Posted on 12/01/2012 2:31:36 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I failed Algebra in 1964 and I’m still not over it.
Note, it was a class taught by the second string
foot ball coach, they used us as an experiment.
The best indicator I’ve found between an employment applicant capable of learning high-level skills while on the job is a simple test equivalent to those given years ago to pass 8th grade math.
Math requires a combination of natural aptitude and sufficient self-discipline to complete exercises commonly assigned as homework. This doesn’t attract those who prefer spending their middle school years developing their personalities through non-academic pursuits, like cliquish behavior, gossip and scheming.
I recommend math tests given upfront as a screening device.
If a candidate hasn’t focused themselves enough to take on the challenge of mastering an individual practice which gives little gratification (like math) at a young age, then it’s a good bet that even on the job they will become the equivalent of a “taker” (by attempting to manipulate other employees into doing their work and playing office politics, for example).
Not even close. The California class rooms use so damned many different techniques it is more astonishing that everyone doesn’t get it. The children failing algebra 1 in California tend to not go to class, not do the home work, and have NO ability to do simple arithmetic (you remember those tables you learned in first and second grade). Nice try though
I used to "tax" my kids Halloween hauls. It made them realize that it's basically theft.
Algebra is actually very simple...and it is usually terribly taught. I hated it until I took a college class for teaching math in the primary grades from a woman who was herself a truly gifted teacher. She showed us that algebra (and geometry) were just more ways of saying and doing the same basic mathematical operations and simply expanded on them or adapted them to different situations - 3 dimensional space, for example, or even logic operations. And we did this using the Montessori bean sticks...(plus she really loved her subject, which most math teachers do not).
So there are some subjects in which the fault really may lie not so much with the student or the individual teacher as with the method of teaching the subject.
That'll learn 'em!
Maybe algebra should be outlawed by executive order? It is so clearly divisive. Or perhaps, in the interest of the prevailing idea of fairness in America, the grades of those people who are unfairly learning it and scoring higher should be taxed of points to use in bringing up the grades of those most in need?
LOL. That word is also one of the basic constructs of Electrical Engineering, along with gozoutas.
Same for maps or navigating in cities and such. I can see the map overlay of the area as I travel down streets in my head even if I've never looked at an actual physical map of the area.
But algebra is still a mystery to me and I've tried several times over the years with computer programs and tutors. Apparently its just not something I am going to get.
Algebra is not “advanced math.”
What a shock—union teachers never kill the job!
(Hint: it’s cooked into their obtuse curriculum and teaching methods such that only smart kids can figure it out.)
I started reading at age 4, was reading on a 12th grade level when I was 9.
I did well in all subjects except math - failed algebra two years in a row. Dropped out of school as a result. My college boyfriend had the exact same profile. I believe that there are some people who simply cannot think this way - it has nothing to do with intelligence.
Hah that was me in algebra.........struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, bright white light! Dang this is easy, what took me so long? Cruised through intermediate and advanced algebra, statistics, and calculous.
For some students and teachers the limit is elementary level math.
I wish I could tell you what I saw and why it came to me. Brains are amazing and varied things. Some scary-smart people claim they see colors in numbers and that that simplifies existence. People are both funny and entertaining...and then we die.
I certainly agree it has nothing to do with intelligence. It is just the vagaries of the individual brains and the way they learn. That is why we are individuals and not clones...viva la differance!
Well there you go...and there we went. :{)
I had the good fortune to study formal math after learning to program computers (early 70's). Algebra made sense to me because I learned FORTRAN which is written in Algebra.
Most kids need never take Algebra, a basic facility with numbers and simple operations is sufficient (prerequisite for Algebra).
We could once again segregate the abstract thinkers and let their own competitive nature push them to excellence.
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?
It’s called synaesthesia. Everybody has it to at least a minor degree, I’ve come to believe. Very prominent examples of it are usually found among musicians, artists and writers, those who depend upon creativity. If you’re running into mathematicians who are willing to admit to such an unconventional thing, they’re pretty secure. Math comes full circle to music and music to math. Are they also musicians by chance?
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