In October 2013, Superintendent Dr. John Maloy and the Aspen School District Board of Directors set objectives to increase students’ proficiency in math at AHS for the 2014-2015 school year.

I love AHS and I am forever grateful for the opportunities and the education that this school has given me, but I struggle to picture my senior year where I will be in math classes every day. As a reporter, I spent the last three months looking into the schedule. After looking at Ends Reports published on the scores of students at AHS, and talking to administration and teachers, it is clear that increasing math at AHS will have negative repercussions on other subjects, and the school is making too big of a change, too quickly.

After talking to Julie Roark, I understand that the percentages of students proficient in math decrease at the high school level. However, AHS has no need to worry because this is a national trend, and comparing proficiency rates with elementary and middle schoolers, seems like comparing an apple and an orange.

Math scores at AHS have been increasing in the past five years, so it would be more effective to wait until scores plateau before making such a drastic change to the schedule. Two years ago, 10th grade students scored significantly higher on the math TCAP than in the past five years. Sixty-two percent of the 10th grade students were proficient in math in 2012.

AHS 9th graders are nineteen percent more proficient than the state average, and 10th grade students are twenty eight percent more proficient than the state average.

The math department has been working hard to increase students’ mathematic abilities. In recent years, many programs have been developed in order to help students, and new materials have been added to help with students’ learning. Scores show that this has been effective. Therefore, it would be more beneficial to watch scores go up in math, rather than change the schedule at AHS completely and watch scores in other subjects go down.

Through talking to others about the schedule, I have also learned that it isn’t just the “low” math scores that AHS is concerned about, but the school also doesn’t compete with its “match” schools in the subject of mathematics. Match schools are schools that have similar test results to AHS and are therefore similar in rigor and academic achievement. At the 9th grade level, AHS was more proficient than only one of its match schools, and lower than the others. However, 10th grade students at AHS are just as proficient, or more advanced, in mathematics than all the “match schools.” As a student looking at these numbers it’s frustrating that the school feels the need to increase math instruction by such a significant amount, because we are already above or competing with state levels, and our “match schools.”

In subjects such as science or literature, AHS proficiency rates are higher than those of match schools. On the science CSAPs 10th grade students at AHS were 2 percent more proficient than match schools. Both 9th and 10th graders at AHS scored more proficient than all other students at match schools in literature as well. 9th graders at AHS were 3 percent more proficient than all of the other 9th graders at match schools, and 10th graders were 5 percent more proficient, and as much as 10 percent more proficient than some match schools. I fear that if math becomes the priority at AHS then other subjects could suffer.

From example, due to having shorter class periods English classes would have to start prioritizing activities. The first thing to go would be sustained silent reading (SRR), which has been proven to help a student’s reading comprehension and increase the student’s love of reading. If SRR is cut, then proficiency in literature at AHS could decrease. Science class could also see a decrease in proficiency, because shorter class periods means there would not be enough time for students to complete labs.

Shorter class periods also aren’t the only problem. If AHS is going to focus on math, and increase the amount of math minutes at the school, then the department will need to hire new teachers. Even now with a balanced schedule, AHS is having trouble with funding, so if math minutes are to increase then the money for new teachers is going to have to come from somewhere. This means that other departments at AHS could lose funding, or teachers from those departments would no longer have a job.

AHS also prides itself on being an IB school. However, IB requires a certain amount of hours for each class. Higher-level (HL) classes require 240 hours and standard-level (SL) classes require 150 hours. IB Math SL and HL would fully meet these requirements under the new math centered schedule, but other HL classes such as English, history, art, physics, and biology may not have enough class time to meet their IB hours unless students focused all their time on IB, cutting electives and free periods.

I understand that AHS wants every student to meet his or her full potential. However, I don’t believe that it is possible for every student at AHS to be proficient in every subject. In the most recent superintendent newsletter, it said, “Aspen School District is only one of 16 school districts in the state of Colorado to earn “Accredited with Distinction” honors for 2013. According to the Colorado Department of Education, Aspen School District ranks 2nd, behind Hinsdale County (only 100 students K-12), in the state’s overall accreditation ranking.” These honors are amazing, and AHS has earned these awards year after year. There is some point where making something better is almost impossible. So I think everyone needs to step back and look at all the achievements that have been made in this small town public high school, verses all the things we “need to work on.”