Study: 8th-grade algebra may be formula for trouble

Minnesota is only two years away from the mandate that all students complete algebra I by the end of eighth grade, to better prepare them for advanced math in high school.

But a study released today by the Brookings Institution highlights the challenges the state is facing to reach this ambitious goal: Nationwide, more than 120,000 eighth-graders are "woefully unprepared" for the advanced math classes they are taking, and encouraging them to take the advanced classes could have "unintended and damaging consequences."

"These kids don't know basic arithmetic, but they're in algebra," said Tom Loveless, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy for Brookings. "If you're teaching a real algebra class, you don't teach arithmetic, so these kids are never going to learn what they need to learn."

Minnesota has revised its curriculum standards for grades three and up, to help get students ready for the more rigorous expectations.

The state Department of Education has also established state-funded academies for math and science teachers, said Chas Anderson, deputy education commissioner. The academies funded with $3 million in state funds and a $500,000 grant from the National Governors Association.

Those policies are "a step in the right direction," Loveless said. But for students in the bottom 10 percent, "they are functioning so far below grade level that they have had troubles in the grades before eighth grade."

Tom Muchlinski, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Teachers of Mathematics, said investing in professional development for teachers is critical to student success.

"A simple-minded solution"

According to Loveless, the push for getting more eighth-graders to take algebra I started in the 1990s, part of an "equity-based" movement to ensure that students of color and low-income students are exposed to the same rigorous math curriculum as other students.

From 1990 to 2007, the proportion of eighth-graders taking algebra has nearly doubled, reaching 31 percent, and eighth-graders now take algebra more commonly than any other math course. In Minnesota, 35 percent of eighth-graders are enrolled in an advanced math class, compared with a national average of 38 percent.

Nationally, students ranked in the bottom 10 percent of eighth-graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress know about as much math as a typical second-grader, Loveless found, yet they still make up almost 8 percent of students in advanced eighth-grade math classes.

Loveless found that students in this group are disproportionately black and Hispanic, come from low-income households and attend large urban schools. Teaching them algebra I "is a simple-minded solution to a problem," he said, "and the problem is that our kids don't know enough math. The idea that if we just sweep them into an algebra class, that it'll boost achievement, there's no evidence of that."

Preparing teachers

Anderson said that Minnesota's decision to require algebra I by the end of eighth grade came from a desire to increase math rigor and provide a "gateway" to higher math and science. If schools introduce algebra earlier, she said, they can talk about concepts at a deeper level later in school.

In the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district, officials are restructuring parts of the math curriculum to meet the new standards. Teachers will participate in the state teacher academies, and try to figure out how best to deal with students falling behind.

"It really comes down to our teachers, and how prepared they are," said Jane Berenz, director of teaching and learning for the district. "We're not hearing from our teachers that this isn't doable."