Background and Demographics
William C. Overfelt High School is located in San Jose, California. When people hear of San Jose, they tend to think of Silicon Valley, high tech, and astronomical housing prices. Those of us who live and work in and around the neighborhood of Overfelt, commonly refer to Overfelt as being located in the East Side of San Jose. In a city of over one million people, the East Side is home to predominately Latinos, with African Americans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Cambodians, and Samoans making up smaller, but still significant ethnic populations. At Overfelt, approximately 80% of our student body consists of Latino/Hispanic students. Although the average cost to rent a house in Overfelt’s area is close to $3000 a month, the average annual family income is just over $60,000 a year. Currently, over 80% of students at Overfelt qualify for federal free or reduced lunch, and under 50% of our students’ parents are high school graduates. The East Side is its own unique, vibrant, and strong community that is a different world from the rest of San Jose.
During the last three years, the East Side Union High School District (ESUSHD) has transitioned to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics from the earlier California mathematics standards. This process has included a gradual replacement of the three course math sequence comprising Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2, by a series of three Integrated Math courses titled Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Mathematics I, II, and III. There was significant debate regarding which curriculum would be adopted for the integrated math course sequence. During the transition period, there were four different pilot curricula spread unevenly across the eleven high schools in our district. Math teachers were able to choose their preferred curriculum to pilot. Though each of the pilots addressed similar content, what they emphasized varied drastically, and the order in which content was taught also varied significantly.
Because of the different curricula used throughout the district, and even within a single school, students were most affected when their schedules changed during the school year, or if they transferred between schools. Students who moved into our school and district struggled, as the ESUHSD no longer offered Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 courses. For example, arithmetic and geometric sequences were previously in the second semester of Algebra 2, but in our current curriculum, they appear during the first semester of Math 1. The misalignment between old and new course sequences inadvertently created significant gaps in content knowledge for some students.
An additional point of difficulty for making appropriate course assignments for entering students is the fact that the ESUHSD serves seven feeder elementary school districts. At Overfelt, we receive students from multiple middle schools. Most come from Alum Rock Union Elementary School District, but we also receive a small, yet significant, number of students from the Evergreen Elementary School District. Though it should not matter which mathematics textbook curriculum a school uses, the lack of consistency in background contributed to the prevalence in gaps of math knowledge. Partly because of the gaps in knowledge, the Integrated Math 1 course I taught experienced a high amount of student turnover. In my experience, it is not uncommon to have over fifty different students enrolled in one section of Math 1 over the course of the school year.
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