Barge tells lawmakers math students need help; graduation rates to drop

State School Superintendent John Barge outlined for lawmakers Thursday two of his plans to help students who are struggling with Georgia’s new math curriculum and who could be in jeopardy of not graduating.

In a joint appearance before the House and Senate education committees, the new superintendent also warned that the state’s high school graduation rates will likely drop at least 10 percentage points this year when Georgia begins using a new federally mandated formula that better accounts for dropouts.

The state’s 80 percent graduation rate also could dip again next year as students struggling with the integrated math curriculum are unable to graduate on time, Barge predicted.

Last week, Barge, who became state superintendent Jan. 10, announced plans to offer school systems the flexibility to continue using the integrated math curriculum, return to the traditional math or use a combination of both.

In the two years since Georgia switched to an integrated math curriculum, in which multiple math concepts are taught in a single course, lawmakers have been inundated with complaints from parents.

In response, some lawmakers had said they would introduce legislation to force school systems to give students options to integrated math. Barge told committee members Thursday that Gov. Nathan Deal brought up the controversy in a recent meeting with staff at the state Department of Education.

To help the struggling students in the short term, Barge told lawmakers he wants to award core math credits to students who take Math I and Math II support classes. Those classes, which include more individualized tutoring, now count only as electives and do not apply toward the four core math courses needed for graduation.

Barge also proposes that starting next year, traditional math classes will be open to students who did not pass integrated Math I and II classes. He said he hopes that change will help them stay on track to graduate.

The changes will come up before the Board of Education in March.

Asked later whether he is concerned the changes might be lowering the standard for these students, Barge said, “I don’t want to see it that way. You have huge numbers of students who have not been able to grasp the integrated concept.”

Barge said he has not been able to get an accurate count of how many students might be affected, but he said it would probably be "in the thousands."

The state Board of Education already has agreed to count the math support classes as core classes for current 10th- and 11th-graders.