The Georgia Board of Education has approved allowing schools flexibility in the math classes they offer.

The board met Monday morning and approved the recommendation by State School Superintendent John D. Barge to allow four separate courses to be taught to students who may be struggling with the integrated curriculum.

“So what this is doing is taking the Georgia performance standards and pulling them out of the integrated delivery model, and placing them into discreet courses, so that students can spend an entire semester or year studying the alegebra standards, before they move onto geometry”, said Barge.

Barge estimates about 17% of current high school juniors have one or no math credits, putting them at risk of not graduating. Students must receive four units of math in order to graduate.

The four new courses - GPS Algebra, GPS Geometry, GPS AdvancedAlgebra, and GPS Pre-Calculus - are taught in a more traditional fashion.

Students struggling with the integrated curriculum will now earn core credit for support classes. Students must receive four units of math in order to graduate.

Many students are taking multiple math courses, making them unable to take other electives.

Barge campaigned last year on changing the curriculum, saying the classes confuse some students and fluster teachers.

Contributors: Melissa Stiers

Tags: education, State Board of Education, schools, Math curriculum