This year’s ninth grade class has dealt with the changes since sixth grade, when the first new standards were implemented.

Cairo High School’s Hunter Morrison, 14, said it has been “challenging.” He is in math I and just learned about quadratic functions and equations.

“It’s definitely challenging since we’re learning stuff we wouldn’t usually learn in ninth grade,” he said. “It’s a bunch of work and you sometimes wish you didn’t have to do it all, but it is going to help you in the future.”

Graham said by the time students graduate they will have covered “everything but calculus, but will have seen some precursors to it.”

“There are still concerns for the lower 25-30 percent of scoring students, but we’re offering as much support as we can. They are being asked to reach quite a distance, one they’ve never been asked to reach before. We’re all looking at ways to support the curriculum so it can be successful, using the right blend of skills and problem-solving that will make students mathematicians for tomorrow.”

This means a lot of hard work for teachers, too.

Chick said there is always resistance to change and teachers, students and parents have expressed concerns with GPS.

“In the case of these standards, there is a great deal of concern about making sure that absolutely everything in the standard is covered and covered in such a way that there are no gaps in the child’s learning and ability to understand the language used on formative assessments. We are truly trying to teach students to ‘think’ as opposed to just regurgitating information.”

“Our teachers are doing an awesome job of trying to implement that standards-based curriculum and make it as painless as possible,” Tammy Donalson, instructional coordinator at CHS, said. “Rather than a teacher at the front of the room lecturing, students are performing tasks hands on and the teacher is more of a facilitator.”

Morrison said he enjoys the new classroom approach.

“I learn better when I’m doing the problems or helping teach it to other people,” he said. “Students get to help each other actually understand how to do the problems. I think this new curriculum is going to help all students get higher grades instead of slacking around.”