From Reform to Regret: The Troubling Side of School Policy Updates
Photo by Sarah Blocksidge from Pexels.
With this administration in their second full year here at Hamilton, the School Board and Administration have decided to implement some changes at Hamilton for the 2026-2027 school year. While I am a senior and these changes won’t directly impact me, I still believe it is important that the students are aware of the changes that are being made and the potential side effects of them.
Starting next school year, AP Language and Composition, AP Literature and Composition, AP European History (which hasn’t run in the past few years), and AP Statistics—all of which have previously been two-semester AP courses—will now be one-semester courses. Also, when speaking with Bauer, he mentioned a tentative plan to lower graduation requirements from 28 credits to only 25, with students no longer needing 3 additional elective credits. Students and parents have expressed concerns about whether or not these changes will be beneficial in the long run, so this article seeks to understand some long term effects.
I sat down and had a half-hour-long meeting with Mr. Bauer to discuss some of the changes that are being implemented next year and some of the concerns that students are having. Everything included in this article was said on record, and the primary discussion points were the effects of shortened AP classes and changing graduation requirements.
Shortened AP Classes
When talking about AP classes being shortened from two semesters to one, after speaking to multiple teachers, I’ve concluded that a main concern is being able to fit all of the coursework in one semester, which may leave students behind when it is time for the AP test. First semester AP classes are difficult since the Hamilton first semester ends in the third week of January and AP testing occurs during the first two weeks of May. This is a four month gap between actively learning content and taking the exam. This is why two semester AP classes are helpful for students since they are actively engaged with the content right until the exam.
This concern is one that Mr. Bauer also theorized could happen. I asked, “Do you think test scores will be affected?” Mr. Bauer responded, “I think initially we could see a dip in the first year…of any class that [is now offered in] semester two or [going] from two to one semester. Some of that is going to be teachers making adjustments in their curriculum.” The concern is always there that the first AP test after these adjustments are made will cause a dip in scores. Of course with any change someone has to be the test bunny, but how is that fair to students? The first year with new changes will always be difficult, but aside from the direct impact on students next year, what if one year of bad test scores is all it takes?
Even though Mr. Bauer expressed that the scores may be affected the first year, he predicts that they will go back up after students and teachers are used to the different curriculum. While Bauer says that the school board is going to reevaluate these changes after three years, Mr. Bauer believes it may take longer for these changes to be effective. However, I expressed my concern that one year of lower scores is all it is going to take to discourage kids from taking those classes the following year. In high school, word of mouth is the biggest factor impacting the classes kids take. The word of a friend or peer who has just taken a class has more weight to a student than a parent or teacher. So if the first year after implementing these changes causes a dip and students go back to their friends and tell them not to take the class, we may see those effects immediately in class sizes.
My fear is that one year is all it is going to take for students to be discouraged from taking AP classes that have been condensed. Personally, I only took AP Statistics because I was encouraged by my friends and siblings who had taken it in years prior. Without that recommendation from the peers I value, I wouldn’t have taken that class. If one year of students take these classes with only one semester of preparation, it may cause them to discourage their siblings and younger peers from taking those classes in the future, which might decrease interest.
Another concern is obviously teachers not being able to successfully condense their curriculums to be one semester. When I asked if there was any benefit for teachers in this change, the response was, “I mean, in terms of how it benefits teachers is a little different of a question to answer. [On] the teacher side of it, it's a luxury to have a full year to teach anything.” Later on, when I raised concerns about this change being too much stress on teachers, Bauer did not provide a direct answer to this question. This lack of an answer, however, is disappointing. Teachers cannot be at their best when they are forced to condense all of their material and put more stress on themselves. Also, AP classes require more practice, tests, quizzes, and assignments in order to adequately prepare students for the AP exam, so by condensing these classes by an entire semester, that is piling a year's worth of stress onto those teachers in one semester. I cannot speak for teachers, but this change is going to be a very big step that may discourage dedicated teachers from taking on these classes.
When asked about the benefit to students of condensing two semester AP classes, Bauer responded with, “It gives them the ability to have more flexible scheduling. So one of the challenges with having any class run full year in a block schedule is that it pigeonholes you into losing that block the whole year.” This is a valid concern. From my own experience, I could have taken AP Lit this year to fulfill my last Communication Arts credit, but I didn’t because I didn’t have space in my schedule for two blocks. It’s true that these changes may help bring back sections of AP Literature and AP European History that Hamilton hasn’t seen run in the most recent years.
However, this is not a viable excuse to shorten classes like AP Lang and AP Stats because these classes are seeing an increase in student interest, meaning that the fact that the classes are two semesters long hasn’t negatively impacted the number of students who take the course. Last year, there were 85 students in AP Lang. This year, there are 117. Four blocks of AP Lang are running this year, which shows the demand is there for this class. AP Statistics had 103 students take the AP exam in 2025 and had 105 students sign up for the class for the 2025-26 school year, also running four sections. This then begs the question: Why are we condensing classes that are running four full sections each semester? This also ties back to how word of mouth is so incredibly impactful for high school students. Because last year so many people praised AP Lang and AP Stats, their numbers have increased significantly despite the “pigeonhole” it puts on students.
Also, students who take AP courses regularly need to handle a lot of homework and often don’t have time to study as much in order to get good grades. This is why so many students beginning their journey with AP classes tend to gravitate towards AP Lang and Stats because they were two semester courses. This gives students more time to get used to the pace of the course and adequately prepares them for the AP exam. With these classes being two semesters, students take them knowing the classes won’t be overly fast-paced because they have two entire semesters of the content. Having these classes condensed into one semester may discourage students from taking AP classes throughout their high school career because they don’t have as many options for AP classes that aren’t overly fast-paced and demanding.
Graduation Credit Requirements
While changes to graduation credit requirements are not certain, I did speak with Mr. Bauer about the potential for this change. The main reason for the proposed change to graduation credits is because Mr. Bauer expressed his desire to reduce or eliminate students getting a basic diploma. In the state of Wisconsin, a basic diploma is given to anyone who fulfills 15.5 credits throughout their high school career. According to Mr. Bauer, this diploma is not recognized by any four-year institution, but is recognized by a two-year or technical school and is similar to a GED. This sounds like a good idea; however, it begs the question of how many students are actually graduating with a basic diploma. In fact, only 8 students out of the 423 graduates in the class of 2025 graduated with a basic diploma. This is less than 2% of the graduating class. So why are we changing the entire system for less than 2% of the graduating class?
However, in my opinion, the biggest problems will be full time employment (FTE) for teachers. In my conversation with Mr. Bauer, I asked him what effect lowering credit requirements may have on FTE. His response was, “Minimal, because students have to put in a full schedule for their senior year anyway.” However, just because seniors have to enter a full schedule at the beginning of the year, that doesn’t mean seniors who graduate at semester will be taking those classes. A sheet of paper with their schedule doesn’t change how many people are actually taking those classes. Later he did admit to the fact that the classes students would ultimately take less of would be electives. The concern here is that the lower requirement may cause students, particularly seniors, to take fewer electives. While it is not for certain, there is a potential that some elective courses may not run simply because they are mostly taken by seniors and there wouldn’t be enough interest.
Typically, if students don’t fail or have to repeat any classes, the only classes seniors need to take are one Communication Arts class (the only core subject required every year) and a few electives. But, with the elective requirement going down, there is a possibility that fewer students will need to stay the entire year (since many Communication Arts classes run the first semester). So, while there are some reasons to incentivize seniors to stay for the full year, there will still be the potential for a larger percentage who graduate at semester. It may be too early to tell with these changes if more students will choose that route. But, it is logical to say that with three fewer class requirements, it will be easier for students to graduate at semester instead of staying the full year.
The change in elective courses doesn’t have to be dramatic to have an effect on if a teacher is full time or part time. Mr. Bauer explained that the difference between full time and part time employment is how much they work, but it only takes a teacher having two blocks each semester to be considered part time. Mr. Bauer explained, “Basically, the easiest way to put it here at Hamilton would be, if a teacher teaches three classes first semester and three classes second semester, they're full-time.”
This year, 25 students in the class of 2026 graduated at semester, which is the size of one average classroom of students. It stands to reason that if there is an increase in students graduating at semester, this could cause a full time elective teacher to become part time. Though scheduling is complicated and class sizes change from year to year, with the two semester classes being shortened to one semester, that is 9 classes (4 classes of AP Lang, 4 classes of Stats, and 1 class of AP Lit) which may also affect the full time employment of the teachers who actively teach these classes. That doesn’t sound like a big deal to most students, but that means a loss of benefits that are necessary for teachers to live. Part time teachers have to pay a certain percentage to get the same benefits such as health and dental insurance that full time teachers get.
The changes that this administration has created, while being made with the best interest of students in mind, may have damaging effects on Hamilton students and staff. To me, the consequences seem inevitable with the condensing of AP classes and lowering graduation requirements. Mr. Bauer stated multiple times throughout the interview that he is hopeful about what these changes will bring, but the community needs more assurance than hope when these changes are negatively affecting their students and teachers.
