Declining enrollment in class numbers and sizes in the Fremont Union High School District has left many Cupertino departments to deal with the negative effects. Advanced Placement Statistics and the math department, however, have been resilient to most of the changes. While AP Statistics has faced a declining number of classes, an influx in the student-teacher ratio and even the loss of a teacher, their curriculum and instruction style remain consistent.
Electives such as foreign languages and drama have been facing the brunt of declining enrollment changes, while many core curriculum classes have been mostly steady in their sizes. April Williams, one of the two AP Statistics teachers on campus, attributes this to the practicality of math classes as many Cupertino students plan on going into an engineering or math-based field.
Still, AP Statistics has faced some small-scale changes after decreasing from eight sections in previous years to seven sections this year. This increases the number of students per class, with this year’s classes averaging closer to forty students than thirty. AP math classes tend to have higher numbers of students to keep the graduation requirement courses smaller and more supportive.
The math department and AP Statistics have remained resilient despite these differences.
“It’s not impacting the way we teach in class. It’s not impacting the resources that the students have–we’re still able to deliver an effective curriculum,” said Williams.
While there have been no extensive changes this year, declining enrollment could potentially affect the course in the coming years. With fewer total class periods, each teacher will likely have to take on more periods, increasing their workload.
“We’ll have less time and effort to dedicate individually to each [class], and it will spread us thin,” Williams said. “It will make it more difficult to maintain the levels of activities that we’re doing.”
Another possible consequence could be losing a teacher, which for a class like AP Statistics, means there will only be one teacher managing the entire course.
Said Williams, “Then that teacher won’t be collaborating […] They don’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of or look over their quiz draft for errors.”
Some teachers may also have to work split-site, commuting between multiple schools in the district to support the decreasing population.
There are various potential negative impacts declining enrollment could have on AP Statistics, but for now, the math department remains confident in its abilities to support students and provide a thorough and complete education for all of their courses.
