Scores on Algebra 1 Regents exam plummeted by 14 percentage points at south Queens schools that used a controversial new curriculum teachers have blasted as “a complete disaster,” a superintendent revealed this week
Josephine Van Ess, superintendent of Queens South High Schools, told parent leaders Wednesday that the 29 high schools under her watch, all but one of which used the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum, saw their average pass rate plunge from 59% to 45%.
The commercial curriculum — which forces teachers to give scripted lessons on a rigid schedule, expects students to “discover” solutions with little instruction, and frustrates kids lacking prerequisite skills — is partly to blame.
“Explicit instruction required more training prior to roll out,” said a report Van Ess gave the Citywide Council on High Schools, a parent advisory group. She commented, “I think teachers struggle with the pacing.”
Also challenging is “the level of students being able to talk about math, the conceptual learning that comes with this curriculum,” she said.
And coaching by outside consultants hired by the Department of Education was “limited,” the report said.
The poor performance by her schools — located in the Rockaways, Forest Hills, Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Briarwood, Kew Gardens and South Ozone Park — was not an outlier.
“We saw a decline across the city,” Van Ess said.
Her report was the first official disclosure of NYC student performance on the June 4 Regents exams. The city DOE, which scored the exams, has yet to release the citywide results.
The south Queens students did better than last year on nine other state Regents exams, including Algebra 2 — which doesn’t use Illustrative Math; 62% of students who took that exam passed it, up from 50% last year, Van Ess reported.
Her schools were among 265 citywide that piloted Illustrative Math, which Chancellor David Banks has mandated that nearly all 420 city high schools adopt in the fall. Only six or seven top-tier, specialized schools will be exempt.
With Illustrative Math, teachers give scripted lessons on a tight schedule. Students tackle equations in groups to solve problems with little instruction. Kids lacking the required foundation flounder, critics say.
Besides Queens, students from more than 25 schools in three Bronx districts, including some that used Illustrative Math, scored an average failing score of 56.5 on the Algebra 1 exam, The Post learned. That fell below last year’s Bronx borough average of 61. The minimum passing score is 65.
“It’s bad that the results are down,” CCHS president Deborah Kross told The Post after Van Ess gave her report. “It’s not just a little – it’s significant. There’s something wrong.”
In a “root cause analysis” of the failing Algebra 1 scores, Van Ess cited several factors besides the new curriculum.
She noted a 30% jump in the number of English language learners — which include migrants — and a 5% increase in the number of students with disabilities.
The Algebra 1 exam was different– “more conceptual with less dependency on the calculator,” the analysis said.
In addition, the state set higher “cut scores:” Students had to get 29 of 82 items correct, or 35%, to earn a scaled 65 score. Last year, students needed 27 of 86 points, or 31%, to pass.
Van Ess told the parents she doesn’t yet want to dump the new curriculum — a key component of the DOE’s “New York Solves,” a math initiative expected to cost $34 million over five years.
“With time, more training and understanding, and really being able to fill the gaps with what students need to be successful, I think we can see success,” she said.
Kross, the CCHS president, is doubtful.
“What bothers me is there’s only one year of results in a pilot and it doesn’t look good,’ she said. “Instead of pausing and analyzing what doesn’t work, we’re going to double down.”
DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer refused to comment on the Algebra scores, but said the Illustrative Math mandate stands: “There has been no change in policy.”
