Middle School Math “Micro-Levels” Reviewed

Micro-leveling, or its absence, appears not to impact student acceleration in middle school math. A memorandum presented by Superintendent Brian Osborne to the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education looking at data suggests that the number of students who advance in math has remained fairly steady for the past four years and into next year.

Questions arose earlier this year when parents noted that the practice of assigning sixth grade students to math classes within levels for targeted instruction ended, without notice, last fall.

Parent L told the Board that she had spoken to Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Rosetta Wilson and found that, with the absence of 6th grade math-microleveling, far fewer 6th graders would be accelerated into 8th grade math than in previous years when math micro-leveling took place.

"The numbers are in for math acceleration and they don't look good," said Sender. "The number of 6th graders to skip to 8th grade has gone down, not by 10 percent, or 20 percent, or 30 percent or 40 percent or 50 percent. It's 60 percent down." Sender said that 22 students would be accelerated as compared to 55 last year. Sender said that from 2006 to 2010 — under micro-leveling — the number of accelerated students varied from 33 to 55.

However, the practice, which lasted from the 2005-06 school year through the 2009-10 school year, “contravened Board policy,” according the memorandum made public at Monday’s meeting. Further, parents were not fully informed of the placement; “the existence of the sublevels and the placement into the rank-ordered classes were not formally communicated.”

At the same time, the report looked to the numbers of students who accelerate, or skip, a year of middle school math, totals described by the superintendent as “relatively stable.”

The past five years have seen 2 – 3% of sixth graders advance to seventh grade math, with a spike in 2010-11 to 6%.

Some 12-13% of seventh graders advance a year, while the number of eighth graders who advance has grown from 7% in 2009-10 to a projected 13% in the coming school year.

Placement for the coming year will remain unchanged, noted Osborne, though the matter of advancing a level in math will continue to be a focus. Specifically, the memo recommended that the board of education request further investigation into the “criteria and structure for academic placement, as well as the 6-12 math course sequence.”