By Chris Munzing
Currently, most students in ninth grade take Math A, which lasts a year and a half, followed by a Regents exam in the middle of 10th grade. The second half of 10th grade and all of 11th grade are then dedicated to Math B, with another Regents exam at the end.
Cheliotes said that two years ago, after students taking the math A Regents had a high failure rate, the district began reviewing its math curriculum. Cheliotes attributed the failures to the fact that students had to recall what they had learned up to 18 months earlier, with summer vacation in between.
The school district formed a committee to examine ways in which students could break down the curriculum more easily and do better on their exams. "They looked at mathematics across the board," Cheliotes said. "With this [proposed] curriculum, we'll be adopting the national standards and performance indicators."
The curriculum being proposed would convert the two 18-month sessions into three year-long courses. The first year, of Math A, would be renamed Integrated Algebra, the first year of Math B would be renamed Integrated Geometry, and the second year of Math B would be renamed Integrated Algebra II and Trigonometry. Each class would last one school year and be completed with a Regents exam. This would increase the number of math Regents students take from two to three.
While the decision to make the switch has yet to be made, Cheliotes said that the comments she has heard from faculty members across the district have been positive. "The sense I'm getting from the staff is that this is the right thing to do," she said.
"They really did their homework," Harry Witkin said of the committee. Witkin, the chairman of the math department at Long Beach High School, said that switching to a more focused curriculum would allow classes to delve deeper into a topic.
Cheliotes said that, along with going back to the way she remembered taking math classes, the new system would bring Long Beach in line with the rest of the nation. "If you went out of New York, kids are taking these courses," she said of the proposed curriculum. "It's a very logical view of mathematics. It has taken out the redundancy and it's much more focused."
"When you're taking a Regents a year and a half after the class started, it isn't really fair," Witkin said of the current system, adding that students often don't have the same teacher for the second half of the course.
Greenberg said that he believed the changes would be for the better, but that there were still some concerns that needed to be worked out. "I think the high school sequence will make more sense, and make it easier for parents to know what their children need to do to graduate," he said. "But I am concerned that we're pushing things downward."
Greenberg was referring to changes that would take place in grades five through eight. Under the proposed system, algebra would start earlier, and there would be a faster progression in the middle school. But Greenberg added that a similar system was in place in Rockville Centre, and students were there doing fine.
Greenberg also said that the plan could see some changes in the timing of its implementation and the sequencing of courses in the high school.
The cost of switching systems would be minimal to the district, Cheliotes said, though the possible necessity of purchasing new textbooks and calculators concerns Greenberg. Both said there would need to be further staff development, particularly in the fifth to eighth grades.
Comments about this story? CMunzing@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.
