A bill to make major changes to North Carolina's math requirements for high school graduation is moving forward in the General Assembly. The House passed House Bill 415 Wednesday, just in time to make the final deadline for bills to crossover from one chamber to the other to remain in play this legislative session. The bill has been sent to the Senate for consideration.
The bill would make the following changes to graduation requirements:
- It would no longer require all high school students to take a course known as Math 3.
- It would change the designation of computer science courses from an elective to a required math course. Computer science is already set to become a required course for graduation beginning next school year, but it currently does not count as a math class.
- It would add a requirement for all high school students to pass a U.S. history test based on questions on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' naturalization exam.
Currently, students are required to take Math 1, Math 2, Math 3, and at least one additional math course to graduate. Under this bill, a student could take Math 1, Math 2, computer science, and one additional math course and be eligible to graduate.
Supporters of the bill say it would allow students who struggle with math to take more time to cover the material in lower math courses. Critics say the bill would lower the state's academic standards.
Arguments for the math changes
Representative David Willis, R-Union, sponsored the bill. He has argued the proposal would better serve students who are not on an advanced math track and don't plan to pursue a STEM-related career.
"Today we have 70% of the students who are taking Math 1 in high school are not grade proficient. In other words, they're failing Math 1," Willis said during the bill's floor debate. "They're getting to college, whether it's the community college system or the UNC system, and many of them are having to take remedial math."
The statistic Willis cited does not include advanced students who take Math 1 in middle school.
Under the bill, students who begin Math 1 in high school could take their lower math courses as a year-long class to have more time to master the material.
"Our goal is to give the kids what they actually need and meet them where they're at and stop pretending to put a Band-Aid on a system where we're graduating students who aren't math ready for college," Willis said during an earlier discussion of the bill.
The bill would allow those students to still take Math 3 if they choose to for their final math requirement, or to choose another math course, such as statistics or accounting. The bill also changes the UNC System's admissions requirements to match the proposed state requirements.
Arguments against the math changes
Representative Julie von Haefen, D-Wake, has argued the bill would lower the state's expectations for students and possibly limit their college opportunities.
She raised concerns that most universities require students to pass four math classes in high school to qualify for admissions, and that they typically do not accept computer science as a math course.
"By removing Math 3 and requiring computer science, we are in misalignment with all other universities in the Southeast and are requiring the University of North Carolina system to lower their standards," von Haefen said.
She proposed an amendment to the bill to not accept computer science as a fulfillment of the math requirement. Willis responded that the UNC System is in support of the bill, and von Haefen's amendment failed on the House floor.
Von Haefen also raised concerns that schools might have difficulty staffing math classes if they are split into additional year-long courses, and also argued that Math 3 is an important class for college preparation.
"In conversations with math teachers myself, I've learned that much of the material in Math 3 is what's tested on the ACT and SAT, which many students still take to boost their college applications," von Haefen said.
"We are limiting our students' options for post-graduation by changing this, which … puts North Carolina students at the lowest standards in the entire Southeast for graduation," von Haefen said. "We are not setting our kids up for success."
