Math standards revision: writers finish public-feedback review; secondary committee refines honors, new STEM pathway
Summary
Math standards writers finished reviewing public feedback and the secondary writing team is refining honors clarifications and an alternative STEM pathway that stops short of calculus. Staff expect a revised draft in mid-December for the required 30-day public review.
Math specialists told the Standards and Assessment Committee that the standards-writing process is proceeding and that writers have completed a full review of public comments.
Molly Basham, early-learning mathematics specialist, said writers completed public-feedback reviews during October and met in person with the committee. The secondary writing group met on November 5 and will meet again in November and December to finalize edits.
Mike Spencer, secondary math specialist, said writers are focusing on two issues raised repeatedly in public comments: clarifying honors-level expectations (adding standards or clarifying language for math 9 and math 10 to indicate depth versus mere breadth) and creating an additional STEM pathway for students who need a strong pre-calculus preparation without a full calculus pathway. "The committee chose to include an additional pathway—essentially our current integrated math 3 without extended calculus topics—to prepare students for precalculus and other STEM work rather than requiring calculus for every STEM-intending student," Spencer said.
Specialists said their goal is to publish a clean draft and a tracked-changes draft so committee members and the public can see the edits. Staff said they hope to release the draft in mid-December so board members can review it over the holidays and provide comments during the 30-day review period prior to formal action.
Speakers quoted in this article are drawn from the committee transcript and limited to those presenting the math update.
