What does the math curriculum look like at the #1 ranked high school for STEM in Cobb County?

It starts with fourth and fifth graders working two years ahead in math and ends in the Upper School, with 19 students enrolled in post-AP Calculus courses. Welcome to Walker!
In addition to Calculus AB and BC, Walker students can also take Advanced Topics, Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus in Upper School.

“These are the types of classes I saw in year two or three in college as a math major,” said Walker Math Department Chair Erika Treu. “We started the Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus classes 15 years ago because the interest was there. Those first classes just had four students in them, but today they are the biggest they have ever been.”

What makes these high-level classes especially unique is that they are taught by Walker faculty and not through dual enrollment.

 
Students who take Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra are also eligible to earn college credit through the Georgia Tech Distance Math program. The course curriculum is dictated by Georgia Tech and the content is taught by Treu at Walker. Tests are created and administered by Georgia Tech and proctored at Walker.

“Our students are taking these courses here from our teachers and not learning remotely from someone else, which is unusual,” said Rob Holman, who teaches the Advanced Topics in Mathematics course at Walker. The course, which started in 2002, began as a way to serve two tenth graders who were already taking AP Calculus.

“Our Upper School requires four years of math and they had already taken everything we offered. That first class began as way to give them an opportunity to go farther,” he said.

Advanced Topics in Mathematics, which has been offered at Walker for over 25 years, can be taken alongside or after AP Calculus AB or BC and is offered as a semester or full-year course. Because the class does not have an AP test at the end, there is flexibility in the curriculum depending on student interest. Topics covered could include game theory, high level counting and probability, graph theory, chaos theory and even some programming.

 
“These courses give kids a better sense of what college-level math is really like,” said Holman. “Advanced Topics is more or less a course that most math majors would take in college after calculus when they are getting into their math major content.”

These advanced classes also provide value for students who are not planning to pursue a math or engineering degree.

“I tell a lot of rising seniors, if you major in math, you will see the types of things we do in this class along the way. But even if you are not a math major, you will be exposed to things like symbolic logic and proof writing that will help you in all subjects – and this may be your only chance to take a class like this,” said Holman.

In many ways, these high-level math classes are a complete departure from the typical Upper School curriculum, which builds towards calculus. But Walker students are prepared to tackle this level of difficulty because of the way they have been taught along the way, Holman said.

Even in Lower School, through the iReady program, all students – through the standard curriculum – are evaluated and provided with the remediation and enrichment they need in their everyday math classes. Students are diagnostically evaluated at the beginning of the year and top scorers are exposed to more advanced concepts.

 
“We have fourth and fifth graders now doing sixth-grade math and second graders taking third- and fourth-grade math. They are working at least a year ahead based on national norms,” said Head of Lower School Dr. Kathy Meskell. “We started this because we had kids who could do higher-level math and we wanted to keep them challenged. We knew they could do more.”

“Kids here can try so many different things,” said Holman. “The amount of choice they have in building whatever their four years will look like is really unbelievable. Even if you are in Algebra I in ninth grade and not a ‘math person’ yet, if you discover that interest, you can jump in, double-up and get to Advanced Topics by senior year. We can meet you where you are – not just in math, but in every department. We can help you pursue your interests as far as you want to take them.”

In Middle School, rising seventh and eighth graders can take Geometry over the summer or double-up on Algebra II and Geometry within the school year. Eighth graders in Honors Geometry are typically around two years ahead of the national norm.

 
“Our students feel empowered to push themselves because they know they will get the support they need,” said Treu. “These kids are just thirsty for information. They are getting a chance to take these courses in a supportive environment before they get to college and into their majors. I have former students email me all of the time and say that they took these courses in college and were able to breeze through them because they were so well-prepared.”