On a quiet Saturday morning, junior Jerry Yan sits in his favorite corner at the Mitchell Park Library, surrounded by open notes and textbooks, his laptop open to his Discrete Mathematics course from Foothill College. For the course, Yan takes his time on the weekend to review weekly lectures and notes and to prepare for assessments.
Yan, who started taking off-campus courses with a Multivariable Calculus class during his sophomore year, said he was forced to take out-of-school classes because PAUSD doesn’t offer accelerated math lanes.
“It’s extremely hard for high school students to get into the courses we want,” Yan said. “It takes a long time to get the enrollment processed, (so it) was mostly independent (for me). Paly could help by giving clear direction for students in accelerated math (lanes).”
In addition to off-campus accelerated math courses, a program called Scout from University of California, or UC Scout, is popular among students. UC Scout says it is a nonprofit organization offering high-quality A-G, and AP courses and curricula for educationally disadvantaged students. It currently offers 67 courses.
UC Scout Outreach Specialist Adra Bowman said the program helps students access courses not available at their schools and learn at their own pace.
“Everything is self-paced at UC Scout. It’s high quality, engaging and interactive,” Bowman said. “Our primary mission is to increase access to A-G and AP courses in California, (although) we serve students out of state and internationally (as well).”
While UC Scout classes are online, Bowman said all of the teachers are trained by UC Scout’s professional development series.
“All of our instructors are credentialed in California and have previous experience teaching in-person, and we have both full-time and part-time instructors that work for UC Scout.”
UC Scout offers three plans for high school students: Basic, Plus and On-Demand, priced at $29, $49, and $399, respectively. According to the UC Scout website, the Basic plan is typically priced at $29 per student per semester, but it is free for California public school students. The Plus plan functions as a teacher-led option with live instruction. Finally, the On-Demand plan is the only plan that offers a transcript and credit for completing the course.
Bowman said the On-Demand plan is the most popular.
“Our On-Demand plan is what a lot of students are already familiar with. That’s where we provide independent study courses,” Bowman said. “So we’re offering the teacher and the credit, and it’s just all housed within our program. (When) high school students attend, they get to decide if they’re going to accept that UC staff credit on the high school transcript.”
Junior Ari Seeger, who took an AP Physics 1 On-Demand course from UC Scout his sophomore year, said the program was a great way to maneuver around strict lanes.
“UC Scout allowed me to take Chemistry Honors at Paly while simultaneously taking AP Physics 1 off-campus, which is an alternative to Physics Honors,” Seeger said.
Seeger, who is now taking AP Physics C, said he also appreciated the flexibility of UC Scout and how it fostered self-paced learning.
“The self-paced learning made it easy to fit within my already busy school schedule,” Seeger said. “If I wasn’t able to finish tasks during the weekdays, I could always make it up during the weekends.”
College Advisor Sandra Cernobori said taking off-campus courses through programs like UC Scout is not only a way to advance academically but also an alternative to fulfilling graduation requirements.
“For students who need to fulfill eligibility requirements for college, it is a way that they can take those classes if they can’t go to summer school,” Cernobori said.
However, Cernobori said the On-Demand plan at UC Scout is expensive and students may not be able to afford it, creating an unfair dynamic.
“UC Scout is actually quite costly, so then I think it becomes more of an equity issue,” Cernobori said. “The cheapest way to do that would be to go to a community college.”
Acknowledging these challenges, Bowman said because a goal of UC Scout is to make education accessible to all students, they have put in efforts to offer financial support to students who can’t afford the On-Demand fee.
“The cost can be reasonable, depending on what you’re comparing it to,” Bowman said. “We also have a scholarship program (that) is available for a single course per term. It takes the cost (of On-Demand courses) from $399 to around $50.”
According to Bowman, her UC Scout is also constantly developing new courses including AP Microeconomics and Personal Finance.
“We partner with hundreds of schools throughout California,” Bowman said. “We have some new courses that are already underway, and we anticipate we’ll continue growing as a lot of more students learn about us.”
Despite his successful experience with UC Scout, Seeger said he would like PAUSD to make off-campus course options clearer.”
“I was lucky to find out about UC Scout through my parents’ connections, but I do wish Paly made it easier for students to know that there are other options available,” Seeger said. “Students should be able to choose ways to learn, and schools should be supportive of that.”
