Our school district has decided to switch over to integrated math, and here's the reasoning: Common Core is going to require such a thorough rethinking about how we teach, that if we just changed standards, people would continue teaching the same way they always have; however, if we also change the courses we teach, then it will be easier to get people to change how they teach as well.
Whether or not you like the Common Core standards (and for math, I don't, since they're not as good as what California used to have), you have to admit that that's a pretty dumb reason to throw out our current progression of courses.
Today in our math department meeting we were talking about the Integrated Math books that we'll have only a few weeks to pilot this semester (and will thus make a decision that will impact us for the next decade or more). There's not a lot of integrated concepts in them; rather, there's some algebra here, some geometry there, but nothing that really ties them together. That's not "integrated", that's merely a "hodge-podge".
Then we talked about all the courses we'll need to offer. It's more than Integrated 1, Integrated 2, Integrated 3, Pre-calculus, Stats, and Calculus. See, according to the Common Core standards and guidelines, students are not supposed to be accelerated in middle school. Get that? The smart kids will be kept back with everyone else, because, fairness! Our illustrious district will allow middle school students to accelerate one grade in middle school, meaning 8th graders will be allowed to take Integrated 1. (Those would be the smart kids; under California's old standards, those would be the on-track kids.) So if we want kids to be able to take AP Calculus AB and/or BC in high school, we need to accelerate them in high school. This requires accelerated couses--so in addition to Integrated 2 and 3 we'll now have Integrated 2+ and Integrated 3+. And if a student isn't quite ready for Integrated 3 we'll offer Transition to Integrated 3. Of course that means we'll also have to offer Transition to Integrated 1 (which would in effect be an 8th grade math course, or the pre-algebra course we haven't been allowed to have in years) and a Transition to Integrated 2 course.
And our board is considering making 3 years of math a graduation requirement instead of the state-mandated two years. Because, higher standards, or something. If we don't offer a Transition to Integrated 1 course we might offer an Integrated 1A and Integrated 1B. How about Honors Integrated 2+? What if the College Board goes on with its plan to offer an AP Algebra course, how will that jibe with integrated courses?
Does any of this sound like an improvement at all? It reminds me of jobs in the Dept of Defense, like the Deputy Assistant Undersecretary of Defense for This, That, and the Other Thing.
It's all a hodge-podge. There's no organization, planning is ad-hoc at best, and we'll be expected to turn out "life-long learners" who are "college and career ready".
8 comments:
When they wanted to add another year to the science requirement for graduation I fought it tooth and nail. I went to parents and explained what this would mean to their kids. No one believed the science department chairman would be opposed to this.
I asked if they were going to hire more science teachers for the extra classes? Were they going to give us more classroom space? Obviously not. That meant eliminating lab sections and dropping higher level courses to free-up the required resources. The net result? Average students and advanced students would spend less time in science classes and bad students would fail one more class before dropping out.
A few years back Texas implemented what was labeled the Four by Four plan, where all kids regardless of inclination or abilities would be required to take four years of Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Math. On the surface, not a bad thing. EXCEPT, what happens to those kids who barely scrape through Algebra 2. They can do Math Models (a rehash of practical math) or take two years to do the one year of PreCal at a snail's pace. It was like this in Science as well with Physics being dragged out or watered down. Now the powers that be changed the requirements. Now there's no fourth year of English-despite abysmal levels of communication in this group both verbally and in writing. Social Studies was similarly cut. But we're adding Astonomy as an "easy science" and now students can track through a specific program, sort of like college but not really. It's a mess. Please somebody get the publishing companies and lobbyists out of the mix and let us teach these kids something. #headdesk.
Gah. Reminds me of that horrid "quantitative literacy" course I used to get saddled with at the local CC. Sum o' dis an' sum o' dat...all stuff that was deemed to be "useful" or "practical." I absolutely hated that class. They finally got rid of it but since they didn't drive a stake through its heart, it's now come back in another incarnation, which I studiously avoid. I instead request trig, or gen ed stats, or biz calc, or something a little more coherent...
This is just depressing. :(
Darren sometimes I swear you work at my school. Our district has kept traditional courses though. We are having the same issue with the upper division courses. Common Core punishes the higher level students. Our middle schools don't want to let the students get too far ahead because they are tested in that grade level now, not subject.
We aren't getting new books for another year. How long do you expect Common Core to last? I think it will be no more than 5.
In California? More than a decade.
A few years ago, South Dakota added chem, physics and alg II to the HS grad requirements FOR ALL KIDS (I'm fine with the requirements for honors or college prep only) I'm sure that some of the handful of "big cities" (only Sioux Falls has a population of over 70k) have "real" sections of these classes and the "lite" versions, but the vast majority of schools are too small; they had difficulty finding enough math and science teachers to cover the original requirements. 15 years ago, there were over 100 high schools in the state with fewer than 60 kids in the entire high school - and distance prevents consolidation.
I think the first class to have the new requirements are now seniors and I will be interested to see how they do. I am sure, however, that the well-prepared kids in small high schools are the losers, because CC or online are likely the only way they can get the "real" courses - and CCs aren't very accessible, outside of the cities. One-size-fits-all; NOT.
i feel bad for everyone who tries to apply to out-of-state schools that look for two clear algebra requirements and a clear geometry, with pre-cal, cal being an added bonus. how hard will it be to explain, "well, my classes were a mix"....
that might interrupt some students college dreams. not all states' colleges are friendly to california's changes.
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