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Some eighth-grade students and their parents are frustrated after two math classes were cut county-wide a month into the school year, but Prince George's County school officials say the change was made to help students.

Course 3 math, a middle-level math course, and the Algebraic Thinking course, were eliminated as of Sept. 22. Eighth-graders enrolled in these classes were moved up to Algebra/Data Analysis and required to take the Algebra I High School Assessment after finishing the class or moved down to America's Choice Ramp Up, designated for students at least one year behind in math.

Denise Jordan of Mitchellville, whose daughter Tanesha Jordan is an eighth-grader at Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Mitchellville, questioned the change. Tanesha was bumped up to Algebra/Data Analysis.

"Why wasn't this planned prior to the school year?" Denise Jordan asked. "One month into school kids are getting their schedules changed. This was a drastic change."

Tanesha Jordan said the change will help her be more prepared for Algebra I in high school next fall but isn't sure why the change was made. Students were told only days before they started their new math classes.

"It's basically the same as Course 3; we're going back over the information," she said. "Sometimes I'm confused because of the way the equations are set up and how to do them. I kinda get it. Then I don't. I feel that it's easy, but it takes some time to get used to because I'm not at that exact level. It's something to get used to."

Geno Flores, county schools' chief academic officer, says school officials want to help students be prepared for the HSA, a test that measures school and individual student progress in English, government, Algebra/Data Analysis and biology.

"We want to make sure our students are prepared for the HSA, and we want to ensure that students were receiving proper placement in math. We believe more students should take algebra by eighth grade."

Teachers at Ernest Everett Just Middle School have complained about a lack of time for preparation, and parents have said the change was rushed and that advanced notice should have been given, said the school's principal, Carlton Carter.

"We have all our textbooks, and it seems the transition has been made," Carter said. "We will only know when we take our unit test in a couple of weeks how students are doing."

Omar Gobourne, principal at Thomas Johnson Middle School in Lanham, said the changes will benefit students in the long run.

"I think everyone would have liked to start this in the summer, but I've heard responses from teachers [that] this will be OK," Gobourne said. "Parents seem to be more positive because I think some parents have thought we need to have students be more challenged in math. I'm expecting my students to do well."

Principal Maurice Wright at Kettering Middle School in Upper Marlboro did not return calls by press time.

Roric Wells, vice president of the PTSA at Ernest Everett Just Middle, said he thought the school system made a good decision to restructure the math courses but doesn't like the way the change was implemented.

"It makes it look like it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of decision," he said. "Next year it will probably by great, but what about the kids that suffered this year?"

Last year, about 2,900 eighth-graders, or 30 percent of the eighth grade class, took algebra with an 89 percent pass rate on the Algebra/Data Analysis HSA, Flores said. The school system's goal is for the same percentage of students who took Algebra I last year to be in the course this year, he said.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.