What happened to Northwood High School Science Program?

If we look at all Irvine high school's profile, UHS is still the best high school in Irvine and Orange county. But Woodbridge is catching up very quickly especially on Science. In the opposite, Northwood High school's math and science are both flat or dropping year over year.

Overall, Admission, Performance and SAT/AP Score wise, UHS >> NHS > Woodbridge > Beckman > Irvine High, the main reason for NHS not performing well is due to Math, Physics, Chemistry and other Science ACT/AP tests.

I heard NHS was pushing a change on some courses last year and lots of parents have concerns and worries. Is that the reason why this is happening?


University High:https://universityhigh.iusd.org/sit...cuments/pdfs/uni-school-profile-2017-2018.pdf

Woodbridge High:https://woodbridgehigh.iusd.org/sites/woodbridgehigh/files/documents/pages/school_profile_2017-2018.pdf

Northwood High:https://northwoodhigh.iusd.org/site....com/files/final_school_profile_2017-2018.pdf

Beckman High:https://www.tustin.k12.ca.us/uploaded/Schools/Beckman/Counseling/School_Profile_Web_2017-18.pdf

Irvine High:http://www.irvinehigh.org/information/profile/Updated Profile for 2017 2018.pdf

All schools will experience a drastic change in their science education starting with this year?s freshmen. This is due to the Next Generation Science Standards where ninth grade is Biology of the Earth, tenth is Chemistry, eleventh is Physics, with flexibility for advanced courses as a senior.

why do you think these changes will impact students' performance?

It limits students to enroll in advanced science classes at a younger age. The plan is to help everyone take similar science classes, which will result in the watering down of the curriculum to meet the needs of the middle/average students.

I believe each of those grade courses have an optional Honors or AP course so "advanced" students can take the same general area of study but with a more difficult/advanced curriculum.

I just don't know what the difference is between Chemistry, Honors Chemistry and AP Chemistry.