Timing for Algebra 1 (Victoria?)

Our public middle school has taught algebra in 8th grade for a long time; they offer two levels, one an intro. designed for students who will be repeating Algebra 1 in high school, and one a fast track algebra for students who will be testing out of freshman Algebra 1; the kids are tested and placed at the end of 7th grade. I think it’s a good system(our school does not offer a gifted program at all) for both LD kids like my 6th grader who will probably repeat algebra as a 9th grader, and for my younger son who is very advanced in math and bored in elementary school math. There is also a lower level 8th grade math class for kids going to voc/tech high school or not ready for algebra. This is a 750+ student middle school. Our elementary schools use the Investigations curriculum and introduce algebra concepts early, which my LD son liked; it is the math drills(fluency/speed), that are his down fall. Math is so sequential that there has to be a range of offerings at the middle school level, with testing to place students appropriately.

The problem is that this is a small charter school with one class per grade, so they can’t offer 3 levels of math with only one class.

I’ve noticed that lots of times it’s a semantics game, and “algebra” is really pre-algebra.
I’ve also noticed a few zillion college kids who don’t have the basics because they were rushed along and exposed to everything instead of learning how to do it. You don’t learn to fly a plane by spending a little time with each instrument on the panel, passing that instrument’s “test,” and then moving to a bigger jet. You have to know how it all fits together.
I’d look for an assessment of skills — includng things like how to add fractions with different denominators — and rethink the idea that you can’t teach at different levels, and try to base instruction on needs, no matter what you call the class.

Hi, Sue,

They really mean high school Algebra 1. I asked if they were going to assess the kids for readiness and apprently that had not come up yet. The reasoning for requiring it in 8th grade is because “we are a college prep school and kids will need time to take calculus”. Ha! As if ALL the kids will be able to take calculus in high school!!!.

I certainly think they could find a way to teach pre-Algebra for those who need it and let the advanced 8th graders join the 9th graders for Algebra 1.

Thanks,
Janis

Gee, they need a smilie for reeling and gagging… I remember when my hometown school system came up with the BRILLIANT idea that since statisticallys peaking, students who had had advanced math did better in postsecondary school, that they should, simply, require it of all students, so, yea, everybody had algebra in seventh, geometry in eighth, — but then gobs of students failed so they got to take it all again. Of course, since they were still lacking in the foundation skills, they didn’t *ever* learn even the stuff they “passed.”

:evil:[img]http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/rough/tank.gif[/img]
The classes have, in time, evolved to a degree — the teachers managed to keep some grouping so that one man’s “algebra” is rather different than another’s. Teaching without assessing to see where they are means they’ll be teaching a curriculum, not teaching the students. Fine for the few lucky ones who are where the curriculum is!

This is a tricky one. Middle school math curriculum has ben a messy question in North America for at least a century. Basic math skills are *supposed* to be taught by Grade 6. Algebra 1 was traditionally taught in Grade 9. So Grades 7 and 8 have always been a question. Grade 7 does advanced work with decimals and measurements in most cases, but Grade 8 is really a black hole. Some curricula re-teach all of the elementary work, boring the students to tears. Some try to teach practical math and business/consumer math, topics which are really valuable such as checking and saving and compound interest and investments and loans; unfortunately in today’s society, thirteen-year-olds no longer have much real money responsibility so this goes right over their heads (while it would be invaluable three years later when they want a car). Others introduce “pre-algebra” which really is the first half or more of the algebra course; for a student who is prepared this can be a most valuable class, but for a student who is struggling it can be a disaster.

The American traditional Algebra 1 is a weird course anyway. The whole idea comes from the high schools basing their credits on the college model, where an entire topic is covered in one class. This has both good points and bad. Good because you focus seriously on a topic, bad because you try to swallow a very large lump in a short time (absolutely impossible if high schools semesterize their classes.) The traditional class starts with the basics of what’s a variable and is supposed to go to solving quadratic and even higher polynomial equations — and nowadays a section on statistics is thrown in too, to take up even more time. Very, very few students are ready to do this in the 110 hours of the usual modern class. (When the system was invented, students were older and more mature on average, and the class was 150 to 180 hours — two big differences.) Successful schools cover the first half or so in “pre-algebra” in Grade 8, and re-teach the quadratic section in Algebra 2, so the actual Algebra 1 covers about half the book, from 25% to 75%.
Schools in other countries divide up the work and cover it in the equivalent of Grades 7 through 10.

So, several big “if”s and questions:
Is your school’s basic math program really solid? Are the students leaving Grades 6/7 with a truly firm grasp on fractions and problem-solving? These are the skills upon which success in algebra stands or fails.
Is sufficient time given to math in Grades 7 and 8? Often junior high classes have less time than high school — but if they want to do high school level work, they need more, not less.
Is some pre-algebra (formulas, variables, graphs, simple equations, solving by system and NOT guesswork) going to be introduced in Grade 7 to prepare for the Grade 8?
Is the teacher actually math qualified (at least university calculus) and NOT just an elementary teacher who barely passed high school math herself? (Such teachers very often — with a few notable exceptions — teach their own misconceptions and counter-productive strategies to their classes.)
What program is going to be used? Some of the algebra programs out there are sound and logical and can teach kids of almost any age, and some are just plain crazy and even the teachers don’t understand them. Can you seee a sample text? I once looked at a school for my daughter and they coundn’t even tell me what program they were using — we didn’t go there.
Is there going to be some extra support for students who are having problems? In a large high school there would be tutoring and labs and various course options — what is your school doing to make up for this?
If students do end up taking algebra again in Grade 9, what goes on their transcripts from Grade 8? They don’t need to be shuffled down into low classes because of low grades.

Ask your school these questions, and don’t let them slide off with vague answers.

What follows begins with my personal experience in Montgomery County Maryland in the ’60s. This was reputed to be a superb school system - maybe it was. I graduated in ‘68 before they crashed and burned teaching that New Math nonsense.

I started with Alg. I in grade 8, then Alg. II, Geometry, Trig./pre-Calc. and then The Calculus (that’s what us old guys still call it.)

My conclusion - too much too soon and I was a good student and love math to this day.

Virginia Tech took me as an early decision physics major and 5-day-a-week Calculus as a freshman was still a killer even with the preparation I’d had. Sophomore Calculus taught by grad students in the engineering department was a complete disaster for most people, but I managed to pass it somehow.

My point - I’ve been working for a state voc rehab agency doing vocational evaluations and rehabilitation counseling since I finished grad school in 1974 - Tech wouldn’t let me play with the reactor so I changed majors :)

I believe the major problem isn’t in the middle schools or the high schools. The problem is that the students aren’t learning the basic arithmetic skills in elementary school. How in the world can they do pre-Algebra or anything else if they can’t do the simpler stuff like adding and subtracting fractions?

Okay, the stopwatch says it’s time to go check on my morning client.

John

Thank you Victoria and John…

Victoria, I’ll just print out your post and submit to the principal and/or school board! Thanks!

John, wow, all that math and then you go into rehabilitation counseling! (Just wanted to tell you that we go very near VA Tech each summer to spend a few days at Mountain Lake, which is just a few miles up the mountain.) I agree that kids aren’t leaving elementary school with the skills they need. Thanks for your post!

Janis