Options At Clayton High School

Integrated Math (Core Plus) is the "recommended curriculum" for non-honors students at CHS. Few parents know that there is an option for traditional math available to all CHS students. This option was returned to CHS in the 2005/06 school year after a group of concerned parents successfully petitioned the Board of Education to offer a choice other than Integrated Math for non-honors students. This traditional track of mathematics was taught for years at CHS prior to the implementation of Integrated Math in 2000. It is also the kind of mathematics that is taught at the majority of high schools across the country, as well as in the St. Louis area, and is the same type of math that most parents were taught in high school.

Should you wish to have your student take traditional math, you simply sign up for the traditional math option, (no override or other special form necessary), which starts with Geometry freshman year. This is the same curriculum that is taught to the brightest math students at CHS, but at a slower pace. Since Integrated Math is the "recommended curriculum" it is promoted more than traditional math, and many are simply unaware of the choice that is available to them.

The traditional math option (often referred to as the alternate option by CHS staff) for Non-Honors students follows this progression of courses:

Geometry
Algebra II
Functions, Statistics and Trigonometry
Pre-Calculus and Discrete Mathematics