Algebra will return to San Francisco middle schools, reports Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle. The school board's vote Tuesday night pre-empted a pro-algebra measure on the March 15 ballot. However, it will take three years to redesign middle-school math pathways and offer eighth-grade algebra classes in all schools.
"District officials pulled the course out of middle school 10 years ago, saying they wanted to delay tracking students into separate math sequences until high school," writes Tucker. They hoped more black and Hispanic students would qualify for advanced math classes.
For years, San Francisco Unified claimed "equity math" was improving minority students' success rates. The first draft of California's new math framework cited San Francisco's successful math reforms as its model. The final version eliminated the call to delay algebra till ninth grade.
Now, the district admits that algebra for none was a flop.
As critics had predicted, forcing students to wait till ninth grade to take algebra has reduced the number of students taking higher-level math courses in high school. Not everyone can go to summer school or take private courses to get on the algebra-to-calculus STEM track.
San Francisco will pilot three approaches to 8th-grade algebra in the one-third of schools that will offer classes in the fall.
The first will enroll all eighth graders, ready or not, in Algebra 1 with support in a math lab for those who need it. This seems like a sure loser to me: Some students are way below grade level.
The second and third are geared to students who test as proficient and those who don't but are motivated enough to try. Option 2 schools will offer a compression course which combines the current eighth-grade math course with Algebra 1. Option 3 students will take one period of eighth-grade math and another period of Algebra 1. I predict double math will not be popular.