Georgia state school board members may vote in mid-March to allow schools to abandon the state’s largely unpopular integrated math teaching technique.
State School Superintendent John Barge is in favor of dropping the technique, which has been panned by some for being implemented in a costly but inefficient way. Integrated math also is being blamed for causing 80,000 high school students to fail their math final exams last spring.
“We regret the clumsy way the program was rolled out – insufficient input, poorly communicated, lack of training – which meant plenty of wasted time and money and not a fair test of the program’s efficacy,” said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators.
“We are glad that Barge is addressing the issue with local flexibility, but there will still be some confusion and concerns in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.
Integrated math apparently is unpopular with many school leaders. A Georgia Department of Education survey of school superintendents found that 82 of 180 favored ditching integrated math, although the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics supports the technique.