By:Angela Marshall
School officials study whether 7th graders can handle Math A
Several years ago, Rockville Centre school administrators took a proactive stance and made Math Sequential I studies part of the eighth-grade curriculum. Now they are contemplating moving its successor even lower.
Math A, which replaced Sequential I, is traditionally given as a three-semester course beginning in the eighth grade and completed in ninth. RVC administrators are considering making it a two-year course starting in the seventh grade.
But before they do, administrators must answer one question are seventh-graders ready to tackle the material?
Parents the Herald spoke to last week had mixed views. One mother with children in both seventh and eighth grade who did not want her name used said it's too much pressure. My older one is struggling with it now. I think the children would benefit from leaving it the way it is now.
However, Katy Bove, who has children in both the middle and high school, said this will provide an opportunity for struggling students to receive even more help. It almost seems like they're giving them more time, she said.
In fact, that is one of the reasons behind the proposed change. By stretching the course out to two full years, the students would have more time to spend on the harder sections.
Because the Math A Regents would then be taken in the Spring, it will also allow students who fail another opportunity to take the test over in the ninth grade when students from other districts are taking it for the first time.
I think it takes the push off them in high school, Bove said.
However, it is the thought of adding another test in eighth grade that bothers mother Jane McNoble. While she would support the move otherwise, she feels that there are already too many state tests given in the eighth grade. The more tests they have the more pressure they have, McNoble said.
The change would also have a trickle-down affect on other grades. Traditional seventh-grade curriculum would be moved down to sixth grade and fourth and fifth graders would be given some of the sixth-grade work.
I do believe that the fourth and fifth graders can handle a more challenging program, said Delia Garrity, assistant superintendent for curriculum.
No matter what they do with the middle school program administrators have to make a change in Kindergarten through fifth grade math. The books currently used by the district are out of print, Garrity said.
Garrity could see only one drawback to the Math A move that unanswered question, Is it too challenging?
School Board President Meg Koch said the board doesn't think so. We think the students are capable, she said last week.
She feels that with the necessary changes in the elementary school this is the perfect time. It will allow them to make sure it's all a flowing sequence for all students, she said.
We do have an excellent team approach, Garrity said of the middle school staff. She said they work together to come up with ways to help the students and that many support classes are offered.
If adopted, the program would begin with the current sixth grade class next year. A decision will be made some time this Spring.
