Friday, April 17, 2009
A cursory reading of an interview published in the April 10, 2009 issue of Science might lead one to think that Arne Duncan, President Obama's Secretary of Education, supports an Algebra 1 requirement for all 8th grade students. However, that false impression is obtained only because of what is most likely an error made by the interviewer (he said ?eighth? when he meant ?ninth?), which the Secretary did not correct.
The interviewer asked Mr. Duncan, former head of the Chicago Public Schools, the following question, ?A new study in Chicago found that requiring algebra in eighth grade led to more failures and no increased ability by students to do higher-level math. Do we need to rethink that strategy? Is there a flaw in that approach??
His response was, ?Not at all. I think we need to dramatically raise the quality of teaching at the elementary level. When you face a challenge, you don?t lower the bar.? He then went on to elaborate on the need to send many teachers back to school in grades six, seven and eight so that they can strengthen their knowledge of the subject and their ability to teach it. He said, ?If we can dramatically increase that pool of talent, all the way down to pre-K, where we have teachers who know the content and have the ability to teach it well, you?ll see those numbers (of students who succeed in Algebra) go up dramatically. So you don?t drop the bar when you hit a bump on the road. You just have to figure out how to fix the pipeline.?
However it is most likely that the interviewer was actually referring to the recently published study conducted by the Consortium on Chicago School Research. That study, conducted with 160,000 high school students, investigated the effect of the requirement that all students take Algebra I in the 9th grade (not 8th grade), and found that it raised the failure rate and did not lead to an increased in the percentage of students taking higher level math later in their high school career.
It is clear from Mr. Duncan?s response, in which he mentions the need to have 6th, 7th AND 8th grade teachers be better prepared, that he had in mind the 9th grade algebra requirement for all students. Additionally, he would not have used the expression of ?When you face a challenge, you don?t lower the bar,? in a situation that would essentially be that of setting a NEW bar, namely requiring students to take algebra a year earlier than is normally the case.
Hence, does Obama?s Secretary of Education favor requiring all students to take Algebra 1 in the 8th grade, a move being considered by various states? At least at the present time, he does not. Indeed, in a March interview in Business Week, he stated, ?We?ve got to push to get more kids taking algebra in the 8th grade, and then you start to think about calculus in the fourth year [of high school].? However, this is a far cry from the impression that was conveyed by the Science interview, namely, that he favored an 8th grade algebra requirement for all students.
Even though he was evidently referring to the difficulty so many students have meeting the 9th grade algebra requirement, the Secretary did say that we do not simply ?drop the bar when we hit a bump on the road. You just have to figure out how to fix the pipeline.? Well, if this is a bump, it is quite a huge one. A report issued by the National Research Council in 1998 noted that Algebra 1 is ?an unmitigated disaster for most students.?
In Clark County, Nevada, 90.5 percent of 17,586 students who took the new end of semester Algebra 1 exam in January 2008 failed, scoring at 59 percent or lower. Hence, before anyone can even consider requiring Algebra 1 for 8th graders, it would be advisable to develop the means by which a large proportion of the students taking Algebra 1 in the 9th grade are able to succeed.
The Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) noted that, ?Many students also have difficulty grasping the syntax or structure of algebraic expressions and do not understand procedures for transforming equations or why transformations are done the way they are.? What this means is that the students lack the most basic tools to be able to experience success in algebra. It is like saying that we want students to drive from NYC to Miami even though they do not know how to maneuver the car, they do not know the rules of the road, and they do not know where they wish to go.
Hence prior to students entering a regular Algebra 1 course, the students should be proficient in working with linear equations. Indeed, there is strong evidence, that with the instructional system I developed, known as Hands-On Equations®, not only 8th grade students but even 4th grade inner city students can experience a high level of success with equations such as 4x + 3 = 3x + 9. (Borenson and Barber, 2008)
Hence, before we even consider setting a NEW, lower bar for students of requiring them to take Algebra 1 in the 8th grade, let us first demonstrate that we can dramatically raise the success level of students who will be taking Algebra 1 in the 9th grade. Let us provide students, certainly in the 8th grade, but even in the elementary school with a solid algebraic foundation so that they understand the language of algebra and can solve simple equations and word problems?and enjoy doing so.
Henry Borenson is a mathematics educator. He is President of Borenson and Associates, Inc., in Allentown, PA. Since 1990, he and his associates have conducted more than 2500 Making Algebra Child?s Play® workshops for more than 25,000 elementary and middle school teachers.
References
Bach, Lisa Kim. 91% + 87% + 88% = FAILED. New math tests overwhelm large percentage of Clark County high school students. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Mar. 27, 2008
Borenson, Henry and Larry W. Barber. The Effect of Hands-On Equations on the Learning of Algebra by 4th and 5th Graders of the Broward County Public Schools. Borenson and Associates, Inc., 2008
An Interview with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Science 10 April 2009: Vol. 324. no. 5924, p. 159. DOI: 10.1126/science.324.5924.159
Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Pane. Washington, D.C. Page 60.
The Obama Education Plan: Math, Science and Rigor. Business Week. March 23 and 30, 2009.
Viadero, Debra. Algebra for All Policy Found to Raise Failure in Chicago. Education Week. March 11, 2009.