Southeast will no longer be teaching College Algebra courses, but algebra will still be taught, according to Tamela Randolph, chairperson and professor in the Department of Mathematics at the university..
“College algebra was intended to be a prerequisite for calculus,” Randolph said. “It wasn’t intended for journalism majors or art majors or whomever.”
The move to change the curriculum started in 2014 when the Missouri Mathematics Pathways Task Force was created. The task force consists of representatives from every two-year and four-year university in the state. Out of the 27 university that make up the task force, 25 of them are making this change.
Currently, the proposal is being reviewed by Southeast. To make the change by fall 2018, Missouri colleges are required to receive approval of this curriculum change by Jan. 1. If the change is not approved, math classes will not transfer to other universities. This change to the curriculum will officially begin in fall 2018.
Randolph understands if students want to wait until the curriculum changes to take their math class, however, if students wait a semester their possibly of success might go down, according to Randolph.
“I hope if people need a math class they take it when they need it,” she said.
With teaching so many majors, Randolph said they are not serving the science, technology, engineering and math (or STEM) majors to the best of their ability. With this change, majors who do not need precalculus will not have to take it. Students will be able to take Reasoning and Modeling, Numbers and Operations for Education or Statistical Reasoning.
“I think this offers the class the students need for their particular major,” she said.
As of right now, Randolph is not sure which majors will be required to take Precalculus A, however, she knows business majors and STEM majors will most likely have to take it to meet their degree requirements.
“We’re not going to teach a class called college algebra anymore, we are going to teach a class called Precalculus A, which will have all of the college algebra content in it but it will be a deeper, richer course and it will have some additional content in it as prescribed by some state guidelines,” she said.
Right now, Precalculus A and Precalculus A with integrated review is being developed to have a seamless transition for students, according to Randolph.
