As Spring approaches, students begin to think of the upcoming school year. Incoming freshmen are flipping through the Palo Alto High School course catalog, contemplating their schedule for their first year of high school.
Normally, students pause, having to choose between Biology and Biology Honors.
However, after a 3-2 vote during their meeting on Jan. 21, the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education decided to drop the Biology Honors course for the 2025-2026 school year, giving incoming freshmen only one science option when choosing their course schedule: Biology.
The new course will reflect the current Biology Honors class curriculum, giving incoming freshmen a more advanced understanding of Biology and a more rigorous course load.
Mia Wong, an eighth grader at Greene Middle School, says that the removal of the two lanes restricts her from making her own choice, and can also impact her in the long run.
“I feel like removing the two classes could remove the pressure from the decision making, but at the same time, it feels limiting,” Wong said. “It wouldn’t align with my academic goals or what I want to do in the future, and if I wanted to get a head start in sciences. The lack of choice can make it feel more like an obligation rather than an opportunity to actually learn more than I know I can learn.”
Elizabeth Brimhall, a Biology teacher at Paly for the past 23 years, said that this decision has been in progress for the last few years, in cooperation with teachers at Paly and Gunn High School.
Brimhall said that merging the two lanes will lead to a smoother transition from middle school into their first year of high school.
“What we really want to do is give all students a strong foundation in that transition year from eighth grade, and that they’re building skills they need, whether it’s critical reading analysis of graphs or scientific data so that everyone is ready to make appropriate choices as they move forward,” Brimhall said.
Brimhall said she believes that having a single course will prepare students for future classes and avoid making students in non-honors Biology feel as though they are falling behind if they take another honors science course in the future.
“It will help reduce stress for some students who might end up in the wrong lane that need to change, but also prepare more students to access more classes as they continue to Paly and feel like they’re really prepared to go,” Brimhall said.
Wong, however, emphasized the importance of having the two lanes to try and satisfy every incoming freshman’s different learning styles and their time commitment.
“You could have a more balanced workload for other classes, and those who have a busier schedule won’t have as much homework, and can provide a good pace for learning,” Wong said. “It might not challenge some people who are looking for a deeper understanding of Biology, and if they want to pursue a career in science, then one lane might not prepare you as much as Bio H would.”
One of the biggest arguments for merging the two courses is the fact that freshmen year courses are not eligible to receive weighted credit from a University of California or California State University, so taking Biology Honors will not provide a GPA boost and will not be taken into consideration by these colleges.
Brimhall said that having a single course option is beneficial for students during the college process.
“If there’s only that one single lane bio when colleges look at that, they’re going to know that they took the highest class that is offered for ninth graders,” Brimhall said. “It will be understood that bio is what everyone takes so that honors label will not matter.”
Rowena Chiu, a school board member elected this year, voted against removing Biology Honors. One of the reasons for this is a major concern for many parents in the PAUSD community, which is that Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) courses like physics and chemistry will continue to delane like the Biology course.
“There was some concern expressed by parents when humanities sources were delaned, but there was a promise that the de-laning would not impact STEM subjects,” Chiu said. “Obviously, bio is the first of that.”
Many decisions made by the school board align with the ideas of the PAUSD Promise, which was introduced in 2019.
Merging the two lanes will follow this promise by reducing student stress and prompting equal education opportunities for all students.
According to the Superintendent’s Update on Dec. 20, this will be a smooth change for the incoming freshmen, and the course will reflect a higher-level Biology course, being current Biology Honors course.
“With no GPA impact and the potential to smooth 9th-grade transitions, this approach supports the school’s commitment to providing excellent, equitable education,” Don Austin wrote in his update. “The school profile will reflect the highest introductory Biology course while setting the stage for potential Honors lanes in Chemistry and Physics in later pathways.”
Another argument for merging the Biology lanes is the elimination of labels of “honors” and “regular,” which reflects the PAUSD promise.
Students are now able to be put in the same classroom and not categorize themselves by what Biology class they take.
Chiu explains that even though merging the two courses will eliminate the labeling, the most important thing is meeting the needs of all students, and the way to achieve this is to continue to have the two Biology lanes.
“It is not about what we call the classes, but how we meet the needs of a diverse range of students and their accompanying abilities,” Chiu said.
Chiu said she believes that having the two courses will encourage students more and provide choices for students so that they can create their course schedule according to their needs.
“PAUSD is a district that always prided itself on centering student autonomy, student voice and trusting students to make their own decisions,” Chiu said. “They might be ninth graders, but I think it’s important to equip students with voice and influence at the earliest stage possible and to allow students to make these decisions.”
