A group of parents is calling for fundamental reforms to the South Orange-Maplewood School District’s math curriculum and placement process.
At the November Board of Education meeting, numerous parents told board members that the math program lacks vision and consistency, leaves many students to flounder and lose confidence, and arbitrarily consigns them to levels with little hope of advancement.
“Parents and guardians of students of all abilities and levels, from remedial, to college prep, to honors, to accelerated … are all unhappy and frustrated,” said one parent.
Another said, “There needs to be large-scale reform of the math program in the district.”
The group has been meeting to discuss the issue and recently laid out concerns in a letter to Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Susan Grierson.
A district spokeswoman did not respond to The Village Green’s requests for comment on the letter and the parents’ assertions.
The math curriculum is “homespun” with “little or no articulated vision,” one parent said at the board meeting. “The K-5 curriculum does not lead smoothly into the middle school curriculum, nor the middle school curriculum to the high school curriculum.”
Calling the program “arbitrary,” “capricious,” “punishing” and “demotivating,” the parent said, “… It [is] clear that major changes must be considered.”
In advanced classes, a lack of direct teacher instruction leads some students to struggle to figure out concepts on their own, said one mother. Test and quizzes sometimes reflect topics that have not been covered in the classroom.
“We’ve heard the complaint” for years that “the teacher isn’t teaching,” she continued, laying the blame on the district’s philosophy of creating independent problem solvers – but, she said, without providing them tools and support to achieve that.
Some parents hire tutors, which places families who cannot afford that option at a disadvantage, potentially exacerbating the achievement gap, parents said.
One parent said a math teacher told parents at Back to School night that teachers were “moving through the curriculum faster than they ever had before” in order to prepare students for the upcoming PARCC assessments.
Meanwhile, the math placement system was described as confusing and frustrating.
In 5th grade, students are assessed to determine their placement in 6th grade into one of three levels – College Preparatory, Honors, and Accelerated. Overall assessment includes grades, results of state tests and the district’s own placement test, and teacher recommendations.
Students who fall just short of placing into honors or accelerated may attend a summer step up program that can enable them to move up a level. In addition, the district offers students who maintain an “A” average in the first quarter of sixth grade the opportunity to advance.
For more information on the district’s math curriculum and placement process, see this page and this page on the district website. Dr. Candice Beattys is the district’s Supervisor of Mathematics Grades 6-12.
A parent said the emphasis placed on the assessment process in 5th grade has caused her daughter to lose confidence and become anxious about math.
“I know this isn’t the intent … but it is the message my daughter is getting every day at school,” she said. She suggested the district condense levels from three to two: accelerated for the small number of children that require a faster pace, and grade level that is “challenging for everybody else.”
The 5th grade math curriculum should be about “engaging, stimulating and motivating” students to learn math, rather than putting pressure on children, she said.
She said if the district was unable to create a more positive and enriching math curriculum, then “it’s time for new leadership.”
Another parent said her children, who were strong math students, became discouraged and lost confidence after being accelerated a grade. Now, they say they do not like math.
“I can’t understand why acceleration remains the Holy Grail,” she said.
While direct instruction may be lacking in advanced classes, remedial classes are sometimes taught by rote instruction, leading to a “two-tiered system,” parents said.
“My son…has been struggling for four years,” said the parent of a 6th-grader in the College Prep level. After repeated requests for help from administration were unsuccessful, she hired a tutor.
Another parent said after her daughter was accelerated into 7th grade math and failed the first test of the semester, she was unable to learn from administrators what she had failed. In addition, her daughter’s math tutor — a teacher in the district — was unable to obtain a class syllabus from Dr. Beattys.
“I have serious concerns as well,” said board member Bill Gaudelli, who clarified that he was speaking as a parent. “Many of my experiences are precisely the same.…” Gaudelli said the next sitting board would have to tackle the situation “because there are serious issues here.”
Board member Johanna Wright said she wanted to apologize to parents who were feeling frustrated. She said the board must make the issue a priority. “We need to do something about this … yesterday.”
