Having been around since the ‘80s, the Interactive Math Program (IMP) provides a safe space for students to work together on solving math problems that differ from traditional math classes. However, the class is in danger of being cut from the math curriculum.
IMP is an alternative honors math class offered for sophomores, juniors and seniors. The course is centered around unit problems that contain real-world applications. Unlike traditional math courses, IMP incorporates different math concepts into each unit. The class is investigation-based that prioritizes group project work.
Junior Gianna Gravina enrolled in IMP for two years. Gravina said her favorite part of the class is the group work learning style.
“IMP has made math easier to learn. It added logic to a subject that never made sense to me,” Gravina said. “I would recommend [IMP to] anyone who is good at explaining their work and likes working with people.”
Unlike a typical math course, IMP has a writing component to the class. Students receive problems of the week where they must think outside the box and learn how to express their thinking through writing. As opposed to only having traditional exams, IMP is graded based on their portfolios where students can describe their understanding of the class.
Danielle Rabina has been teaching IMP for nearly 25 years. To this day, Rabina said her favorite part about the class is helping students who did not love math learn to feel confident with it.
“It has a magical way of creating a really tight-knit community in the classroom that just feels very different from one of these other courses,” Rabina said.
Previously, IMP was offered for sophomores, juniors and seniors. However, this year, juniors are the only students enrolled in the course. IMP has had a much lower demonstrated interest this school year compared to the years before COVID-19.
Math Curriculum Coordinator Joshua Paris said IMP is in danger of being cut if there continues to be a lack of student interest.
“We are only offering IMP [for juniors] this year because we didn’t get enough students signing up for IMP 2 [Honor] last year,” Paris said. “We had around 15 students sign up for it, and I can’t run a class with just 15 kids.”
In previous years, there would be different advertising approaches; students would go to freshman classes and promote IMP or the class would be advertised through a meeting with the PTO to explain IMP to parents. During the pandemic students made a website along with a video, to proceed with the recruitment process virtually. Although the first year was a success, enrollment in the years following dwindled.
Rabina said it is hard to continue a class when the school is uncertain about how many students are going to sign up for it each year.
“This year there has been a serious budget crisis, and in order for IMP to make financial sense, they need really robust sections,” Rabina said. “I know my students really want to continue to have the high school offer it, but at the same time, I recognize that for the town, it’s hard to run these one or two-section classes.”
Paris said the high school is one of the few schools that still offers IMP, and he hopes they will not need to cut the class.
“I think it’s a great program. I think one of the things that makes Brookline High School such a unique place is the diversity of programs that we have, in addition to just the traditional pathways in all of the disciplines,” Paris said. “In math, we have the IMP program, Data Science [and Social Justice] and Perspectives of the Mathematical Mind; in social studies, there is Social Justice and Racial Awareness. I think those courses are what set Brookline High School apart.”
