California cemented its position as a leader this year by granting marriage rights to same-sex couples. When the Board of Education mandated last week that all eighth graders be tested in algebra, the state set another milestone, but this time it might not be such good news.
Junior high schools have been given three years to prepare, at which time all eighth graders will be required to take an algebra proficiency test before entering high school. The idea is that students should be better prepared for the higher math they will encounter in high school, and that simply penalizing schools for every student who does not take the test has not been a strong enough incentive.
This decision seems to fit in perfectly with the trend of educational reform led by the No Child Left Behind Act, rooted in the belief that more testing is always the answer. And I think that’s the problem. Forcing students to take the algebra test may help some kids who just need that extra push from their teachers to make it through, but there are many more who won’t get by on a little nudge. It seems all too likely that low-performing students will be thrust into math classes they can’t handle just so they can take a test, meaning they’ll get lost in the fray even more than is already the case.
The three year time limit will only compound the issue, since schools will not have adequate time to adjust the curricula of earlier math classes. This will result in the next few batches of junior high grads heading high school to meet math they won’t understand because they were rushed through the previous classes, possibly demanding a massive reshuffling of schedules so those students can retake what they skimmed over, defeating the purpose of the mandatory algebra test in the first place.
It seems to me that the education deficit both state- and nationwide is a problem that requires a serious commitment to comprehensive reform, and in my opinion, the mandatory algebra test is an attempt at a quick fix that is bound to backfire. After all, middle schoolers have enough to worry about: raging hormones, melodramatic cliques, first school dances…. They don’t need this too.
Photo courtesty of YouthNoise.com.
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