A student-generated petition challenging the practices of math teachers at Sobrato High School has gained considerable traction among current and former students on the site change.org.
Student Lauren Buckley, who titled her petition, “Create Change in the Math Department of Ann Sobrato High School,” has garnered 335 supporters since she posted it four weeks ago.
“The math department at our school is leaving people behind,” states Buckley in the petition she created May 4. “In my experience as a student in the Common Core program at Ann Sobrato High School, I discovered that the math department does not tailor its teaching needs to every learning style of its students.”
Buckley recently submitted the digital documentation to administrators. School officials did not respond to the Times’ requests for comment regarding the petition.
Buckley’s petition is just as much an indictment on the math teachers as it is on the Common Core State Standards that were adopted by California legislatures in 2010. Currently, 42 states, the District of Columbia, four territories and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the CCSS. These standards are designed to supply students with a deeper understanding of course material as well as better equip them for college and career readiness.
“Common Core is based on groups, so the teachers aren’t as involved as they would be in another curriculum,” Buckley continues. “Sometimes, we do not even get to ask questions at all from the teacher, we have to work in groups and ask others who are just as confused as we are.”
Buckley also claims that the teachers move on from one lesson to another before students can even grasp the concepts; they don’t allow students to retake tests that often have subject matter that was not previously covered in class; and they use an unfair weighted grading system.
“Upon asking the teachers to alter this grading system, we are only confronted with ‘that’s the way the other teachers do this’ and ‘that’s they way the math department wants it to be,’” wrote Buckley, noting that the average grade for students taking the Integrated 3 math class is a “C.” “This is not acceptable for students who wish to go on to college with a good GPA.”
Despite these struggles, Sobrato students still maintained a 93.7 percent graduation rate, according to the latest California Department of Education data released earlier this year. For the 2015-16 cohort group, Sobrato held a 90.7 graduation rate (7.8 dropout rate) among Hispanic students and 95.2 (4 dropout) among White students.
However, many current and former students share in Buckley’s frustrations as most left comments while signing the electronic petition on change.org, which touts itself as offering “the world’s platform for change.”
One such student, Parth Shah, the valedictorian for Sobrato’s Class of 2016, commented that he spent hours tutoring other students “going over the basics that the teachers should’ve gone over.” Shah said he supports the common core curriculum, “but the basics must be taught before you delve into the deep thinking that common core requires.”
Student Olivia Adams is not convinced that Sobrato teachers are using the most effective methods to get through to their students.
“Sobrato’s math department is insufficient in the way they teach the curriculum,” Adams wrote. “The teachers do not care about each individual student and their different learning abilities.”
Student Jack Bailey, of Morgan Hill, attacked the common core system of learning more so than the teachers at Sobrato in his comments. He said students are reliant on being placed in a strong group with others who care about their grades or they all suffer.
“So if your members don’t care, then you’re out of luck,” Bailey commented. “Teachers won’t even give you credit for completing classwork if some of your group members didn’t do their work exactly as instructed, and they won’t help your group if no one knows how to solve a problem.”
Student Christopher Vu doesn’t feel like he gets the support he needs to be successful in class.
“The math department had definitely left me behind; it is (as) though I have been thrown into a pit for the lions to eat my tortured soul,” commented Vu, who hopes Buckley’s petition brings change.
While the focus of the petition is on the Sobrato math department, Alyna Vasquez wrote: “this problem isn’t specific to Sobrato, this is a problem all throughout (Morgan Hill Unified School District).”
Buckley’s goal is “to create dialogue with the administration” to generate change at Sobrato, specifically with the weighted grading system, the pace of moving from one lesson to the next and differentiating the instruction to student needs.
“We hope that by doing this, we can help students in the future to learn this subject and be able to take higher-level math classes in high school and college,” Buckley concluded.
In 2015, Sobrato was awarded Google’s AP Equity & Excellence Award and was recognized as being the top 1 percent of high schools in the nation that have reached equity among students enrolling in Advanced Placement courses.
At that time, 60 percent of Sobrato students were enrolled in at least one AP course. School officials also touted that in 2015, approximately 375 students received “A” grades in AP courses, and another 375 students finished with “B” grades in AP courses.
