Jim Thorpe High School plans to implement a comprehensive curriculum restructuring that groups students into three distinct academic levels across English, mathematics, science and social studies, administrators announced Wednesday night.

The new system will introduce applied, academic and honors tracks to replace the current heterogeneous classroom model where teachers manage up to five different ability levels simultaneously.

“Right now, we have five different levels in the classroom. That’s too much,” High School Principal Ryan Delong said. “We’re going to make sure that everybody’s on the same page, doing the same thing, and we know the audience of the students that we’re teaching.”

Teachers said the current mixed-ability approach makes it difficult to serve all students effectively.

“We can better serve our kids if we know the audience that we’re teaching,” Delong said.

The applied level will focus on foundational skills and basic comprehension. The academic level targets college-bound students with enhanced critical thinking and analytical work. The honors level serves students seeking the most rigorous curriculum with advanced college preparation.

Administrators emphasized the restructuring does not lower academic standards.

“Leveling is not dumbing down, it’s just changing the pace and creating a rigor for kids at that level,” Delong said.

Students will be able to take different levels in different subjects based on their strengths and goals.

“You can be an honors kid in English, because that’s your thing, and you could be an academic kid in mathematics, an academic kid in science,” Delong said. “These are the conversations our guidance counselors and our teachers have to have with our students.”

The same material will be taught across all three levels but with different pacing and depth. Sample lesson plans showed how the Civil War would be taught at each level: Applied students would identify main causes and key figures using worksheets, academic students would analyze documents and write comparative essays, and honors students would evaluate historical arguments through evidence-based debates and research papers.

“It’s the same Civil War,” Delong said. “It’s a different pace. It’s a different delivery to your students.”

Students will have flexibility to move between levels based on performance and interests. Delong cited personal experience teaching for 18 to 20 years.

“I’ve had kids go from basic level all the way to the honors level, just because at the ninth grade, they don’t know who they are, how to study,” Delong said. “I got kids right now that have Master’s degrees from colleges, and they started basic.”

Delong said students in lower tracks sometimes develop stronger work ethics than those in honors classes where material comes more easily.

“Everything didn’t come naturally to them, so they dug in and they can surpass those honors level kids,” he said.

Several teachers, Delong said, have expressed support for the change.

Initial student placement will be based on teacher recommendations, course grades and classroom performance. Eighth-grade teachers will provide recommendations for incoming ninth-graders using standardized criteria being developed with guidance counselors.

Parents will retain the right to request their child be placed in a higher level than recommended, though such placements will require a signed waiver. Administrators indicated schedule constraints may prevent mid-year level changes in some cases.

Expected benefits include increased student engagement, targeted support, enhanced motivation and opportunities to build foundational skills. Grouping students by ability, officials added, could increase classroom participation.

“Maybe when they’re with the higher level learners, they might not want to raise their hand,” Assistant High School Principal Avery Hower said.

Several area districts of similar size already use comparable systems, including Palmerton, Lehighton, Pen Argyl and Pleasant Valley. Most high schools in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Intermediate Units 19 and 18 employ leveling.

“It does work, and it gives options to students,” Superintendent Robert Presley said.