Pilot Program Not Expected to Create Disadvantage for Students

Parents have expressed concerns about a recent math pilot program that they believe will lead to disadvantages for those children not taking part—but district officials say that is just not true.

The pilot program is being used this year to help students prior to taking the required test to qualify for an advanced fifth grade math program.

But Cheryl Dyer, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said that more kids overall are qualifying for the advanced program whether or not they are participating in the pilot program.

“I don’t anticipate a difference in the number of students who qualify from the pilot program this year versus those who qualified without it,” she said at the Feb. 8 meeting. “I anticipate that overall more kids will qualify this year.”

These conversations were in response to a past parent concern that her son, who is not in the pilot program, will be at a disadvantage when taking the test for the higher level math curriculum.

But Dyer said that should not matter.

“We have not disadvantaged the other students,” she said.

As the situation stands, Dyer said, the score on the qualification test that is always required to advance to the special fifth grade math program has not changed with the addition of the new pilot program. And for that reason, she said, there is no issue of a disadvantage.

“If the score last year was 200 to qualify for the math program and we have a range of scores above and below, and this year the score is still 200, there might be a range where more students are above,” she said. “With the pilot program, we’re just expecting more kids to qualify.”

“If we were going to change the required score, that would be a disadvantage,” she added.

Basically, Dyer said, the district is still requiring the same score to qualify for the advanced math program, regardless of whether students are in the advanced classes or not. This pilot program, she said, might just prove to be a better way of getting the students there.

“When you have a pilot program, you have to test it out, and I don’t know if there’s any way to fix that,” said board of education member Evan Lerner. “But we can’t lower the standards in the other locations.”

But board of education member Cindy Cullen said she still believes there is a slight disadvantage to other students because they may not be receiving the same training.

“To me, this is not how I would interpret this,” she said. “I look at it as giving coaching to one student and not the other, so the latter student is at a disadvantage.”

Board of education president Jeffrey Brookner said he believes that if the pilot math program for fourth graders proves to be a success, perhaps more students will graduate to the accelerated fifth grade math program.

“I don’t think there are enough kids in the accelerated program,” he said. “If we find this is a success, I think it will open the door for more kids in the accelerated program.”