Math Has New Look In Area Classrooms

FAYETTEVILLE — A new approach to teaching and learning mathematics is being introduced in classrooms around the state this fall, including Fayetteville High School where three new fourth-year courses will be offered.

New math courses are also planned at high schools in Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale; other courses have been revised or redefined to reflect the new standards.

“Interwoven into all the practices is that kids should be participating,” said Robert Moore, assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum and instruction in the Rogers School District.

Many may remember the days when a math teacher stood at the blackboard, worked a problem, then turned to the class, asking students to mimic the teacher’s work. Then students were sent home with a page of problems to work the same way. Those days are gone.

Instead, students are being asked to take on a larger role in their learning.

Learning will be an “exercise for working the brain,” said Charlotte Champagne, head of the math department at Bentonville High School. Starting a problem with the situation and giving students time to consider possible solutions makes more sense, she said.

Teachers will be more like facilitators, asking students to consider a solution before trying to solve it, said Ellen Johnston, director of K-12 math for the Fayetteville School District. The next step is teacher and students working together to consider various solutions followed by the teacher demonstrating how to arrive at the solution, Johnston said.

Arkansas math classrooms are shifting from teaching under the Arkansas frameworks to teaching under the Common Core standards. Common Core espouses teaching fewer math concepts but going deeper into a concept for stronger learning.

The changes aren’t just in Northwest Arkansas. Most, if not all, districts in Arkansas are adapting math courses or adding new courses to meet the standards.

“Our Algebra I under the Arkansas frameworks is not as high in rigor as Algebra I under Common Core,” said Kim Garrett, assistant superintendent for secondary education in the Springdale School District.

Several new math courses are being introduced at Springdale High School and Springdale Har-Ber High School and other high schools. One new math course is Bridge to Algebra II, a special course to help students who completed Algebra I under the Arkansas frameworks and who are now ready for Algebra II. Algebra II will be taught under Common Core State Standards. Those students who have completed Algebra I don’t have all the skills necessary to be successful in the Algebra II course, hence, the bridge course.

“That student will be missing a big list of skills needed in Algebra II,” which he didn’t get under Algebra I, Garrett said.

“It will only be offered a couple of years and then it will go away,” she added.

There aren’t as many gaps in geometry from Arkansas frameworks to Common Core, Garret said.

Garrett, the former principal at Bentonville High School, said students who moved to Arkansas from other states sometimes had difficulty because the algebra taught at their old school was different from that taught in Arkansas. That should change as Common Core is adopted nationwide.

“One of the big benefits is that no matter what state a student comes from, he will be learning algebra under the same standards,” Garrett said.

And, as students prepare for higher education, colleges will have a better idea of a student’s knowledge of algebra.

“This is all research based to reach all students in math, to engage the kids who have to learn the content concepts,” Johnston said.

Seniors at Fayetteville High School will have a choice to take either pre-calculus, Algebra III or linear systems and statistics as the newest courses in math. The Arkansas Department of Education recently established six new courses that high schools could offer as the fourth year of math required for graduation.

Fayetteville plans to offer three of the six, Johnston said. The number of teachers needed to teach all six courses as well as the time needed to develop the curriculum of all six were considerations in opting to offer only three, she added.

The curriculum for these new courses, as well as established courses, is very problem-oriented, which calls for a complete shift in instruction, according to Johnston.

Algebra I has been offered as an acceleration course for Fayetteville seventh-graders for several years but that will be discontinued in the new school year, said Kay Jacoby, executive director of curriculum, instruction, accountability and assessment.

With the introduction of Common Core standards into the math curriculum, Jacoby said it is no longer recommended that students skip a grade level of math content. Instead of Algebra I, advanced seventh-graders can take an accelerated seventh-grade math class, which includes Common Core seventh-grade math and a half-year of eighth-grade math.

That is the equivalent of a year and a half of math in one school year, Jacoby said.

The following year, in eighth grade, the students can take the other half-year of eighth-grade math along with a pre-Advanced Placement Algebra I course.

A variety of factors, including a teacher recommendation and internal assessments, are used to determine if a student can take the two courses, Johnston said.

As the shift to mathematics puts more emphasis on student problem solving, some teachers are finding a shift in their teaching will be necessary, Johnston said. That is being accomplished through professional development and collaboration among teachers in Fayetteville and across district and even, state lines, Johnston said.

“I’ve never seen so much collaboration,” Johnston said.