The District 219 school board approved the motion to add the AP Precalculus course, offered by the College Board, at the Nov. 12 board meeting. This comes after the College Board introduced the course during the 2023-2024 school year.
With this addition to the course book, the advanced and regular Precalculus sections will no longer be included. Instead, there will be two versions of AP Precalculus: MA 33 and MA 44. The first option will be open to students who have taken Algebra 2 for advanced or general credit. The latter will be offered to students who have taken Algebra 2 for honors or advanced credit with a teacher recommendation.
“When we first started moving in the direction of AP Precalculus we talked a lot about how this would look in the years prior. For Algebra 1 we are pretty comfortable with everything and we are even more comfortable with geometry. This change would have the largest effect on Algebra 2. We wanted to make changes to help smooth the transition. Algebra 2 Advanced made some changes as well to kind of fall in line with that course, so that students are successful when students head to AP Precalculus. We are even starting to move some Calculus material earlier so students are not totally over-burdened with learning twice as much material in one simple year,” Math director Lucas Leavenworth said.
The MA 33 section will offer the three units that will be covered on the AP Precalculus Exam and the MA 44 section will cover an additional unit that will not be covered on the exam.
Students receiving the credit might be fearful, but teachers instruct that there is nothing to worry about.
“Even though students might be scared, AP Calc is not designed as a harder version. AP Precalculus, from the beginning, was designed as if we want to have a Precalculus course that prepares students for Calculus, which it should because it is called Precalculus. I’m really excited to be, hopefully assuming the board vote goes well, next week to offer this to our students and staff,” Leavenworth said.
Offering this course allows all students on track to take Precalculus to be exposed to an AP credit class. According to Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Christine Gonzales, this comes after the district began pushing for higher AP exam enrollment in 2011. Since then, the amount of students taking an AP exam in the district has risen by 14%–31% of D219. Students took an AP exam last May.
This is the first AP math class that has been introduced by the College Board in a long time. Right now, if a student starts their freshman year with Algebra and finishes senior year with Precalculus, they do not have an opportunity to earn any college credit in math, unlike students who start with Geometry their freshman year.
“This at least provides students with the opportunity to still earn college credit without necessarily starting in Geometry their freshman year,” Gonzales said.
In order to adjust to the curriculum of the AP course, teachers will need to complete training during the summer that prepares them to teach the course. There will either be a four-day institute that dives into the course, how to teach it and activities for students, or there is a three-day option as well–if teachers are not available or cannot make it.
“The curriculum is changing so the teachers are working really hard to make sure that they’re able to teach the course as Precalculus but also to help prepare students for the AP test,” Math teacher Karissa Villanueva said.
Students, who have already taken or are currently enrolled in Precalculus sections will be able to take the AP Precalculus Exam. The exam will cover three of the four units included in the AP course content. These units include polynomial and rational functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, trigonometric and polar functions as well as functions involving parameters, vectors, and matrices–which will not be included in the exam. The district will not cover the cost of the exam for those who are taking it this school year.
“I think it is just a great opportunity to get elective credit for college because college classes are extremely expensive. However, I do disagree with the fact that this is not covered by the district. I do believe that even though they are not able to cover it, students who qualify for free reduced lunch should be able to get the exam covered because all exams for them in the past have been covered,” senior Nabiah Sheikh said.
All board members, except David Ko and Joe Nowik, voted yes on the addition of AP Precalculus to the course book.
“To acknowledge some of the Curriculum Standards for School Improvement (CSSI) members who voted to delay some of the courses and the fact that this is the ninth year in a row that we have added courses to our curriculum without pruning strategically. I hope that streak ends next year. I vote no,” Nowik siad.
