Path to Math: SMSD Math programming follows national trends, eliminating advanced math tracks

Former SM East student Clara Burdick took Calculus BC as a senior. She’s now a freshman in college studying to teach math. Yet, her seventh-grade sister, a "freaking genius,” is slotted in a lower math track than Clara was. Not because of her abilities, but because of the sixth-grade Algebra 1 Placement Exam, implemented five years ago.

“When we keep lowering the standards, and we keep expecting less and less and less out of our students, they just aren't able to even reach their full potential because they aren't being expected to,” Clara said.

The placement exam follows the national trend of math detracking — the process of placing students of differing abilities in the same math class by eliminating advanced tracks.

While Shawnee Mission School District officials say these changes are meant to ensure students are on the right track, others believe detracking limits student opportunities.

As a result of detracking, there’s lower enrollment in advanced math courses, and next year, SM East will no longer offer a Calculus 3/Differential Equations class. Similarly, last year, the Higher Level International Baccalaureate Mathematics course was eliminated.

In the past seven years, SMSD has seen a 21% decrease in middle school Algebra 1 enrollment, the track that allows students to take Calculus 3/Differential Equations or IB HL 2 Math as seniors.

The decline in enrollment is partially due to the implementation of the Algebra Placement Exam in the 2020-21 school year. This test is designed to determine if a sixth grader is eligible to take Algebra 1 the following year, a track two levels up from the standard level. This test has a pass rate of about 15%.

This math detracking follows national trends starting over a decade ago in California, when the San Francisco Unified School District banned Algebra 1 from middle school curriculum. However, the San Francisco school board approved a plan on March 24 to reimplement Algebra 1 in middle school, according to the New York Times.

In SMSD, students on the typical math track take Algebra 1 freshmen year, but on the advanced track, they take it a year earlier. Previously, students were allowed to take the two-year advanced track by teacher recommendation. Now they must pass the placement test to move into this track.

The effort to decrease the number of students on the advanced track is largely due to concerns that students will miss vital content from seventh and eighth-grade classes, according to Chief Academic Officer Dr. Darren Dennis. 

This content is important in higher-level classes, and Dennis believes that missing content in middle school can lead to burnout later on. The district has seen statistics to prove this, according to Dennis. This data isn’t in a formalized report or accessible for public consumption, but the district did research, according to Director of Assessment and Research Dr. Dan Grumman.

According to math teacher *Taylor Smith, before the implementation of the placement exam, too many students were put on the two-year advanced track. Now that the placement exam is in place, Smith believes too few students are allowed onto that track.

Freshman Ben Walsh took the algebra exam in sixth grade and didn’t pass. After meeting with him, Indian Hills Middle School Gifted Facilitator Lynette Engelken recommended him for an independent study program.

“My teacher wanted me [to move up a class], she said, ‘This class was too easy for me,’ and it felt too easy for me,” Ben said. “I feel like you should have more opportunity to get into an [advanced] class instead of just one test, and I felt like I wasn't being challenged enough [in Integrated Math 7].”

Secondary Coordinator of Math and Science, Holly McCarty, noticed that students who moved up a level in math didn’t fully understand the concepts. They knew how to plug numbers into formulas, but didn’t fully grasp the math they were being taught.

McCarty also noted that some data show that all students in a grade should be in the same math course. She cited the research of Jo Boaler, the Stanford professor who led the shift in California. However, Boaler’s work has been called into question for citation misrepresentation.

The two-level advanced track allows students to take Calculus BC or Calculus 3/Differential Equations in their senior year. According to district officials, these are courses not necessary for most students post-high school, justifying their elimination.

However, Smith believes that taking advanced classes gives students an edge in the college application process. Smith has seen students who take advanced math courses get into more competitive colleges.

“For students who have the opportunity to go through more advanced math classes, that gives them such an edge at the next level,” Smith said.

Junior Esther Walker tested into Algebra 1 as a seventh grader and then moved up another class. She is now taking Calculus 3/Differential Equations. Walker notes that most people won’t need advanced classes like this. However, she said she plans to go into STEM following high school and enjoys taking harder math classes.

Englken believes higher-level math classes ensure students are challenged each year.

“Every student should have the opportunity to grow,” Engelken said. “And, so, I don't like the argument that, ‘Well, they're not going to need Calc 3 and Differential Equations anyway.’ The point is, every year they should feel like they're challenged and learning and growing in math.
And, I don't feel like all of them get that opportunity anymore.”

Math classes now have students with widely varying abilities because fewer students are put on the two-year advanced track. The difference in skills makes it difficult for teachers to reach every student, and they must repeat content in their classes, according to Smith.

Through her secondary education classes, Burdick has learned about the impact math can have on the brain.

“There are some topics in math that they're not gonna help you as much in life as learning how to change your car [tire], absolutely,” Burdick said. “But the stats show that the more that you’re learning these harder topics, the more you're thinking through it. It helps develop your brain and the way you see life, the way you think about things.”

The Algebra 1 placement exam uses both raw scores and written work to determine if they’re ready for Algebra 1. Only around 10 students in the district pass each year. The test evaluates students on priority standards for Algebra 1 — material they haven’t been exposed to yet, according to McCarty.

Indian Hills SEEK Coordinator Lynette Engelken doesn't like this aspect of the test.

“[The test] doesn’t, to me, indicate a student's ability to understand something or apply it at a high level,” Engelken said.

To take the exam, students must already be in Integrated Math 6. Then, a teacher must recommend that they take IM7 the following year. Parents and students then decide if a student will register for the exam.

Students on the two-year advanced track, McCarty found, weren’t enrolling in advanced classes later in high school. McCarty said this is because they weren’t ready for these challenging classes.

“[The test] did drop our numbers, but we feel it has put more kids in the right spot for learning, that they need to be in,” McCarty said.

Burdick experienced this frustration with the placement exam when her sister took it last year, calling it “complete crap.” 

“It just bothers me so much, because these students were never taught Algebra 1,” Burdick said. “And they're expected to test into Algebra 1 by doing Algebra 1 problems that they never learned.”

Burdick was on the two-year advanced track throughout her time in SMSD, taking Calculus BC as a senior. To her, testing students on topics that they would relearn the following year doesn’t make sense. Burdick’s younger sister didn’t pass the test and is taking IM7 right now — the current advanced track most available to students.

“My little sister is a freaking genius, and I was teaching her little tidbits here and there of math, and she picks it up like nobody's business. She absolutely would be excelling in the Algebra 1 class,” Burdick said.

Another concern of Engelken’s is that the criteria for a student to qualify for Algebra 1 in seventh grade is based on only one data point — the algebra screener. 

“We do very few things just using one data point,” Engelken said. “But for some reason, this has become a thing where they just use that one data point.”

McCarty argued that while the exam is a single data point, students are evaluated by a rubric in fifth grade for whether they will take IM6 the following year. Therefore, the pathway to the doubly-advanced path is based on a multifaceted analysis.

Engelken has been talking with district officials about creating a rubric used in sixth grade to evaluate students for Algebra 1 the following year. This rubric would look at things like standardized test scores, MAP Test scores, teacher recommendations and problem-solving abilities observed through daily interactions.

“We feel like there should be a rubric that determines placement instead of just that one hit test,” Engelken said.
“We all feel very strongly about that, but so far, it's kind of fallen on deaf ears.”

Many students in the gifted program have taken an external Geometry 1 class in their eighth-grade year to move up to the track two levels advanced, after being put on the advanced track following the placement exam. Students use an online geometry program called Greenbush while in their Algebra 1 class, and the district accepts this for the geometry credit.

Engelken also had an independent study program, the one Walsh participated in, where middle school students could take the SM East geometry finals, and if they passed, they were allowed into Algebra 2 as freshmen. However, the district no longer allows this independent study or any other option to be on that track, so external courses are the only option.

“There weren't a whole heck of a lot of options, and it took a lot of time, honestly, to try to figure [out how to move him up a class],” Walsh’s mom, Sarah, said. “There weren't super clear instructions, maybe, from teachers or the district, but we had to do some digging [to find a way for Ben to move up.]”

The Greenbush program is available to all students, but families have to pay for it. Through discussions with parents, Engelken has found that parents are frustrated with the current math system and are trying to find ways around it.

“It's kind of sad because, for example, the Greenbush program does cost money,” Engelken said. “And maybe not everybody can afford that, and so, it's frustrating for parents. They feel like all of a sudden there's this major obstacle thrown in their student's way.”