Want to know what's going on in the math world? You better be reading Mathematically Correct's "Hot Topics." For example, there's the recent Hoover Institution's article on California's new crisis. No, not the budget - algebra:
Recent reports have stressed the importance of algebra in middle school; students who succeed in algebra usually do better in the rest of school and in their careers than those who do not. Well-intentioned school administrators often hope that early enrollment in algebra will reduce the achievement gap attributed to race or family income. Hence enrollments in middle-school courses called "Algebra" have increased. But judging from results on objective statewide tests, many middle-school students are not learning the subject, even those with passing grades.
The strongest predictor of failure to learn algebra is not race or income; it is a lack of adequate academic preparation. The problem begins before students get to their first algebra class. Many school districts have watered down the content of pre-algebra courses, removing important but difficult material...
No district in California is more guilty of misguided placement strategies than the San Diego City Schools. The results are disastrous. Failing to learn algebra in eighth grade results in large numbers of students repeating algebra in ninth grade, even though success is not ensured the second time around.
I wasn't aware that algebra mastery was correlated with success in other classes. I admit I hated the stuff until I got the hang of it, although I never really "liked" math until I took calculus in college. Had I not been forced to struggle through Algebra I and II in high school, though, I would not have been ready for the good stuff in college.
Regardless, while algebra in eighth grade is a worthy goal, students won't have a chance unless they master mathematical concepts in the earlier grades. Much better to have a rigorous eighth-grade pre-algebra course than to push students into algebra before they are prepared, thus ensuring that they will dislike and fear the subject even more the second time around.
Mathematically Correct also has a link to the group NYC HOLD on Mathematics; one of the site authors is Bas Braams, to whom I permalinked long ago.
Anyway, HOLD stands for Honest Open Logical Debate, and the group was formed to address the "mediocre" math education in the US today, as well as the recent math reform efforts taking place in NYC. Their links provide a wealth of information; I confess to having had no idea that an education committee meeting on mathematics education was taking place in NYC this week. You can read two letters from HOLD founders Elizabeth Carson and Bas Braams, addressed to Ms. Eva Moskowitz, NYC Council Committee on Education Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein on this site; Bas, in particular, doesn't mince words:
This email is intended as written testimony in connection with the education committee meeting on mathematics education, today, Wednesday November 5, 2003...This testimony will be brief and will rely heavily on previous contributions, referenced here, which may all be found on the NYC HOLD Web site...
[Re: The mandated K-5 mathematics curriculum, Everyday Mathematics]
My conclusion based on careful review of Everyday Mathematics for grades 3-5 and other reviews for earlier grades is that the Chancellor has mandated a bad program. The program requires massive supplementation from the start in order to avoid complete failure. Indeed, the Chancellor has selected with Everyday Mathematics also a supplementary program, Math Steps, but this just highlights the absurdity of the original choice.
There are fine textbooks available, but Everyday Mathematics is not among them. I doubt that a single curriculum should have been mandated across all schools, and would have been more sympathetic to a policy that relies on clear grade by grade standards from which is derived a limited choice of supported textbooks. In that case, the textbooks that were selected in California based on their very clear mathematics standards would be the first to consider. I remark that Everyday Mathematics was twice rejected in the California textbook adoption process.
Posted by kswygert at November 6, 2003 08:59 PM