I'll admit it: I subscribe to a daily email from ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) that contains daily news about education. I do this partly because Earlham is paying for my ASCD membership, partly because each email ends with an interesting quotation, and partly because there are some articles that grab me. Today's email contained the quotation: "Whenever the world throws rose petals at you, which thrill and seduce the ego, beware," from Anne Lamott. It also contained an article about the state universities of Massachusetts raising the number of math classes applicants must have taken in high school.
The article can be found here, on Boston.com. The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education approved it in an effort to boost college completion rates and expose students from lower-income backgrounds to a curriculum that will better prepare them for college.
I have mixed feelings about this. As a scientist, I strongly believe that students need math. Not just so that they can function if all the calculators in the world died, but also the learn the problem solving skills that they can apply throughout their lives. However, after spending a year in the classroom, I have realized that there are some students who, despite their best efforts, will not be able to pass four years of math in high school. In fact, the school I am currently at is adding a new math class next year, as a step between 8th grade math and algebra. We are doing this in order to better prepare students who struggle with math for the Algebra End of Course Assessment. The state mandates that you must pass this test to graduate. If the school keeps this class after the first year, it will not count towards the credits needed for their high school diploma.
Which would create a situation similar to my friend's placement in a neighboring school. He teaches pre-algebra to 9th graders. Essentially, he is teaching the same class as I am to my 8th graders. But his students cannot count the math class towards their diploma. They are still required to take 3 more years of math afterwards. If they fail one of those years, they will not be able to graduate in time, significantly hurting them, and the school's ratings. There is no way that the majority of students in this area could take four years of math before college. I really like that Massachusetts is trying to raise the expectation, but it could also turn away students who would succeed in college. Maybe a better way would be to require all incoming freshman to take a survey of math course fall of freshman year. They could option to test out of the class if they were advanced math students. Many colleges have freshman take a writing seminar, yet math is just as important.
OMS you mentioned me in your blog!!?! I feel so important. : P
ReplyDeleteWell, speaking as the abovementioned friend, I find it really interesting that your placement school is moving in this direction, while we are actually doing exactly the opposite. My placement school wants to drop the 9th grade Pre-Algebra class entirely, and actually already has. The Pre-Algebra class was spent exposing the students to as much algebra material as possible while drilling certain skills that will be necessary the next year. [especially solving linear equations and graphing]. That way when they get to the mainstream Algebra I course, they will have some foreknowledge of what they will be seeing, and will have the basic skillset necessary to move forward.
The justification for removing the course was, essentially, why not just let them have a crack at the Algebra material once? Some will get it and be able to move on to the second half of the course right away, but others will take a little longer and need to repeat the first half. Repeating the course the second time, after knowing what to expect and what areas need improvement, usually ends up being easier.
In my experience, the main problem with having a 9th grade Pre-Algebra class is the fact that, like you mentioned, it can't count as a high school math credit. This takes away a lot of incentive for students to even try in the course. If they're not getting anything out of it, why should they do any work? [Of course, this is the student's thought process; we can argue that they are getting preparation to succeed in Algebra I but that won't be enough for a fourteen-year-old.] Putting all freshmen in the Algebra I course and saying 'You're here till you get it done' conveys a couple important messages to students: (1) that the school does, in fact, believe that you are capable of doing Algebra-level work and not that you're 'still not ready' or 'still not good enough', and (2) that you as the student are driving your own progress here, and if you need one semester to master the material you take one and if you need three you take three, but we'll help you through until you finish. Personally, I think this tack does a lot to help students see that the school's goal is to help them pass Algebra, and it gives students more short-term motivation to succeed, which they need.
The reason I address this so in-depth is that I think Massachusetts is in danger of causing the same type of de-motivation [if that's a word] that a 9th grade Pre-Algebra class causes. Students see that colleges are stressing math, yes, but students are rather short-sighted. If the message they get from colleges is 'We don't want you unless you're this good', there is a huge chance that they'll give up before even trying to make it, even if they might actually be successful in college.
Of course, this is all outside of the 'Does everyone need a college education?' and 'Is everyone entitled to a college education?' questions. : P So basically this long message was to say that I agree with you that Massachusetts could be turning away some potentially successful students, and that I'm not so sure that adding in the 9th grade Pre-Algebra course really helps students as much as we sometimes hope it will.