When Howard Fuller became Milwaukee’s superintendent in 1991, he pushed the district to offer no math course on the high school level lower than algebra. His reasoning was that algebra was a gatekeeper for college entrance. Far too many Milwaukee students never took algebra and could not gain entry into college without remediation.
In some places, the situation hasn’t changed much. Nationally about 14 percent of all high schools don’t even offer algebra destroying the ability of many students to even enter college. Most of these schools are in poor and minority areas according to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
In reaction to low expectations, many school systems are pushing algebra into earlier grades. California made algebra concepts part of the 8th grade end-of-year math test in 1998. So does that mean we should throw every child into algebra as early as possible?
The research coming back from both California and Charlotte-Meckenburg, NC, raises some major concerns. Those studies show that if students are not ready for algebra and are thrown into algebra course work on a sink or swim basis, far too many students will simply sink. These studies showed that students who were pushed into 8th grade algebra and still had not mastered basic math were less likely to take more advanced math classes later in high school, and if they did, they were less likely to be successful than students who were placed in math remediation before they took algebra.
So putting every student into algebra class as soon as possible clearly isn’t the answer. However, that does not mean students should be tracked, never to see basic algebra. Rather students must be grounded in basic math before they take algebra.
That starts in the elementary grades. Researchers suggest introducing algebra concepts early and lengthening algebra content courses over several years especially for low performing students.
To that end, Milwaukee Public Schools has standardized its math program on the elementary level, and we are beginning to see positive results. That should translate into higher algebra scores later on.
We must remediate students’ deficiencies, not just dump them into algebra to either sink or swim. Far too many students will simply sink.
