Speak Up Summit Hosts Curriculum Discussion

Superintendent Dr. Nathan Parker said he thinks the Summit Public Schools District is in "great shape" at a curriculum discussion on Saturday morning.

At the event, hosted by Speak Up Summit, district administrators met with parents and other individuals regarding recent alterations to the high school's math, English, and science curricula.

In attendance were Parker, Assistant Superintendent Julie Glazer, Summit High School Principal Paul Sears, high school math supervisor Don Tobey, high school science supervisor Tom O'Dowd, and middle school math supervisor Kathy Terwelp. High school English supervisor Corey Walsh was unable to attend.

Parker said that changes in public education are a challenge because there is a lot of resistance to change.

"When we change something in the school system, it takes a lot of time to explain, which is why I'm glad we're here today," he said.

Parker said the forum was an opportunity to share the thinking of the administrators and build better communication.

"I've heard rumors that we're dumbing down the curriculum. … We're actually trying to move in the opposite direction," he said.

One of the goals of the Board of Education is to raise academic achievement and increase the number of minority students who will attend a four-year college.

Other initiatives include improvements to media literacy, summer learning, special education, and early childhood development.

Parker also said that if the state assists with funding, Summit will be able to have full-day kindergarten programs.

Moving into the primary focus of the discussion, high school department supervisors addressed the changes to their respective program.

Don Tobey said that the changes to the math cirriculum "did not come about as a one-year thought process."

Performance in the current eighth grade algebra program has long been monitored both in and of itself and how it translates to success in high school courses, he said.

Based on observation, Algebra I is expanding into a two-year program between eighth and ninth grades.

This, Tobey said, would provide a more in-depth understanding of the subject matter. The program would also be expanded to add more content to the curriculum.

Tobey said that the Algebra I enrichment program is still in place and that he anticipates the possibility for an eighth-grade pre-algebra program, too.

Kathy Terwelp said that the increased requirements of the algebra program will enforce expanding the top levels of math courses, ultimately making all courses more challenging.

Dan Meyers, who has two daughters in the school system, said that the department's goals are good, but certain changes could force students to drop down to lower-level math courses.

Tobey and Terwelp both said that the department would carefully monitor and evaluate the new curriculum's effects on student performance and success.

"We're constantly changing, constantly adding to what we use, eliminating things that aren't working from our perspective," Terwelp said.

Principal Sears addressed the English curriculum on behalf of the absent department supervisor, Corey Walsh.

Sears said that the removal of the freshman-level honors class is "not based on making it easier or a budget cut."

"We believe this will give each kid a stronger foundation to be able to move on and be more successful in language arts," he said.

Freshmen will now either take English I or Global Studies, which Sears said is perceived to be a "class for dumb kids."

Sears said Global Studies is a bi-disciplinary class that will enable students to understand the historical context of what they read. He added that the class will equivalently develop the same skills required for English I.

Parker added that the department will monitor how removal of the freshman class affects enrollment in the sophomore honors class as well as performance.

Laura Graff Coburn, mother of a ninth grader and a fifth grader and former Ward II council candidate, pointed out that freshmen only have one English elective available to them, Journalism I.

"It seems to me like if you are a number-, logic-, spatial-oriented person, you have options. … If you are a language, creative sort of a person, it seems like there aren't that many options," one mother said.

Sears responded that there are opportunities for students beyond the classroom, such as The Verve student newspaper, literary magazine, forensics team, or writing center.

Tom O'Dowd spoke next about the rearrangement of high school science courses.

"The freshman course, we determined to be too curriculum-intensive. … The kids weren't necessarily ready for it," he said.  "We decided to examine the course and think about what would be best for kids going forward."

O'Dowd said that the department wanted to create "an exciting inquiry course."

"We felt that with the cram in the curriculum with physical science, kids weren't excited about science. They were coming in, taking a course, learning a bunch of stuff, but they weren't getting the experience," he said.

"One of the reasons kids get turned off is because they don't see the meaning in what they're studying," Parker added.

The plan for the course is to "dial back on the math a lot," O'Dowd said, and make physics more hands-on and conceptual-based.

"Physics is a very deep subject, conceptually, and if taught in any reasonable fashion, it's going to be a shot for ninth graders," Philip Eisner, a former member of the Board of Education and a professional physicist, said.

Eisner said that physics is a purely mathematical subject and that only an "elite group" can fully understand the material. Ninth graders, he added, will not have the proper mathematical foundation to grasp the concepts either.

"I share your view that it's going to be a challenge," O'Dowd responded.

O'Dowd said that by getting through the core courses, in a student's senior year, he or she could choose a science to specialize in.

"The motivation behind the change is to get kids more into science," he said.

All curricula changes will be implemented at the start of the 2010-2011 school year but will continue to be reviewed and revised until then.

Parents are encouraged to contact district administrators for additional information.

"What we're finding is that when you have direct contact with our supervisors, people feel a lot more confident with changes," Parker said.  "We're not trying to rip apart the school system here."