Students failing algebra rarely recover

San Francisco Chronicle / SFGate.com ^ | Published 10:22 p.m., Friday, November 30, 2012 | Jill Tucker

[thecodont]

California students who fail algebra and repeat the course are pretty much doomed to fail again, a vicious cycle that wastes limited resources and precious learning time, according to a report released Friday.

Just over a third of students in the 24 school districts studied had to repeat Algebra I either in ninth or 10th grade, yet even after a second year of study, relatively few were proficient in the subject.

Of those who took the class in eighth grade and repeated it as freshmen, just 1 in 5 scored at a proficient level on standardized tests. And of those who repeated as sophomores, 9 percent were proficient.

"These results provide powerful evidence that school systems are struggling to successfully teach, or reteach, mathematics to students who are not already performing well in math by the time they reach middle school," said Neal Finkelstein, the lead researcher on the study, which was commissioned by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd. ...

All told, half of all students in the study repeated algebra, geometry or Algebra II.

Yet many students retake the same course taught the same way, sometimes by the same teacher, according to the authors.

[...]

Researchers found that the majority of students who were proficient in Algebra I at the end of eighth grade followed an accelerated math track of geometry in ninth grade and Algebra II in 10th grade.

And those students made up the vast majority - 75 percent - of all those in their class who would ever become proficient in algebra by high school graduation.

Not a single student who earned below a grade of D in seventh-grade math went on to take calculus in high school, according to researchers.

[Rusty0604]

I used to work at a community college helping students with math that had rec’d a HS diploma but couldn’t pass college entrance exams. At the same time my own kids were having problems with math because their teachers couldn’t teach it; after a few conferences I found they had no compehension of math and just followed their teaching guides. And now Obama says he can just “decree” 100,000 new math teachers?

[Aevery_Freeman]

I wrote just such a "game" for the TI-84's that schools use. I give it to math teachers (to drill the students deficient in those skills).

Some of the math teachers don't do as well on a child's game as one might expect.

Hmmm...

[RegulatorCountry]

I managed to keep my grades up enough to remain in what was then termed college prep as well as the honor society, but I honestly did not care for the subject matter, it was boring and seemingly pointless. I didn’t have a teacher who had a clue until I got to college, in hindsight. My lightbulb moment occurred via coursework in statistics and probability, a very amusing field in some ways.

[Aevery_Freeman]

I wrote just such a "game" for the TI-84's that schools use. I give it to math teachers (to drill the students deficient in those skills).

Some of the math teachers don't do as well on a child's game as one might expect.

Hmmm...

[John Valentine]

Yes, algebra is something one has to either “get” or fail. Effort won’t help if you don’t “get” it.

Every algebra teacher must spend a great deal of effort at the very beginning, making sure that everyone actually understands what algebra is and how it measures and analyzed rates of change.

Without that basic uptake, the entire rest of the semester or year of study will be entirely wasted, and will probably result in a student turned off to math for life.

[sima_yi]

Those who actually get math, as a major or a minor in college, are a small minority but can work miracles.

There is no better example than the late Jaime Escalante (RIP).

[SpaceBar]

Algebra is not “advanced math.”

Dr. Israel Herstein would disagree but I digress. There are really two distinct tiers of what people call algebra. There is the method of symbolic substitution in what would otherwise just be arithmetic, and amounts to almost a rote memorization of a collection of "tricks" of manipulation to isolate the sought quantity. But there is another variety which focuses on abstract structure that is independent of the pedestrian notion of numerical value. The latter is what is taught at the college level for math majors, and is one of the most beautiful disciplines of pure analysis that exists.

[PapaBear3625]

Few public school teachers could pass second or third grade plusses, minuses, timeses, and gazintas; let alone teach eighth or ninth grade algebra or geometry.

I know one teacher who went through the first month of her geometry class talking about the "hippo-tense" of a triangle before somebody corrected her.

What's really needed, as a minimum, is a requirement that the teacher have passed, with a B or better, a college level algebra course. I'm talking about a real math course, not "math for educators".

[SCalGal]

Algebra is challenging -- but not that tough if the prerequisites have been learned. A majority of the students in this school system probably passed Algebra.

They don't know fractions and under NCLB you have to keep marching forward regardless.

[Cen-Tejas]

............”it’s simply a choice, by either the parents or the kids themselves, to fail”

I agree with the foregoing statement BUT, LOL, in the tenth grade, “me and my way too young and dumb choices” weren’t doing so hot. Basically, a hot car and two jobs and my girl, later my wife, were more important to me. My parents were good parents but had a laissez fare attitude when it came to me.

So, due to the two jobs, on the occasion I made it to school, I slept through Algebra. Mr. Calkin used to say “Joe, you gonna participate with us today, or sleep, as I put my head down on my desk”.

To skip to 45 years later though, armed with a couple years of college, I have employed thousands in scores of projects and made a lot of money and am retired on a beach, so to speak. AND, in those decades and all those projects, I have never needed Algebra even one time. So, my main point is, MAYBE all kids don’t need Algebra!

[BfloGuy]

They don't know fractions and under NCLB you have to keep marching forward regardless.

NCLB is a ridiculous federal intrusion on local education. Why don't they know fractions?

Most apparently do. Others don't. Why? And should we waste time and money worrying about it?

[muawiyah]

Egyptians invented trigonometry before geometry and algebra had been invented. The modern course of instruction introduces algebra, then Euclidian geometry, then trigonometry.

The Hindus invented our modern number set/system and the Moslems merely transmitted it to the West. There are still questions about the Chinese inventing ZERO

[RegulatorCountry]

I had a high school biology teacher who was completely secure in his rightness regarding the meanings of “voluntary” and “involuntary,” despite having them completely backwards. He would brook no attempted correction at all. I should know, I tried and earned a trip to the principal’s office for it, lol. For all I know, he’s still teaching it incorrectly, if he’s still teaching.

[bert]

-——”hippo-tense”——

The sqaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the some of the sqaws of the other two hides

[caveat emptor]

n San Francisco, the study's findings were particularly relevant. The district pushes students to take Algebra I in eighth grade - and 85 percent do. But just under half tested at a proficient level last spring.

Huh?


Is algebra for everyone a pipe dream?
Here's a couple of opinions from a sociologist and a stats pundit. The Great Algebra Debate - from this past summer.

[elkfersupper]

Well, let's see....

I am 60 years old and I was forced to take 3 semesters of Algebra. Hated every minute of it and never used it in the practical world.

[Private_Sector_Does_It_Better]

Same here. Failed it twice in High School; make 250k this year.

[Private_Sector_Does_It_Better]

Same here. Failed it twice in High School; made 250k this year.

[RnMomof7]

I changed schools my freshman year..failed algebra ...made it through it the 2nd time.. and got all A’s in College math...

[RegulatorCountry]

I was taught about the great French artist “Henry Muh-teesie” in high school art class, lol. I understand the bar is pretty low for public school teachers. Apparently always has been.