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Will There Ever be a Perfect Math Program? By Lolita Mattos MS/HS Mathematics Teacher
Picture this…It’s the first day of school and the counselor’s office is flooded with students who are not satisfied with their class schedules. I give it no thought until I take attendance in my Intermediate Algebra class. There are only two students in my classroom, but my class list indicates that there should be twelve. I follow a hunch and go to Dr. G’s Pre-Calculus classroom, and what do I see? Exactly 75% Properly placed students aren’t of my students sitting comafraid to work in front of peers. fortably in his Pre-Calculus classroom chatting away. I ask what they are doing there and they say that they should be in Dr. G’s Pre-Calculus class because they are in the 11th grade and this is what they “want” to take? (Of course it has nothing to do with wanting to be with their friends). I explain to them that they can only take the class if they have taken, and passed, the prerequisite classes. They all insist that they have taken the proper classes, but I know they haven’t. In order to make it official, I inform them that they must take, and pass, a “Readiness for Precalculus” test. Not surprisingly, only two out of ten students pass the test and are allowed to stay in Dr. G’s class. The rest, with great reluctance, accept the fact that they will be in my Intermediate Algebra class. I sigh and tell them “I get it! No one wants to be in the ‘dumb’ class, but trust me, it will all be worth it in the end.” They know that now. What is it with the pressure of having to have Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus, AP Stats, on your transcript? And why do students risk lowering their GPAs just to have the titles on their transcripts? Do they not know that excelling in other math classes is not a bad thing? Here at SIS, one of the mathematics department goals is to help dispel the myth that one must have AP Calculus on their transcript in order to increase their chances of being accepted into University. Does it look good? Absolutely! Is it imperative? No, it is not. When it comes to reconfiguring a math program, one can’t help but imagine having a program that suits the needs and desires of all students, parents, and teachers. However, we all know that there is no “one size fits all” program for schools in general, particularly international schools. For many international schools, there are several reasons why it is difficult to achieve the perfect math program. For example, if the school is small, the ratio of teachers to subject choice is limited. This, in turn, also limits the variety and availability of AP or IB mathematics subjects. Also, because students are coming from
schools all over the world that utilize programs other than AP or IB, having a “one size fits all” program can never work because it would be difficult to meet the needs of all students in any one particular class. Not being able to fulfill these needs has caused some schools to create specialized classes for students because he or she exceeds the level of expectations in mathematics. This has happened at SIS in the past, and while creating a specialized program sounded like a good idea at the time, it also set a dangerous precedent. After all, if you create a specialized class for one student, then how can you deny another? This was part of the reason that the mathematics department decided to re-evaluate the program at SIS for eventually, this will ultimately lead to teachers with too heavy workloads while trying to accommodate the needs of a handful. Currently, there are two specialized classes that exist at SIS and while we all know that there are some students who are extremely high achievers and can afford to skip a grade, this is not the case for the vast majority. While both classes have extremely conscientious, independent students capable of achieving excellence, not everyone has the developmental capacity to fill in the gaps with concepts that they missed by skipping Prealgebra, on their own. While skipping Prealgebra had little to no effect on the first class, the second class is currently experiencing the ripple effect of not having all concepts mastered from Prealgebra which led to incompletion of a full-year Algebra 1 course. Although students in the second class are high achievers and have proven they can handle higher math, it is evident that they are lacking the concepts that are crucial in order to excel in Algebra 2. By creating these two “special” classes, it has caused some difficulty as to what we have to offer as a school. In the past, it was not unusual to have a class that consisted of three or less students. With the ripple effect in place, there were also whole classes comprised of students that were grossly underprepared. While there is a lot of pressure for high school teachers to maintain high standards of excellence, the majority of educators are well aware that mathematics teachers receive the most pressure from parents more than any other subject. Therefore, by using their combined experiences, the SIS mathematics department began exploring ways to help all students achieve success and be prepared to take AP Calculus by their Senior year. A course for the 10th and 11th grades was created to fill in the gaps incurred in the middle and early high school years. The math department also developed a system that will cater to incoming students’ immediate needs, but at the same time, prepare them for higher level mathematics. In order to verify and confirm that SIS was on the right track, the team attended the 2017 Annual EARCOS conference in Kota Kinabalu. They attended a workshop titled “Tracking/Acceleration in MS Math: Pitfalls and Perils. This workshop also provided insights, and concrete strategies for improving our mathematics teaching and programs. The preconceived notion that taking AP Calculus will guarantee admission to any University, will never go away, despite the reassurances and studies that prove otherwise. Parents are still going to push for it anyway. We are grateful to collaborate with EARCOS colleagues, as it confirmed that our mathematics curriculum is on the right track. Not every student dreams of taking the almighty AP Calculus class, but we can at least try and provide it for everyone who has a sincere desire to take it. Not because they are forced to, but because they want to. So, in answer to the question “will there ever be a perfect math program?” Of course not, but it will never stop us from trying! Fall 2017 Issue 19
