FAQs Regarding WVDE Secondary Mathematics Changes

In Response to Request of WVASA Membership

  1. Will additional materials/resources be required to teach Math I? If so, will counties be responsible for purchasing?

Comprehensive Math I units of instruction will be available on the Teach 21 site. Training on the units will be provided to the county-identified teams during the Teacher Leadership Institute for Ninth Grade teachers.

  1. At the last CIL meeting, it was announced that “Math I Lab” would not count as a math credit, only an elective credit. However, Policy 2510 currently allows Algebra Support to count as a math credit. This is going to create inequity between groups of students who both require more time to complete either Algebra I or Math I. Algebra students will get two math credits but Math I students will only get one.

Math I Lab will earn an elective credit. In order for students to reach college and career readiness as identified by the Common Core Standards, students must take a math course each year. The Math I Lab credit is a fifth credit either way. Math I represents the first credit-bearing course in a brand new set of Standards for Mathematics.

  1. Advanced students who “double up” by taking two math courses in 9th grade will have no option but to take Math I and then Geometry, since Math II will not be ready. Are those students supposed to finish their math courses in the “traditional path?”

Once a student moves to the sequence beginning with Math I, the student must continue with the new course sequence through high school. No student is permitted to return to the traditional courses once they have begun the new curriculum; this is due to the differences in the progression of content.

  1. What is the WVDE’s position on acceleration at the middle school level? As it stands currently, advanced middle school students have to take the “traditional” math courses, as Math I is not available to them. What is the long-range plan for middle school?

Middle schools will continue business as usual at the 8th grade level until 2012-2015. At that time, we will transition 8th grade to the new mathematics standards. A stakeholder group will be convened before this time to advise the long-range plans for acceleration within the new course sequence at the middle level.

  1. Will teachers who attend training this summer have follow up training sessions throughout the 2012-2013 school year?

Monthly webinars will be provided through Blackboard Collaborative during the 2012-13 school year and open to all teachers of Math I within the state. Teachers will be provided details during Teacher Leadership Institute this summer and will be expected to share that information with their peers during the training sessions they lead at the county level prior to the opening of school.

  1. Will Policy 2510 continue to require 4 math credits for graduation?

Revisions to Policy 2510 have been addressed to ensure that all students have the opportunity to reach college and career readiness. It is required that students take a math course each year of high school.

  1. When will Policy 2510 be revised to reflect the new math requirements?

Policy 2510 is currently on comment.

  1. When will the policy be out for comment with the proposed changes?

See above.

  1. When may waivers to the policy regarding credit for Math I Lab be submitted to the WV Board of Education for consideration?

Waivers can be submitted to any policy adopted by the State Board at any time. However, Math I lab is not an independent or separate course with identified objectives; it is a structure that provides students extra time to master the content of the Math I course.

  1. Does Math I align with the 9th grade WESTEST 2? If not, will teachers be given resources to teach the skill gaps?

Additional resources for Math I will be provided to teachers on the Teach 21 site.

  1. Will Acuity still be a valuable tool for students in Math I?

The Acuity team within the Assessment Office has developed Acuity questions to align with Math I.

  1. How do these standards align with ACT and SAT?

The ACT and SAT accomplish many of the goals of the Standards; they are designed to identify whether students are ready for college by testing them on the skills and knowledge they will need when they get there. The College Board and ACT, Inc. have published studies demonstrating how the skills they test on college entrance exams align with the skills of the standards. Bringing test prep and Common Core curriculum together will ultimately enhance student outcomes. Both ACT and SAT were at the table and demonstrated strong support during the development of the Common Core State Standards. A visit to either website will provide additional information.

  1. What will happen to our special needs students who may not have the capabilities to succeed in this curriculum?

As we have always done, we must provide instructional support for all students. Current policies and procedures provided for our special education population will not change because of the new math curriculum. We must all work to provide quality supports for personalized learning.

  1. Are there examples of teachers scaffolding this instruction for special education students, especially those with mental impairments?

Current instructional supports can be used with this curriculum, i.e. differentiated instruction, scaffolding and flexible grouping. Videos and other resources will be available through CCSSO and the Teach 21 website. The teachers who work with our students with mental impairments should continue to use those types of scaffolding they have always used. A change in curriculum will not require a change in strategies used through scaffolding.

  1. Will students be better served and prepared through this program?

Research shows this international curriculum provides for strong learning progressions and connections across the conceptual domains. To assist you in understanding the rationale for change, we suggest you view several of the short videos developed by CCSSO and the Hunt Institute for Education that are posted on You Tube. We particularly suggest those featuring Jason Zimba and Bill McCallum, two of the authors of the Common Core Standards for Mathematics.

  1. Credit Recovery program does not currently meet this system. What are the plans to “re-do” that program?

WVDE reviews course requirements annually and will be providing the necessary content for credit recovery by the time we have students requiring this course work.

  1. Can a student get math credit for Algebra I and Math I?

During this transition period, students who take Algebra I in grade 8 will be eligible to enroll in Math I in grade 9 and will receive credit for each course. Please keep in mind the content of these two courses differs significantly. Students will not be repeating a large portion of content and that content that is repeated will probably be presented in a very different way, as driven by the clusters within the course content.

  1. Are the graduation requirements for math credits in the Common Core/WV Next Generation Standards the same?

Graduation requirements are credits based on course content. The courses identified within the Next Generation Standards are directly aligned to the content of the Common Cores Standards for Mathematics. It is the Common Core State Standards document that establishes the college and career readiness benchmark.

  1. Will students who complete Math III STEM be able to take AP Calculus?

Students who complete and master the content of Math III STEM by demonstrating a strong understanding of the content are prepared to take AP Calculus. Students who demonstrate a weak understanding of course content should be encouraged to take one of the other options available for the fourth math credit.

  1. Will students be able to double AP Statistics with Math II or Math III?

Caution is recommended with doubling up courses. In support of personalized learning, the decision to accelerate students in high school must be carefully made. Math I and II are fundamental to success in future courses; we strongly suggest that doubling up courses be held off until the junior and senior years.

  1. How will this affect program such as Vo-Tech? Will more standards mean ALL kids will be limited in classes they can take?

This curriculum provides for unique opportunities for students through the new Tech Readiness I and II courses that will be taught jointly be the Career Technical instructors and a comprehensively certified math instructor at the CTE Center.

  1. Will students get a high school credit for Math I in the eighth grade?

The decision to offer Math I in middle school will be made before implementation year 2014 after we have teachers with a minimum of one year’s experience teaching the course content at grade 9. We believe the decision must be made by teachers with experience teaching this content.

  1. If a current middle school student had Algebra I in the seventh grade and Geometry in the eighth grade, what class will he/she take his freshman year?

An accelerated student who has taken algebra and geometry in middle school will continue by proceeding through the traditional pathway during this transition period. The next course in that sequence is Algebra II for an accelerated student. We caution administrators to follow Policy 2510 carefully as Math I becomes a requirement in the 2014-15 school year and Algebra is no longer to be offered.

  1. What do you do with a student who fails Algebra I and it is no longer offered in the curriculum?

A student who fails Algebra I can take Math I and move into the new course sequence.

  1. Will Odyssey be updated in the near future for any student that failed Math I so they may make up that credit?

Any questions regarding updates to Odyssey must be addressed by the vendor.

  1. The WVDE Policy 2520.B, adopted on June 2, 2010, states that the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives for Mathematics for West Virginia Schools will be effective July 1, 2014. On March 16, 2012, at the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics (WVCTM) Conference, information was given from the presenters that said the state is now only requiring Math I to be in place in the 2014-2015 school year, Math II is not required until 2015-2016, Math III in 2016-2017, and Math IV in 2017-2018. Is this information accurate? If so, what are the counties that decide to wait going to do about the Smarter Balanced Assessment that is definitely coming in the spring of 2015?

Policy 2520.B will be effective July 1, 2014. At that time the high school course sequence will be required beginning with freshmen class of 2014. The freshman of 2014 must be enrolled in Math I, followed by Math II in 2015, Math III in 2016 and Math IV in 2017. The Smarter Balanced Assessment will be first administered in the 2014-2015 school year. Many districts decided to begin the implementation of Math I early so that the 11th grade students taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment in 2014-2015 would be enrolled in Math II that year.

  1. Should RESA take a more active role in providing the professional development needed to make this implementation a success?

RESA directors have been very interested in understanding and being collaborative partners in this work. Various staff members from RESAs have taken an active role in providing support and professional development to teachers. RESAs are sending teams to the Teacher Leadership Institutes and will be working collaboratively with the teams of master teachers of ELA and mathematics representing each of the 55 counties.

  1. How many states chose the Integrated Math I option as opposed to the traditional Common Core Algebra 1? Could we have a closer dialogue with those specific states, and learn from their successes and failures?

States are implementing the common core standards at the high school level with a variety of course designs. All states implementing common core are implementing the same standards. CCSSO is working to build collaboration across all states. WV is actively engaged in dialogue and receives regular progress and status reports through the Association of State Supervisors of Mathematics; the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium work groups, the CCSSO SCASS for Implementing the Common Core Standards for Mathematics, and other professional groups. No one has been engaged in the work long enough to have failures; however, the states have the benefit of national organizations that are willing to build the network of support for those states wishing to engage. WV is engaged.

  1. When the Smarter Balanced Assessment is given in the spring of 2015, with which states are we going to be compared?

It is our understanding that all states with membership in the Smarter Balanced Assessment and PARCC consortium will be compared. We know definitely that WV will be compared to the states with membership in Smarter Balanced when the assessment is administered.