Mary Byrne
After much discussion and input from the community, the School Committee is directing Superintendent Jill Geiser and her staff to include Algebra 1 and Challenger geometry into the seventh-grade math curriculum.
The committee voted 5-0, with member Amy Checkoway abstaining. The program of studies will eventually return to the School Committee for approval.
This year, seventh-grade students had the option to take grade-level math, which covers all standards outlined in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, or Math 7 Compact, an accelerated course covering all seventh-grade standards and five additional eighth-grade standards.
Challenger Geometry, meanwhile, is an optional after-school geometry course offered to eighth-grade students taking Algebra 1. It allows them to eventually bypass taking geometry at the high school, where they would be eligible to take Algebra 2 as ninth graders.
Geiser recently presented four potential scenarios for adding algebra as a seventh-grade course option to School Committee members. After a lengthy discussion, the committee voted to table the topic until after the April 2 election. During that election, voters approved an $8.5 million Proposition 2 ½ override, impacting the school budget moving forward. The override passed by a margin of roughly 1,000 votes.
The four options presented included:
- Seventh-grade students taking Algebra 1 on the team with a seventh-grade teacher.
- Seventh-grade students taking Algebra 1 in a ninth-grade algebra class.
- Seventh-grade students taking Algebra 1 “off-team” with a Belmont math educator.
- Seventh-grade students taking Algebra 1 in 9th grade Algebra classes.
How the course is implemented will ultimately be in the hands of the administration.
“I’m looking for an approach that has the least impact on students who are not being serviced by this,” Geiser said at the meeting on April 9. “I don’t want to take away resources from students who are struggling; I don’t want to impact the team model and the culture.”
Geiser said she’s also considering the fact that this course addition would mean students would miss two years of standard instruction. Families would be expected to seek instruction outside of school to bridge that gap.
“There is a disparity issue with that because not all families have access to that,” she said. “For students that are in it, that’s great; we also have to think about all the students. Those are all the things that weigh on me.”
In a discussion that lasted roughly an hour, members of the committee addressed an apparent lack of support for including Algebra 1 in the curriculum from educators who had reached out. Members, including Checkoway, expressed concern that the School Committee was supporting an initiative that doesn’t appear to be supported by teachers.
Responding to this, member Jeff Liberty noted that not all math educators in the district had emailed their thoughts, and of those who did, the question of how to support students who weren’t being challenged was also not solved.
“I didn’t find anything so compelling in educator communication that it would make me change my mind about what students should have access to,” he said.
According to a memo provided to School Committee members, roughly 6% of 363 sixth-grade students performed above grade level on the most recent i-Ready Diagnostic Assessment. Geiser said iReady is used to gauge who is ready for advanced placement; however, it wouldn’t be used for classroom placement.
Speaking during public comment, parent David Palmer supported offering algebra to seventh-grade students. He referenced the i-Ready data provided to committee members. Palmer, who has a child at the high school student and is a Belmont High graduate, is among several parents who have spoken at public meetings advocating for the curriculum change.
“It is important that we look at all available information to make informed decisions,” he said. “And i-Ready is a new source of data that provides very valuable insights into the very large number of Belmont 6th graders ready for Algebra this fall.”
