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Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The New Math: What’s In A Name?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After months of complaints and criticism from parents and teachers, state education officials are changing the names of Georgia’s new, much-maligned high school math courses.
You may recall that the courses — which will be taught for the first time next school year — had been given generic titles, such as Math 1 and Math 2, because they will teach subjects like algebra and geometry together, rather than separately.
Since the spring, hundreds of parents have been fighting the changes, which they say could actually harm college-going students.
Previously, State Department of Education officials played down the controversy, saying parents just needed time to get used to the idea and realize that students were actually going to get more rigorous classes.
Now that tune is changing a bit.
Department officials still contend that the new curriculum will be better, but they admit the public perception is a real problem.
“We are absolutely listening to everything parents are telling us,” Sue Snow, one the department’s associate superintendents, told me after a State Board of Education meeting this morning where she briefed members on the pending name changes. “We are making modifications to make sure the transition [to the new courses] is smooth.”
Curriculum experts still are working on new titles that will better describe the course material. State board members are expected to vote on any changes in January.
I’m not sure that’s going to quell the uproar. After all, isn’t the pushback more about the state’s whole new approach to math, not just what the classes are called?
