Last month, the State Board of Education unanimously shifted away from a 15-year policy of expecting eighth-graders to take Algebra I. The state will allow them to take either Algebra I or an alternate course that includes some algebra. New state standardized tests will focus on the alternate course -- the same one adopted by most states under the Common Core curriculum being rolled out across the nation.
Supporters welcome the change as more in line with current practice, of schools offering two tracks of math for eighth-graders. But critics fear that the new standard will let schools avoid offering rigorous courses for all. They point to a report released last week showing that some schools are not placing black and Latino students in advanced math courses even when they're prepared.
The change is controversial because success in Algebra I is the single best predictor of college graduation.
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Algebra is too hard?
ReplyDeleteOkay, let's cut it.
What else can we cut to make sure our test scores don't suggest we're failing as an educational system?
I spend more and more time in my freshman classes teaching things that used to be taught in high school. Occasionally, after a full 16 weeks, I've got a class of people who are NOW ready for the college challenges.
ReplyDeleteIt was not always this way. I don't presume to know anything about what goes in the high school districts that feed my college, but it's different, and it has resulted in more and more students showing up in my class who have no ability to actually understand the class.
It's almost as if high schools, in fear for their existence, are pushing students through in order to avoid being labeled "dropout factories."
DeleteIn completely unrelated news, high school graduation rates are at a 40-year high.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-22/local/36472838_1_graduation-rate-dropout-rate-asian-students
I didn't take Algebra until the 9th grade, since it wasn't offered until then. Of course, that was 1967. . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm not a meth teacher, but if math teachers are saying that some kids might not be ready for Algebra in the 8th grade, I'd tend to think they know what they're talking about, absent evidence to the contrary.
ReplyDeleteI used to teach AP Hamster History to 10th graders, and I still argue strenuously that that course is not developmentally appropriate for high school sophomores. Can many kids do well in the course? Yes, sure, if "doing well" means they earn a 5 (the highest score) on the AP test. Is it a good course? Hells no. 10th graders tend to make huge strides in their ability to think abstractly and express themselves cogently. Can I spend quality time helping them develop their intellectual sophistication and writing ability? Naw, son! I gotta cover 700 years of hamster history, so strap in tight because it's gonna be 9 months of warp-speed rote memorization. Broad-but-shallow wins the day, but hell, it's "college prep" so it must be good, right?
Yeah, I'm not a "meth" teacher. Sheesh. I did spend part of the weekend watching season 5 of "Breaking Bad", though.
ReplyDeleteAlgebra may be helpful for meth production. After all, they do want chemists.
DeleteThis doesn't surprise me. When I started my teaching job in the late 1980s, I had students, many of whom were fresh out of high school, who couldn't do simple algebra or trigonometry. During my last year at that institution, that hadn't changed except they were relying more on their calculators to do that sort of thing. Of course, they didn't understand a thing about what those mathematical operations or concepts actually meant.
ReplyDelete