School board members for Evanston Township High School said Thursday that they will wait for more information from the district superintendent on a proposed change in graduation requirements before rendering a final decision in March.
More data is needed before deciding whether or not to change the number of math credits required for graduation from four to six, said board member Mary Wilkerson. The superintendent is compiling data to determine whether adding the extra math would improve ETHS students’ standardized test scores, particularly among minority students.
District Superintendent Allan Alson first introduced the proposal in November at a PTSA meeting where parents and students were allowed to raise questions about the new policy. The two extra math credits would mean students would have to take Algebra II in addition to Algebra I and Geometry. The proposed changes would start with the class of 2006 and would not affect current students at ETHS.
Alson will make his final proposal to the board in March.
The change will help prepare students for upper-tier, four-year universities after graduation, D202 school board vice president Margaret Lurie said. Part of ETHS’ vision statement is that all students should be prepared to attend a four-year college upon graduation.
Alson wrote in a memo that requiring the extra math should help to close the achievement gap between white and minority students. Students who take three years of math tend to do better on standardized tests. But only 80 percent of black students and 76 percent of Latino students take three years of the subject, as compared to 97 percent of white students.
Most parents who attended the PTSA meeting in November supported the change and thought it should have been implemented sooner, said Cheerie Hansen, president of the school’s PTSA. Few parents indicated concern about the added workload, but Hansen said getting into college is more competitive now than it was a generation ago.
“A lot more is required of them than when I was in high school,” Hansen said. “Everyone’s going to college now so it’s more difficult to get into top universities.”
Many students from lower-income families do not even consider college as an option, partly because many of their parents did not attend college, Hansen said. Other students simply assume college is the next step. Requiring the extra math course would prepare all students for college.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Hansen said. “It opens it up for students who aren’t familiar with what upper-tier colleges want from (them).”
But Susie Miller, whose two children attend ETHS, said she disagreed with the proposal because it places too much emphasis on math and not enough on other subjects.
“There should be alternatives for kids when math isn’t their strong point,” Miller said. “I don’t see the emphasis on English at the high school level.”
The change would satisfy the Illinois State Board of Education’s core curriculum standards for college preparation. These require that students take four years of English and at least three years each of history, math and science. Currently, ETHS meets the standards only for English and history.
Alson also is discussing the changes with Hardy Ray Murphy, superintendent of Evanston/Skokie School District 65, to ensure that students are learning enough math in the middle schools, Hansen said.
