Trustees Approve Partnerships for College Math Credit

Huntington School Board members approved a pair of proposals to partner with colleges to offer Huntington High School students the option of acquiring college credit for completing Statistics and Advanced Placement/College Computer Science A in the 2025/26 school year.

Assistant Superintendent Brenden Cusack presented the proposals to trustees at last week’s public meeting of the Huntington School Board at Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School. The district’s Math Subject Matter Council and the Educational Development Committee earlier approved the course proposals.

Dr. Teresa Grossane, district director of mathematics and computer science, and the math and computer science teachers helped to develop the courses and partnerships.

Statistics is a full year course available to students in grades 10-12 who have completed Algebra 2/Geometry. About 100 students register annually for the course.

Trustees approved partnering on the Statistics course with Farmingdale State College. For a $50 per credit fee, Huntington High School students can earn three college credits for completing the class.

The course covers basic concepts of probability and statistical inference as well as binominal, normal and chi-square distributions. Practical applications are examined. Computer assignments using Minitab form an integral part of the course.

“In partnering with Farmingdale State College, students have the opportunity to earn three college credits,” Mr. Cusack told the trustees. “The cost per credit is $50. If a student is eligible for free or reduced price lunch, the cost per credit is $25. Students who successfully complete this course can major in the following areas in college: automotive management technology, aviation administration, computer information systems, computer systems technology, dental hygiene, electrical engineering technology, management of technology, liberal arts, nursing, ornamental horticulture, security systems, visual communications and more.”

Huntington students can currently earn three credits for the course through the Beacon program and Suffolk Community College.

AP/College Computer Science A

AP/College Computer Science A is a full year course available for students in grades 11-12. The course prerequisite is AP Computer Science Principles.

The class is an introduction to the object-oriented design paradigm with an emphasis on problem solving, algorithm development and implementation of algorithms as computer programs in the object-oriented language Java. Topics will include data representation, programming style, program testing and analysis of algorithms.

The proposal involves partnering with Siena College. Students completing the course will have an opportunity to earn four college credits and/or Advanced Placement credit for $250 per course. There is no charge for students eligible for free and reduced price lunch.

Mr. Cusack listed some of the benefits of the partnership, including access to free curriculum, free staff development and training, access to many new resources, websites and programs, weekly lesson plans, access to projects with teacher notes included, professional development once a month for teachers, free college tuition for teachers to earn computer science certification.

Trustees voted unanimously to approve both course partnerships beginning with the 2025/26 school year.