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State adopts changes to high school math Math A, B give way to three new courses
March 31, 2005 NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira, right, chats with legislative staffer Cassie Prugh at BOCES lobby day. Heeding the recommendation of a panel of mathematics teachers and other professionals, the state Board of Regents has adopted new high school math standards that will bring an end to Math A and Math B and replace them with three courses — algebra, geometry, and Algebra 2 and trigonometry — each designed to take one year. Regents, who set education policy for the state, agreed March 15 to seek public comment on a separate recommendation by the State Education Department's Mathematics Standards Committee on a schedule for phasing in the courses. The panel recommended the courses be phased in over three school years, beginning with algebra in 2006-07, geometry in 2007-08 and Algebra 2 and trigonometry in 2008-09. Under that recommendation, the upcoming school year would be used to phase in new pre-K-8 math standards Regents approved in January, which move much of the algebra content from Math A into math courses students take in grades 7 and 8. The board promised to act later this year on additional committee recommendations that include: • developing a Regents Exam for each course; • requiring that students pass any one of the exams in order to earn a Regents Diploma; and • requiring that students pass all three of the exams to earn an advanced Regents Diploma. Maria Neira, vice president of New York State United Teachers, praised Regents for acting on the first of the recommendations contained in the committee's 50-page report. "The Regents' action will go a long way to bringing about the changes that are needed in the high school math curriculum," Neira said. However, she pointed out that the high school changes — coupled with the recently revised pre-K-8 math standards — come at a time when State Ed and teachers are already facing "a challenging time frame" to prepare for annual tests of grades 3-8 in math and English, scheduled to begin in 2006 under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. While the titles of the new math courses resemble those of another generation, the committee stressed in its report to Regents that the courses are intended to emphasize conceptual understanding, not signal a return to courses "in which memorization and rote learning were the norm." Mathematics, the committee wrote, "is a study of ideas and concepts. Yes, students need to know the procedures, but the knowledge of those procedures without conceptual understanding is surface knowledge that is virtually meaningless." Indicators Looking to structure courses that would teach both the content and processes of math, the panel devoted much work to developing a series of precisely worded performance indicators for content and performance for each grade level. In a presentation to Regents, committee co-chairs Terry McSweeney and Bill Brosnan said the group's work of developing performance indicators must be followed by curriculum development and assessments aligned to performance indicators. "If our classrooms are staffed with teachers who have the necessary background and who are given the staff development to help children reach these high expectations, New York state will indeed have a world class system of mathematics instruction for all of its children," said McSweeney, a math teacher in Onondaga County and president of the Marcellus Faculty Association. Brosnan is superintendent of Long Island 's Northport-East Northport schools. State Ed began looking at reworking math standards nearly two years ago after two-thirds of the students who took the June 2003 Math A exam failed it. The department eventually re-scored the test after a committee it appointed found fault not with the test-takers but the test itself. Committee members from that earlier panel and the current math standards committee found widespread lack of understanding about Math A and B, which were designed not as courses but as exams for which schools and districts developed courses and content that varied from district to district. The full report of the Math Standards Committee is available by logging on to www.nysut.org. — John Strachan |
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