The School Board approved revisions to middle and high school math courses and pathways on Feb. 13. The changes include shifting middle school compression to start in 6th grade, removing Calculus content from Honors Math Analysis, and allowing students to choose whether to take Calculus AB or Calculus BC their senior year.

“One of the things that was a part of what drove us was research about learning mathematics,” math teacher John Hayden said. “Research was showing that moving faster was actually not a good idea for students. Having more depth of understanding will serve them in the long run.”

According to the School Board report for the Feb. 13 meeting, PUSD examined data based on student achievement and surveys from students, families, and faculty to understand how the math program could best meet the needs of students.

Students will first have the opportunity to compress, or accelerate, in math in 6th grade, rather than 7th grade, said math teacher and PHS math department chair Diana Miller.

With the revisions, four years of math (CC6, CC7, CC8, and IM1) will be taught over three years instead of all students taking CC6 and then being taught CC7, CC8, and IM1 over two years, saidDirector of Curriculum and Instruction Cheryl Wozniak.

“The reason for that is to take off some of the stress of middle schoolers who are doing the compression,” Miller said. 

Miller also said teachers can go more in depth on the applications of concepts with this change, and this goal influenced the department’s proposal to change the Math Analysis class as well.

“This year, Honors Math Analysis includes a bit of Calculus AB so that students who take it can take Calculus BC,” Miller said. “Next year it will be truly an honors class and go more deeply into math analysis.”

Even though Honors Math Analysis will not cover calculus concepts after the changes, students will choose to take either Calculus AB, Calculus BC, and/or Statistics or Honors Statistics after they have taken either Math Analysis or Honors Math Analysis, Hayden said.

Calculus AB covers one semester of college level math while BC covers a full year. Wozniak said students who choose to take BC will be able to handle a full year of college math in one year of high school.

“It would probably be more appropriate to take Honors Math Analysis if students want to take Calculus BC, but they don’t have to feel the obligation if they don’t want that challenge junior year,” Miller said.

Another reason for students to choose between Calculus AB or Calculus BC is to provide students with more access to statistics classes and Calculus BC, Wozniak said.

“The foundation of statistics applies to every field,” Wozniak said. “This will open more doors for students.”

Despite the changes to the pathways, Wozniak said that the requirement of two years of math to graduate and three years to attend a UC has not changed.

Wozniak also said the fourth change will be to eliminate the summer bridge course, allowing students to only compress in 6th grade or 9th grade.

Freshman Caroline Devine, who is currently taking Integrated Math 2 (IM 2), said that she cannot take a summer bridge course to skip ahead and reach the level she wants.

“I am still learning and I love my teacher, but IM 2 is really slow paced for me,” Devine said. “I want to learn as much as I can.”