Tim Loveless at The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution recently released a new report entitled, "The Algebra Imperative: Assessing Algebra in a National and International Context." The report discusses how Algebra is a "gateway course" to prepare students for both college-level mathematics as well as technically-oriented employment.
A follow on discussion addressed a particularly poignant issue raised in the report: What does it mean that so many middle and high school students are now taking Algebra? At first glance, this appears to be a success story. However, the rising Algebra completion rates as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has not translated into corresponding gains on the NAEP math assessment.
One reason presented for this Algebra dilemma is that unprepared students are increasingly being pushed into higher level math courses to meet enrollment standards. Loveless writes, "I called these students “Misplaced Math Students” because they did not function at a level commensurate with their math courses. They functioned at about the second to third grade level. They were students who had trouble answering NAEP items involving fractions, decimals, and percentages, concepts that should have been learned several years earlier, and yet they were enrolled as middle schoolers in courses that until recently were considered high school courses."
The problem of unprepared students taking higher level math courses is not only concerning for the students themselves, it is also concerning for the integrity of high school coursework. A college cannot assume students have a working knowledge of the coursework presented on a high school transcript. Increasingly colleges have turned to remediation to fill in knowledge gaps that should not be present if students have mastered the content of courses he/she completes with passing grades.
To read the full posting, go to: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/brown-center-chalkboard/posts/2013/09/04…
To read the report, go to: http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2013/09/04-algebra-imperative-…