Fairfax High School
3501 Rebel Run
Fairfax, VA 22030
Tel: 703.219.2200
fcps.edu/FairfaxHS
City of Fairfax Schools
The City of Fairfax School Board is committed to increasing the academic achievement of all of our students, strengthening the climate in which student learning takes place, and expanding our faculty’s professional learning communities to further enhance learning and achievement.
Providence Elementary School
3616 Jermantown Road
Fairfax, VA 22030
703.460.4400
fcps.edu/ProvidenceES
Superintendent Ann Monday
City School Board
Road Map to Mathematics Success
Starting with what students learn in kindergarten mathematics class, they build each year on previous knowledge with the goal of mastering the information and challenging themselves to the highest level math classes they can by the 12th grade — calculus, statistics, computer science, trigonometry, and more. To accomplish that goal, having all students take Algebra 1 in 8th grade is also an aspiration for many City Schools educators.
Following is the Road Map for the mathematics curriculum K-12, which will help students and parents know the classes available to help get them achieve to the best of their abilities.
Elementary School
Grades K-6
- Curriculum is defined by the Program of Studies (POS) of Fairfax County Public Schools and the Standards of Learning (SOL) by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Content includes: numerical relationships, operations, measurement, geometry, data analysis, statistics, probability, patterns, functions and algebra.
- Advanced mathematics content and skills, which has been integrated into the mathematics program of studies.
Middle School
- Grade 7: Algebra 1 Honors, Mathematics 7 Honors, Mathematics 7
- Grade 8: Geometry Honors, Algebra 1, Algebra 1 Honors, Mathematics 8
High School
- Grade 9: Algebra 2 Honors, Geometry Honors, Geometry, Algebra 2, Algebra 1 Honors, Algebra 1
- Grade 10: Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry Honors, Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry, Algebra 2 Honors, Algebra 2, Geometry Honors, Geometry, Algebra 1
- Grade 11: AP Calculus BC, AP Calculus AB, Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry Honors, Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry, Algebra 2 Honors, Algebra 2
- Grade 12: Multivariable Calculus / Matrix Algebra, AP Calculus BC, AP Calculus AB, Pre-Calculus Trigonometry Honors, Pre-Calculus Trigonometry
- Math electives: AP Statistics, Engineering Mathematics, Trigonometry, Discrete Mathematics / Probability Statistics, AP Computer Science A, Computer Science, Trigonometry / Math Analysis, Trigonometry / Probability Statistics, Discrete Mathematics/ Probability Statistics
Click here to view the entire High School Course Description Guide.
What does your child need to know about math to prepare them for college?
60 Students + 10 Math Wizards = 1 Math Team
When it comes to mastering math, Lanier students know it’s all in the numbers
From Close-Up, November-December 2005
Riddle me this: If a positive integer is a perfect number when it is equal to the sum of all of its positive factors, excluding itself, and the perfect number is 6 [as in (1+2+3) = 6] what is the second perfect number?
Ready? Go.
Ok, time’s up. Do you have the answer?
If you were on the Math Team, you’d know within minutes that the number is 28. Why? “Because (1+2+4+7+14) = 28,” says Lanier math teacher Edward Niziolek (pictured, right), who with Carla Pisano sponsors the Lanier Math Team. “It’s pretty easy to get that answer if you have been paying attention in math class.”
Fortunately, getting students hooked on math isn’t too tough for Niziolek. He uses a dry wit and playful demeanor to interest students in a game of solving problems.
His approach seems to do the trick. At the first Math Team meet of the year (on October 5), about 60 students tried out. Ten students made the cut, and the Lanier Team came in third out of the 14 schools that competed. Niziolek expects that the team will score even higher at the next meet (on Nov. 16) and adds that he is thrilled so many kids want to be on the team.
“The Math Team isn’t just for brainiac students,” he believes. “It’s for any student who wants to challenge him- or herself. After all, math is a skill that everyone can master. You just have to be willing to try, and determined enough not to give up. I actually think every 7th and 8th grade student should try out, because working hard and sticking it out when things get tough is what success is all about.”
Plus, he says, there’s an added incentive: Students get extra credit in math class for the problems they answer correctly at the competitions.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MATH, 9th to 12th grade
ALL STUDENTS SHOUld take four years of math in high school is, says Fairfax High’s Math Department Chair Karen Hatchl. The reason: “Not every freshman who comes into high school knows what she or he wants to be when they grow up,” Hatchl says. “So taking four years of math is important — just in case they do decide to pursue a career that requires them to have taken advanced classes.”
Plus, Hatchl believes that even if a student doesn’t want to got into a profession that requires a strong math background — such as being a mathematician, scientist, doctor or computer scientist — taking math helps them understand logic, and expand portions of their brains that otherwise wouldn’t get exercised.
“It’s always a good idea to challenge yourself,” she says, “and math is one of those disciplines where, with practice, students will be amazed at what they can accomplish,” she believes.
Consider a report entitled, The Importance of Workplace and Everyday Mathematics, by Jean E. Taylor, a math professor at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
“For decades, our industrial society has been based on fossil fuels,” writes Taylor, who is a member of the Board of Advisors to the WQED television series, Life by the Numbers. “In today’s knowledge-based society, mathematics is the energy that drives the system. It is more than a fixed tool applied in known ways.”
Virtually all levels of management, and many support positions in business and industry, require some mathematical understanding, Taylor explains. “Professionals need to be able to read graphs and interpret information presented visually, they need to be able to use estimation effectively, and they need to apply mathematical reasoning.”
Which math classes best help prepare students for the high school curriculum?
Algebra I, says Hatchl. “All students should come to high school having at least tried Algebra I in 8th grade. This is a fundamental building block. But if they don’t do well, they can repeat the class in the summer.”
Geometry should then be taken over the summer, before 9th grade, or in 9th grade. And in 10th grade, students should take Algebra II. Thereafter, pre-calculus is a terrific class for almost everyone, Hatchl insists.
“Those who do well should go on to take AP Calculus — especially if they aspire to be engineers.”
For students planning a career as a psychologist, political scientist, biologist, or economist — AP Statistics is a good option. “There are lots of choices. The key is to just keep taking math.”