More math, science in store for HS students
by Mary Bustamante on Nov. 26, 2007, under Education, LocalProposal aims to prepare Az kids for college or work
Tucson High student Jose Castro uses a Bunsen burner during an experiment as teacher Stacey Jones-Willy watches in her Earth and space science class. The class of 2013 would need an additional year of science to graduate under a state Board of Education proposal.
Arizona educators plan to implement a battery of core courses that would put every high school student in the state on the college track or ready for the work force, starting with the class of 2012.
But the additional math, science and economics courses could send school districts scrambling to find enough qualified teachers and enough science lab space to accommodate them.
The reasons the state Board of Education is raising math and science requirements aren’t surprising. Arizona is consistently near the bottom on lists ranking education.
“This really is part of a larger initiative to align the Arizona education system from pre-kinder to higher education,” said Vince Yanez, executive director of the state Board of Education, who hopes adding core classes will improve Arizona’s ranking on those lists.
The main goal of raising high school requirements is to make sure students are ready for whatever they decide to do after graduation, Yanez said.
“People and data in both of those sectors (college and the work force) are saying students are not prepared,” he said. “This is evidenced by the number of students entering colleges and having to take remedial classes.”
Final approval of the increases by the Arizona Board of Education is expected at its Dec. 10 meeting in Phoenix. The board also may approve a “regents diploma” for students completing all the regular state requirements, plus two years of a foreign language and a fourth year of higher-level math.
The state now requires that students earn 20 units (each unit equals one year of instruction) to graduate from high school, including two each of math and science. But students who want to attend a four-year university need more to qualify.
School districts may go beyond the state in setting the number of units required to graduate.
For example, Tucson Unified School District requires 21 units.
And the Tanque Verde Unified School District, with the area’s newest – and smallest – high school, demands 24 units, including an extra math class and science class.
The average in local districts is 22 units to graduate.
Starting with freshmen enrolled in fall 2008, the state requirements would rise from two math credits to three and add a half-unit of economics. Freshmen enrolled in fall 2009 – the class of 2013 – would need four math and three science credits, plus the half-unit of economics to graduate.
The number of credits to graduate would stay at the current 20 for the class of 2012. But for the class of 2013, the number of units to graduate would rise to 22.
Adding more science requirements also may mean increasing the number of classroom labs, or finding a way to expand use in already packed ones.
“Science labs are full already,” said Stacey Jones-Willy, a science teacher at Tucson High Magnet School.
“We would have to create a 0-hour (a class that starts before regular classes at a high school) or some alternate schedule. We’re maxed out on lab space and I can’t teach it outside. I can’t teach it in an English classroom,” she said.
Lisa Long, TUSD director of curriculum and instruction, said “we are currently working and planning with our bond projects to add more science classrooms.”
Meanwhile, many students not bound for college may balk at having to take the added courses.
“Oh, jeez,” said Tucson High junior Elyse Riesgo, 16, who plans to attend college. “Half of what I learned already in high school math I’ll never use – even my teachers and parents say it.”
The new rules won’t change anything for Alana Castro either. The junior wants to become a medical stenographer, so she’s taking the third year of science required by state universities, she said.
Plus “it’s good to expand your knowledge of different types of sciences,” the 17-year-old said.
Junior Tyler Preble, 16, said he may not take science in college, but “I need it just to get in.”
For his friends who aren’t on the college track, Tyler doesn’t think a third year of science should be required.
“Biology is enough,” he said.
Senior Jose Castro, 17, agrees.
“I have friends who are struggling even in two years of science,” he said. “I don’t think it will be too hard for most people. But it’s a bad idea because people shouldn’t be forced to take something they don’t need or aren’t interested in when they could be taking something they’d rather take.”
But often students change their minds. Jose did.
He was originally planning on going to a community college, so he only needed two years of science. Now he’s taking that extra science credit.
“My mind changed and I decided to aim higher,” Jose said. “I want to major in business management, but I took this class (also called astrobiology) because I’m interested in space.”
Changed minds are not uncommon.
“Kids do change their minds and what we really have been promoting – from kindergarten on – is be ‘college ready,’ ” said Holly Colonna, TUSD coordinator of counselors.
“It’s true that not everyone is going to go to college, but the more rigorous course work they take, the more prepared they are going to be for whatever they do,” she said. “In fact, the beginning math skills to go to college and to work on the assembly line at Motorola are the same skills.”
Jones-Willy has mixed feelings about a mandatory third-year science course. She’d like to see students taking more science, but wonders if it should be a graduation requirement.
“The problem we have is if the students aren’t ready when they come to high school,” she said.
There is a push at TUSD’s middle schools to make sure students are prepared by the time they get to high school, Deputy Superintendent Patti Lopez said.
All TUSD middle schools offer high school algebra and most offer a foreign language for high school credit, she said. So do many other area districts in their middle schools.
All TUSD fifth-graders will be required to develop career and academic goals and all eighth-graders must explore career paths, she said.
Sunnyside Superintendent Manuel L. Isquierdo said, “Now it’s even more critical that students do well in middle school. They need more time in the school day and more opportunities for summer classes.”
He doesn’t see the increase as a problem.
“I don’t think the fear of graduation requirements will affect graduation,” he said. “With the right support, the right design and leadership, we can work with it. The requirements will be good for kids.”
But who is going to teach the additional courses?
Alyson Nielson, director of Human Resources-Employment Services, said TUSD will have to target colleges that graduate teachers in economics or provide an incentive for current teachers to become certified by the state by taking a state economics test.
TUSD also will need to continue to strengthen its partnerships with the University of Arizona and other colleges to recruit and hire more teachers, officials said.
“TUSD will have to be more aggressive in terms of a recruitment strategy, including recruiting out of state,” Nielson said.
Sunnyside spokeswoman Monique Soria said her district is offering hiring bonuses to attract math and science teachers.
Sunnyside, like other local districts, is adding courses before the class of 2012 enrolls to soften the impact.
Some smaller districts in Pima County, including Vail, Catalina Foothills, Tanque Verde and Sahuarita, already require three units of science.
Vail also has economics embedded in its government course, so it won’t have to add that.
Debbie Hedgepeth, Vail’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, said the three-year science requirement hasn’t fazed Vail students.
“I haven’t heard complaints,” she said.
Tucson High students Natalie Franco (left) and Elyse Riesgo use a Bunsen burner during an experiment in Stacey Jones-Willy's Earth and space science class.
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2007-08 graduation requirements
DISTRICT Eng. Math Sci. P.E. Hlth. Soc.St. Fine/Voc. Elctvs. Econ. Frgn. Sr.Prj. Character Career/ Commu- Total
Arts lang. education tech ed nications
TUSD 4 3 2 1 0.5 3 1 6.5 21
Sunnyside 4 2 2 1 0.5 3 1 8.5 22
Amphi 4 2 2 1.5 0 2.5 *1 here 6.5 0.5 *or here 20
Marana 4 3 2 1 0.5 3 1 6.5 0.5 0.5 22
Fl. Wells 4 3 2 1 3 1 6.5 0.5 1 22
Cat.Fthl 4 3 3 1 0.5 3 1 4.5 0.5 2 22.5
Tanque V. 4 3 3 1.5 0.5 3 1 5 2 1 24
Vail 4 3 3 1 0.5 3 1 6 0.5 22
Sahuarita 4 3 3 1 0.5 3 1 6 0.5 22
state 2012 4 3 2 2.5 1 7 0.5 20
state 2013 4 4 3 2.5 1 7 0.5 22
state current 4 2 2 2.5 1 8.5 20
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