Students and parents in the Bethel School District are upset after the removal of advanced classes including algebra for middle schoolers and advanced English. But the district says the changes allow all students to have access to rigorous coursework, based on recommendations from the Oregon Department of Education.
At a Bethel School Board Meeting on Feb. 27, two Willamette High School students used the public comment portion of the meeting to express their frustrations with a change to advanced courses. Both stated that advanced courses prepare students better for IB courses, and not allowing students to take a class above their grade level puts barriers on how much they can learn.
A Willamette High School student made a petition urging Bethel to bring back the advanced English and math courses. Students are concerned that the lack of advanced classes available for freshmen and sophomores would lead to students not feeling challenged and increase student dropout rate, the petition said. It has over 700 signatures.
Alisha Dodds, a spokesperson for Bethel School District, said that all students will take the same two-credit core math courses as underclassmen, but there are still options for 8th graders to accelerate into algebra if they meet testing requirements. She said that doing away with advanced classes allows all students to experience ‘rich & relevant learning’ in their classes. Dodds said schools in the district have taken that approach based on recommendations from the Oregon Department of Education.
In September 2022, Willamette High School sent out a communication to families explaining the changes in math sequencing at the school.
The communication states that Bethel School District has worked hard to offer high quality math courses so that students would no longer need to ‘skip’ a math class if they are advanced. All students would have access to advanced math of their choice in the 11th and 12th grade.
On October 21, 2021, the Oregon State Board of Education adopted a new set of mathematics standards for the foundational expectations of the Oregon diploma. This ‘2+1’ course design is for high school mathematics in which there are two core credits all students have to take, and then they may choose a ‘+1’ course of math that aligns with their interests when they are upperclassmen.
The ODE states that a number of national reports have called for change in high school mathematics, which is why they have revised the Oregon Mathematics Requirements into the 2+1 course design.
Dodds said that the removal of Advanced English 9 and 10, which was mentioned in the student petition, was in an effort to allow all students to have access to the ‘‘rich and relevant learning’’ occurring in those classes.
Maddy Ahearn, instructor in the College of Education at the University of Oregon and Jennifer Ruef, assistant professor in the College of Education, said that the tracking system puts students in a ‘race’ to get to advanced classes, which only harms students.
“When math success is narrowly defined as accelerating through classes quickly, learning is shallow and brittle, and we lose students along the way,” they said.
Ahearn and Ruef said students most often failed by the system are students of color, low income, disabled and second language learners. Even when students are appearing to succeed, they said, this system will “ultimately fail them in the long run.”
“The recommendations from the Oregon Department of Education’s Math Project are aligned to research on increasing access to rigorous mathematics for all students,” Ahearn and Ruef said. “Bethel is building a better system that supports all students and increases access to advanced math courses. Their work is both research-informed and commendable.”
