A provocative read about accelerated algebra
Sherri Kruger
MCTM VP for High School, skruger@badger.k12.mn.us
I came across an interesting reading, a report titled Solving America’s Mathematics Education Problem by Jacob l. Vigdor, in an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) newsletter. Vigdor serves as a professor of public policy and economics at Duke University.
In regard to the source, AEI is a private, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics and social welfare whose stated purpose is to serve leaders and the public through research and education on the most important issues of the day. (http://www.aei.org/about/)
Vigdor’s report presents a statistical study of the effects of accelerated algebra courses. The article was published in 2012 and the author proposes that America’s math wounds are self-inflicted. Average SAT scores are climbing, but students are not participating in math intensive courses in college. He goes on to claim that pursing equity in the curriculum may be harmful to students. Even with President Obama’s Educate to Innovate initiative, with the intent to move the middle-of-the-pack students to the top in their class, students are not enrolling in or doing well in mathematics. Evidence suggests we are actually losing ground. Vigdor goes on in the report to address factors why this is occurring, and what options we have as a society to change this downward slide of students mathematically.
Consider this question posed in the article: “Can we really think of an algebra course offered to every 8th grade student as the intellectual equivalent of a course that was offered only to the top quarter of students, typically in tenth grade or later, sixty years ago?” (p. 11)
As a teacher with experience spanning the middle and high school grades, I felt the article was a provocative read that examined the struggles and ramifications of expecting every student to be ready for algebra at a preconceived age. “Cookie cutter math,” as the article states, teaches to the middle of the road. Like many of you, I am concerned about the lower students who are struggling along…and I fear we are losing our students with greatest potential if they are not being presented with adequate challenges and consequently become bored or disinterested. With boredom, students soon figure out to just do the minimum. The article is a quick read, and I encourage you to take some time to read the piece and see if Vigdor’s findings resonate with your experience. Let’s keep the professional conversation going for the benefit of all our students.
Blog version (2013): http://educationnext.org/solving-america%E2%80%99s-math-problem/
Full AEI report in pdf (2012): http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/-solving-americas-mathematics-education-problem_085301336532.pdf