lot of work for CIS and I think it should deserve more credit if I did a college level course provided by the U of M

CIS classes are harder than any AP I've taken to date (and I've taken a lot!); I think we should get some credit for the work we do here.

The first day I entered CIS Writing and Literature, I was handed a syllabus with the University of Minnesota logo on it. And from there we, as students, were treated as college students and given material that were at rigorous college level. Having CIS courses unweighted would prevent able students from taking such thought-provoking, impactful, and rigorous classes.

It is a college class after all, It's ridiculous to treat these classes like they aren't incredibly advanced.

8 years ago Featured

I can honestly say that I chose to take AP Literature and AP English Language rather than CIS in high school, because I knew that the two CIS courses were significantly harder and significantly more work. To not have them weighted makes zero sense and is a disservice to the talented and hardworking students who enroll in them.

8 years ago Featured

I took CIS courses and AP courses in HS, and it wasn’t until college admissions that I found out it wasn’t weighted the same. That is not fair- you do ACTUAL college work on a daily basis, unlike a college classroom, and yet it is not weighted the same as the modified AP coursework.

8 years ago Featured

INCREDIBLY valuable course. CIS Lit was more work than the literature course I took at the U of M a year later and a more rewarding learning experience.