New geometry course could bring tough challenges | www.myajc.com

Georgia high-schoolers who performed poorly on an end-of-course coordinate algebra test given earlier this year will face another big challenge in the coming school term: a tough new analytical geometry course.

State officials say the geometry end-of-course test will have the “same rigor” as the algebra test that produced a set of lackluster scores.

The analytical geometry and coordinate algebra courses are both tied to Common Core, the controversial national education standards Georgia and 44 other states have embraced. The algebra course is primarily taken by ninth-graders. It is sometimes also taken by advanced eighth-graders and by 10th-graders who failed ninth-grade math. The geometry course is for 10th-graders.

Pointing to other instances where a test has been given on new material, state and local school district officials had predicted the coordinate algebra end-of-course test scores would be low.

Those predictions were spot-on.

Some 63 percent of those who took the coordinate algebra test failed to meet state standards. Eight school districts in Georgia had failure rates above 80 percent, and several schools in metro Atlanta had failure rates above 90 percent.

“The coordinate algebra results give us a first look at the new level of rigor that is coming with new federal criteria for state tests, where the expectations to meet standards will increase significantly,” Georgia school Superintendent John Barge said.

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