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MCI Defends Rigor of Math Program Faulted By Parents Goal is to Challenge All Students

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Sharon Kiley Mack, Bangor Daily News, Maine

Mar. 14--PITTSFIELD -- It was a typical Monday morning in Renee Ashton's calculus class at Maine Central Institute. Chairs grated across the floor, chit-chat was loud and yawning frequent. But then Ashton settled her 15 students: "Homework. Homework. Let's go."

Ashton's students began working on a complicated formula to determine when Earth's land resources would have been used up, based on data from 1950 and 1980. They discovered that the answer was the year 2000."As you get older, this will be a pressing issue for you," Ashton told them. "How will we find enough land to grow food on? These are global issues that your generation will be called on to solve."

Making complicated problems relevant is one way math teachers can keep students focused and engaged. Challenging them is another.

Like the majority of high schools in the country, MCI's 61/2-member math department struggles with trying to provide advanced math courses for its top level students while still meeting the needs of its average or below-average kids.

"Anyone can teach the most motivated students," Linda Amsden, department chairman, said Monday. "It's the challenged we worry about."

Over the past four years, MCI's math department has undergone a total shift, adding several new advanced placement courses while continuing to focus on the basics.

"If a student is willing to work at it, all the math opportunities are here," Amsden said.

They include independent study; a twice-weekly math clinic for students of all levels; advanced courses at nearby Colby College in Waterville; new wireless technology; and a working relationship with area businesses to focus on what local employees need.

Amsden also has worked closely with the University of Maine system and Colby College to make sure MCI's students have the foundation they need to be successful in postsecondary education.

Senior Math Seminar is a college-format MCI class offers in the evening, to take advantage of teacher availability and allow students with full class schedules to fit in one more course.

"It might be nontraditional, but it really serves the purpose," Jason Judd of MCI's guidance department said.

Amsden said recent complaints from some MCI parents that the math department isn't rigorous enough "are totally unwarranted."

"Rigor is a two-way street," she said. "We can offer it, but the student has to accept it. We have kids that are so challenged by rigor that they knock themselves out. We have others that are just not willing, or able, to do the work."

Judd said that reaching all levels of students has become the school's priority over the past few years.

While MCI will be adding two new advanced placement math courses next year for its top level students, it has also added a personal finance course for the more challenged students. "After all, they still need to know how to balance their checkbooks," Amsden said.

"The Maine Learning Results assessment forced us to look at the curriculum in a way we never did before," the department head said. "We learned that these lower-level kids are capable of so much more, and we needed to challenge them."

The other end of the spectrum, she said, are the students who are entering high school without the most basic math skills.

"They don't have a number sense because they have been using the calculator for so long," she said.

The difference is quickly evident in working with MCI's international students, who have never been allowed to use calculators in their home countries. "What research shows is that once a student is able to do the basic computation, then they should move to a calculator."

Amsden said the goal is not to give the students all the answers, but rather to teach them a step-by-step logical process to find the answers themselves.

"We are also teaching them the technology that goes along with that," she said. "We're digging all the time, looking at new teaching methods and techniques."

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY SHARON KILEY MACK

Calculus teacher Renee Ashton works on a formula with Maine Central Institute students Monday morning. MCI has revamped its math department to serve not only the highest level students but also to provide a broader basic math foundation.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Bangor Daily News, Maine

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Source: Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)

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