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N.J. likely to subtract Algebra II requirement

As the New Jersey Department of Education continues to redesign its high school curriculum to add more rigor, officials have moved away from one of the proposed plan's most controversial elements: requiring all students to pass Algebra II.

As the New Jersey Department of Education continues to redesign its high school curriculum to add more rigor, officials have moved away from one of the proposed plan's most controversial elements: requiring all students to pass Algebra II.

Algebra I already is a graduation requirement for this year's freshman class, and plans are to make geometry - or a course with equivalent content - mandatory. But the proposed Algebra II requirement has been relaxed, enabling students to comply by taking a yet-to-be-designed course that builds on Algebra I and geometry.

Science requirements also have been made more flexible. Students will have to take three years of science, including biology. But chemistry, or its content equivalent, no longer will be required. Instead, students will have to take biology plus two more years of inquiry-based laboratory science.

The department is working on new end-of-course tests - four in science, four in math, and one in language arts. Officials are formulating policies on the number of tests that must be passed to graduate.

An ambitious plan to develop personalized learning plans by fall for all students in grades six through 12 has been scaled back to a pilot program in about 15 schools to allow for more study.

The proposed graduation requirements call for 120 credits, up from the current 110. And within a couple of years, students will have to take an economics course that includes personal and business finance.

With employers complaining of a shortage in skilled workers, state education officials say that a more rigorous curriculum is needed to ready young people for their later lives.

"What we want to ensure is all our high school graduates are prepared for college and a career," said Jay Doolan, an assistant education commissioner. In the case of students with disabilities, he said, individual education plans would determine what tests must be passed.

Dana Egreczky, senior vice president for workforce development at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said she was sorry to see the Algebra II requirement go. But she commended the department for what she said she hoped would be an ongoing effort to raise standards, particularly in math and science.

Studies show most jobs in the coming years will require some level of college education, Egreczky said. Already, she said, employers complain that even college graduates are educationally unprepared. She called for students to be challenged more.

"As long as we only ask of them the lowest bar, that's all they're going to clear," she said.

The proposed changes have come under fire, however - particularly from advocates for struggling urban school districts. These individuals argue that the department needs to focus on making schools better, not just harder. They say that jumping into a system of high-stakes end-of-course exams will only lower graduation rates.

"We think all kids should have access to a college-preparatory curriculum, but we have to make sure it's not only the kids who are held accountable," said Stan Karp of the Education Law Center.

Similarly, Dennis Brunn, director of the Statewide Education Organizing Committee, called the state's plan "fundamentally backward" and "a recipe for creating dropouts."

Too many students fail to master the current curriculum, he said.

"Before spending millions for new exit exams, how about spending it on the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade levels for more promising approaches?" Brunn said.

Doolan said some teachers might have to change how they taught, and that already was being done. He said the secondary school redesign being phased in was "a whole transformation that focuses on leadership, teaching and learning, and personalization."

The state's plan also has generated objections from members of the technical-education community, some of whom opposed mandating Algebra II and expressed concerns about adding year-end tests.

Marlene Brubaker, a science teacher at Camden County Technical School in Pennsauken, criticized what she called a "one-size-fits-all approach" to education.

"I have the highest regard for people being able to do higher math," Brubaker said. "However, you need to have appropriate levels of math and science for the careers the students are shooting for."

As it is, she said, her students lost time from their technical course work to get tutored for standardized tests in math and language arts. She worries what will happen if the state requires multiple exams for graduation. She would like to see versions of third-year math that target differing needs of students.

At a legislative hearing two months ago, Joseph G. Rosenstein of the New Jersey Mathematics and Science Education Coalition called the Algebra II requirement an "intellectual Ponzi scheme."

Now that the requirement is likely to be scrapped, his group has proposed an applied-algebra course that would be relevant to students and would have enough algebra content should a student decide to get back on a calculus track.

The New Jersey League of Women Voters also has weighed in, calling for civics in the high school curriculum. The Education Department has responded that students already get that.

With higher-level courses and more year-end tests to prepare for, however, League fiscal-policy and education chairwoman Lindy Wilson said teaching youngsters to become engaged citizens might get short shrift.

The state Board of Education is expected to vote on the high school redesign on June 17. Comments may be sent to Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy or state Board of Education President Josephine E. Hernandez at the New Jersey Department of Education, Box 500, Trenton, N.J. 08625.