BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
An advanced math course that parents and students have been clamoring for is on the verge of approval at the Palo Alto Unified School District, but the course must overcome opposition from leading teachers before it’s offered.
Superintendent Don Austin said Friday that he’s expecting a Palo Alto High School teacher to submit a proposal to the board for Multivariable Calculus (MVC), which would follow AP Calculus. The school board will hear the proposal on Dec. 16. The proposal to add MVC is opposed by the Paly Educational Council, which is comprised of teachers and administrators.
“Just as we do not create an advanced ballet course for the small number of students pursuing dance at a professional level, we should not create MVC simply because a handful of students would like it,” the council of teachers, counselors, educational specialists and administrators wrote in a letter to the school board on Oct. 3.
The council said the advanced class would serve no more than 6% of students, yet establish a new “highest level” in math that would leave other students disadvantaged.
“It risks amplifying the already significant pressures on students to do more, faster, at the expense of balance and wellness,” said the council, which guides Palo Alto High School’s instructional priorities.
Pearl Chow, a former parent in the district who still advocates for students, disagrees with the council’s arguments. She said students feel better when they’re appropriately challenged, and many colleges expect four years of high school math for STEM majors.
Chow said the district has offered Multivariable Calculus in the past, and neighboring high schools such as Los Altos, Woodside and Carlmont do so without issues.
Yet Palo Alto’s most advanced math students have nothing in the course catalog after finishing AP Calculus their junior year, she said in an interview Friday.
“We should be supporting our students in the things they want to pursue, and that’s different for different students,” she said.
Another advanced math class, Proofs Honors, is also expected to go to the board for approval on Dec. 16.
Chow said both classes should be offered. The Paly Educational Council said Proofs Honors is a “more inclusive senior-year option.”
Even if the board approves a course, it won’t necessarily be offered. That’s up to teachers and instructional leaders at individual schools, Austin said in an interview.
Hasn’t happened before
Austin said he’s never heard of the board rejecting a course before, but there’s always been agreement between the teacher submitting a course and their educational council. He’s recommending the board approve Multi-variable Calculus along with the rest of the proposed courses.
“Unless there’s something in complete opposition to our direction, we would have no reason to block it,” he said.
Earlier this year, the board was split 3-2 on another advanced question — whether to continue offering Honors Biology to freshman or to group themall in one class.
Board members Rowena Chiu and Josh Salcman voted to keep Honors Biology while Alison Kamhi, Shounak Dharap and Shana Segal voted to move to a single course.
At that meeting, Chiu said she’s heard from students and parents who fear the district will eliminate other advanced classes.
“Do we trust our high school students with autonomy and choice, to decide for themselves what their learning journey looks like?” she asked.
Dharap said he wants to trust teachers to make educational decisions.
“People have concerns, but they don’t work with our kids every day,” he said.
I hope that these courses are approved (Proofs H, while good, is not enough), and they are not blocked by the sites (which would be undemocratic). I was at Gunn two years ago, and I know how hard it is to get into the right math classes for people like me, and how hard it is for students to be heard in this conversation. My biggest regret is that the arguments that 100s of students put forward in favor of MVC were not engaged with more; there’s too much talking past each other and too much talking over students. I find it unfortunate that the Paly Educational Council, made up of people we all love and respect, would argue so shakily that “advanced ballet” relates in any way to MVC. The 6% statistic is also misleading; two years ago, we presented statistics (that the district collected) showing that many more than that would be interested in taking MVC if given the chance, a chance that I was not given. Yes, we need to make advanced math more accessible; not offering MVC is not the way to do that.
BV. I commend you on your push. Our community needs opportunities for all types of different learners. It’s a form of reverse discrimination. Id be willing to bet my house that not one board member could even pass the review chapter of the first unit of study. I know I could not. For the district to not offer a course because it is hard goes against everything that made Palo Alto a top school district.
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If you are going to create a headline “Teachers Oppose…” it would be helpful to identify the teachers that oppose helping students learn at their level. The fact is, the teachers that oppose include a physical education teacher who likely does not even know what MultiVariable Calculus is. Why is he making decisions about this for the entire school district and why arent’t you reporting his lack of qualifications? It would also be good journalism to identify other QUALIFIED math teachers who do not oppose, but rather fully support this proposal. In fact, there is a QUALIFIED math teacher who both supports this initiative, and is willing to teach it! Let’s get real – many other school districts in our area offer MVC – why not Palo Alto?
Do the teachers and administrators who signed this petition have any familiarity with higher education and the job market at all? Tens of thousands graduate college each year with degrees in science, engineering, math and quantitative social sciences, all of which require multivariate calculus and above. By contrast, professional ballet positions available each year are no more than a couple dozen. I’m wondering just how many of the signers actually teach math or science.
I’m curious as to just what “Proofs Honors” consists of. The fact that they describe this class as more “inclusive” than calculus makes me suspicious.
Your last paragraph was my first thought too.
I have been teaching in higher Ed in the US since the 80s, before that I was a high school math teacher in Jamaica. I have been amazed how so many intelligent students in the US have unchallenged by their high school math experience.
Probably don’t have any teachers capable of teaching the courses.
I’m Daniel Nguyen, a math teacher at Paly. I proposed the MVC/LA (multivar calc/linear algebra) course. After I finish one final class in a few months, I’ll have the masters degree I need to teach MVC/LA. It will be in time for me to teach it starting in Fall 2026.
The past Board approved spending several million dollars of tax payers money to remodel all 3 of the middle school swimming pools only to be leased to private swim clubs at rock bottom prices. If the math program was as important as appealing to the corruption of past and current board members, it would have been approved without argument. I find it ironic that at the middle school level, if electives have enough enrollment, the course is offered. When it comes to student choice, I see no difference between an advanced math course at the high school and an elective course at the middle school. If the enrollment numbers are there, offer the course .
Educator from Lake County, CA here. How nice it must be to have enough money and teachers to offer any advanced math courses, period. Keep fighting the good fight. Many students entering college can’t even graph a line.
Get rid of them all and find people who will educate our children
A couple years ago The Economist said we had gone a couple years past “peak woke”. I wonder when California or Palo Alto will ever get the memo.
Which teachers? 12 Paly math teachers voted in support of MVC. Please listen to the actual teachers on the ground, closest to the issue, and the students.
The comments so far seem to overwhelmingly and passionately favor MVC and Proofs in PA high schools, going even to the extent of labeling the “opposition” as the leftist wokes.
Sure, PA is a wealthy district, and adding these two advanced courses won’t bankrupt it. But is it wise to do so? Haven’t your kids been suffering from tremendous stress and peer pressure already? Do they really need to be pressured more by the availability of even more advanced AP courses and the notion that if they don’t take them (as some of their classmates do), they are just not good enough? This is a neighborhood high school, for goodness sake.
Take that money and the passion, and pour it into nurturing and supporting the mental and physical well-being of your kids. They don’t need another escalation of the “academic arms race” by parents.
You seem to know what my kids need and how I should spend my money. Why do you think you are in any position to judge?
My child was extremely happy when the possibility of taking MVC at school was announced—no peer pressure, just love of math, and understanding of its importance.
Do you truly want to dumb down American education more than it already has been because achieving academically MIGHT make someone anxious? I can tell you’re not an educator and have absolutely no idea what education looks like in this country at the moment. Most schools have embraced the horrible precepts set forth in “Grading for Equity.” Teachers are no longer allowed to give lower than a 50% even on work not turned in. And districts have set passing at 50% Attendance counts for nothing. Students are actively encouraged to.cheat with AI. Many are passed along even though they know nothing and have learned nothing.
Not only that, but the global marketplace is increasingly competitive, and most studnets need STEM courses to survive the demands of the job market.
And now, you have a school in which students actually want more rigorous training. They crave an education, and you’re going to deny them that? It’s fine to have developmental coursework for the lowest 5% but not advanced coursework for the top 5%? That’s not diversity. That’s not equity. That’s denying students what they want and need for vague principles that do not make sense.
Your lack of logic is astounding.
Do you truly want to dumb down American education more than it already has been because achieving academically MIGHT make someone anxious? I can tell you’re not an educator and have absolutely no idea what education looks like in this country at the moment. Most schools have embraced the horrible precepts set forth in “Grading for Equity.” Teachers are no longer allowed to give lower than a 50% even on work not turned in. And districts have set passing at 50% Attendance counts for nothing. Students are actively encouraged to.cheat with AI. Many are passed along even though they know nothing and have learned nothing.
Not only that, but the global marketplace is increasingly competitive, and most studnets need STEM courses to survive the demands of the job market.
And now, you have a school in which students actually want more rigorous training. They crave an education, and you’re going to deny them that? It’s fine to have developmental coursework for the lowest 5% but not advanced coursework for the top 5%? That’s not diversity. That’s not equity. That’s denying students what they want and need for vague principles that do not make sense.
Your lack of logic is astounding.
The teachers at PAUSD seem to be living in an alternate reality – if they believe that the value of multivariable calculus for our kids is the same as the value of advanced dance classes. They push the woke agenda and focus on preventing kids from achieving, rather than helping them succeed.
We need a school board & school administration that fight those absurd tendencies.
Hey,I don’t live in California, so I was just reading this. As a chemist, I say that your contempt for ballet and the arts is uneducated. It is clear people like you only watch put for ypur own children, the rest of the community be damned.
With high school curricula dumbed down for so many years, it’s refreshing to see school districts that offer kids the opportunity to master key skills even before they enter college. This class should definitely be offered if they have someone who can teach it. Jobs in this area tend to require even higher STEM skills that ever. Good-paying jobs that is.
Also, for those wanting to do the math on this, the district has 4,000 high school students. 6% of students taking this class would be 240 students, or about 60 students a year. That means running 3-4 sections, which would likely fill out the schedule of the person currently teaching AP Calc. It’s not the miniscule number they’re making it out to be.