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Thursday, March 22, 2007
A Controversy Of Mathematical Proportions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some parents in Cherokee County are in an uproar because their gifted seventh-graders might be penalized for taking algebra this year. The problem: That course is being phased out under the state’s new math curriculum, which is being introduced in public schools over several years.
This is the first school year the new material is being taught in seventh grade. But Cherokee is still teaching upper-level seventh-graders the algebra course. Now state officials are saying the school system goofed and that those pupils will be off-track, maybe even behind, when they get to high school.
Cherokee Superintendent Frank Petruzielo, not one to mince his words, has criticized state officials for a curriculum he says could end up hurting college-going students. This may be the first sign — but I’m guessing not the last — of displeasure with the revised math courses.
State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox is fond of pointing out that Georgia’s new math is based on the Japanese model. The question: Can that model be translated?
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