State education leaders are revising their draft standards that would make fundamental changes to how students -- especially high school students -- learn and engage with math.

But some State Board of Education members wondered how many of the new classes high school students would have access to, especially at smaller high schools or in schools that struggle to hire math teachers.

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"What tools will be in place so that we have an equity of opportunity statewide?" asked Kimberly Jones, a Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools high school teacher and adviser to the board.

The state Department of Public Instruction is already thinking about that, said Charles Aiken, section chief of the department's math, science and STEM wing. That could end up being from sending the student to another nearby high school or offering the class virtually, something the state already does for some classes that are otherwise unavailable. Aiken said he doesn't want to force high school students to take a math class they don't want to, after Math 1 and Math 2.

 The proposed new math standards would emphasize teaching students math skills through real-life problem-solving, thought to be more engaging and relevant to students. The other major proposed change is to drop the requirements for Math 3 and drop Math 4 as a class entirely. Instead, the state would require students to take two classes out of a suite of options heavy on statistics, calculus and other advanced math. Those class options could be paired together to align with students' career interests, outlined for them by a school counselor.  

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released its first draft of these changes in late 2025 and outlined ideas for changes in its second draft on Wednesday to the State Board of Education.

The board approves changes to state academic standards. No vote is likely for several more months. The standards wouldn't be fully implemented until the 2028-29 school year, according to a tentative timeline.

The department won't release the second draft until later in April and is only planning to present overarching ideas and changes for the next draft Wednesday, according to a department spokesman. Draft writers are still finalizing the details. After the draft is released, the department will seek input on them from schools across the state and others for 30 days.

Draft revisions aren't always significant, but DPI officials do them to respond to any feedback they get after presenting their last draft. DPI plans three total drafts for the math standards.

In compiling their first draft, DPI surveyed and met with hundreds of educators and researchers.

The department tries to revise its academic standards every five to seven years for every subject area, based on any new research or experiences with the current standards, though sometimes more years than that pass.

On Tuesday, DPI leaders presented their draft revisions to a state legislative committee, where lawmakers expressed an interest in improving young students' math skills and getting more students to show career and college readiness on state standardized tests.

DPI's goal is to increase the number of students testing at that level from more than one-third to two-thirds within a handful of years.

The department hasn't yet priced out what the changes to math standards would cost, in large part because they are not final.

Aiken said officials have talked to states that have already made similar changes or are trying to. They're getting feedback on textbooks for the proposed new advanced courses. Aiken doesn't believe textbooks would need to change much or at all for kindergarten through eighth grade, but schools would still need to have professional development for teachers on the new standards.