Harvard students are doing extremely well in math, outperforming students in many other affluent towns, Bromfield math department Chairman Russell Wass told the school board January 22. Wass backed up that statement with a slew of statistics showing Harvard’s students excelling on MCAS tests, SAT tests, and Advanced Placement (AP) exams, and in math competitions. He also used his presentation as an opportunity to lobby for the proposed increase of two new math teachers at Bromfield, arguing that class sizes have grown so much that future achievements could be jeopardized.

There are higher expectations in math at Bromfield than in the past, Wass explained. For example, 41 students are currently taking AP calculus classes, a much higher number than before. In addition, some students are taking a non-advanced placement calculus class. Over-all, perhaps two-thirds of Bromfield students take calculus, compared to one-quarter of U.S. high school students, Wass said in an interview last week.

While a large number of Harvard’s students take AP calculus, they clearly are mastering the subject, because their scores on the AP test are quite a bit higher than the national average. Most took AP calculus AB [an “easier” class than AP calculus BC], averaging a score of 4.9 (out of 5.0). Nationally, the average score is 3.0. Bromfield also offers an AP statistics course, with similar results; students here score an average of 4.3, while nationally students average 2.9 on the test.

To fit calculus in, some students have to take two math courses in 10th grade, studying both algebra II and geometry then. This is one of the reasons Harvard does so well on the 10th-grade state MCAS math test, Wass believes. For 2006, 84 percent of the 10th-graders scored in the advanced category for MCAS, with another 10 percent scoring in the proficient category. None failed the test. In fact, all of Bromfield’s students did very well in the 2006 MCAS math tests, with grades 6 and 8 scoring in the 99th percentile, and grades 7 and 10 scoring in the 95th percentile, according to Wass.

In addition, Bromfield’s average math SAT score last year was 599, while the state average was 534, and the national average was 518. Wass said that he is particularly pleased that Harvard’s girls scored very nearly as high on the SAT math test as the boys; the girls scored 595, versus 603 for the boys. “The U.S. gender gap [in math SAT scores] is 34, but ours is only eight,” Wass noted.

Many local students compete in math tournaments, and do very well. In fact, Bromfield just received an award from the Elizabeth Haskins math competition at Fitchburg State College, for having the most top math competitors over the last 25 years.

One of the math department’s concerns for the future is the “No Child Left Behind” federal law, which mandates that different categories of children make adequate yearly progress in math. While the school has tested well enough to meet these provisions, “the bar has been raised again,” Wass said. The special education students’ subgroup is a concern, with the math teachers fearing they may not make enough gains to meet the provisions of the law in the future.

Wass said that the math department is committed to working to bring all students up to a proficient level in math, and has a special program for the weaker math students in the sixth and seventh grades, called “Math Plus.” This program is vital, giving students extra math help, according to Wass. The math department has also been working to make the transition from the elementary school to Bromfield’s math classes easier, he said.

Another area of concern is the size of many math classes this year, Wass said in a recent interview. Out of 35 Bromfield math classes, six have 30 or more students, and 17 have at least 25 pupils. The math department believes that a class size of 19 or 20 students is optimal. If Bromfield can hire two new math teachers, as the schools requested in next year’s budget, then the average class size could be lowered to 19, and the school could offer some math classes that it currently is unable to provide, he said.