An honors program will provide challenging class work to freshmen and sophomores not yet able to take Advanced Placement courses, a Goffstown School Board member said.

For high-achieving juniors and seniors, the high school currently offers Advanced Placement classes in English, U.S. history, Spanish, calculus, statistics, physics, biology and chemistry, said school board member Scott Gross.

Most students who take AP courses take a test at the end of the class, Gross said. Students who score 3 and above on a scale of 5 can receive college credit or fulfill prerequisite requirements to higher-level college courses, Gross said. College and university acceptance of AP work varies across institutions, he said.

There are currently 142 students enrolled in at least one AP class, said Superintendent of School Darrell Lockwood.

The classes are geared almost exclusively to 11th- and 12thgrade students, Gross said.

An honors program would provide higher-level course work to students in the earlier grades, Gross said. School board members recently approved six stipend positions of $1,400 each for teachers of ninth- and 10th-grade English, social studies and science honors classes.

Board members voted to put those positions into next year’s budget, and said district administrators would study options on how best to structure the honors program.

Previously, freshmen and sophomores have earned honors credit by performing extra work in their core classes with assistance from an honors coach, Gross said. This work has been done outside of class time, after school.