In Richardton-Taylor's January school board meeting, the school informed the board of a new fast-track math option for high schoolers that will allow them to reach Calculus class by graduation.
"We have some students that we want them to try to get to Calculus while they're seniors," said Misti Vogle, secondary principal, observing that Calculus helps aid college and ACT preparation.
Kayla Zent, math teacher, said students in the middle school already have a "fast-track option" in which they could go straight from seventh-grade math to taking Algebra I in eighth grade, bypassing Pre-Algebra. However, one year that option wasn't offered, which meant that the highest math those students could reach upon graduating high school would have been Pre-Calculus.
"So this is just for that group that one year when they didn't get split so that they still have the option," Zent said. "Otherwise, there's a lot of kids in that class who excel in math (who) wouldn't be able to get to that higher level math class."
The high school fast-track option will also benefit future students who choose not to skip Pre-Algebra in eighth grade or are not ready to do so at the time, Zent said.
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"If they catch on and they're starting to move, and they can move faster, we're going to make sure that they can get to their higher option," said Vogle.
If the students choose the new fast-track math option, they will take two math courses during their sophomore year-Algebra II in the classroom and Geometry online, which will be offered through the North Dakota Center for Distance Education.
"(When) it's over at the North Dakota Center of Distance Education, they pay ($139), but if they pass it, the school pays it and we give them their money back," Vogle said. "If they don't pass it, then they pay it."
The school board also received a construction update. Construction in the art, music and business rooms is finished, and the shop and CTE classrooms are scheduled to be completed by the 21st.
