Algebra too high a leap for most eighth-graders

Like every other state, Georgia is introducing complex math concepts to students in earlier grades. Under the state’s new integrated math curriculum where elements of algebra, geometry and statistics are woven into a single class, middle school students are attempting algebra concepts once taught in high school.

And that sounds like a smart idea, since the jobs of the future will demand far greater math literacy. Nationwide, 31 percent of eighth-graders took algebra last year, nearly double the 1990 rate.

This summer, California followed in Minnesota’s footsteps and announced it would roll out statewide algebra testing in three years, effectively pushing all eighth-graders into algebra.

The question is whether middle school students are ready.

In May, the state department of education announced that 38 percent of eighth graders failed the state math test, which was based on the new more advanced curriculum. The most likely reason is: The students lacked the necessary foundation in whole numbers, decimals and fractions to understand algebra.

A new review based on results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress suggests that some kids are in over their heads.

“One hundred twenty thousand eighth-graders are sitting in advanced math classes even though they score in the bottom 10 percent of students nationwide on the NAEP math test,” says the study by the Brookings Institution. “They know about as much math as the typical second-grader.”

The Brookings report — “The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth Grade Algebra” — reveals troubling disconnects. For example:

• The states with the highest-performing eighth-grade math students don’t necessarily have the highest percentages enrolled in advanced math classes. North Dakota and Vermont rank third and fourth in math achievement but enroll

less than 26 percent of their eighth-graders in advanced math.

• On the other hand, the District of Columbia has the worst NAEP math scores, but is among the leaders in enrolling eighth-graders in advanced math classes. Some states do align; Massachusetts tops the nation in eighth-grade math achievement and has 45 percent of its students in advanced classes.

• While the national average in eighth-grade NAEP math scores has been improving, the rise is not across the board. “The typical eighth-grader knows more math today than in 2000,” the study says. “But the typical eighth-grader in an advanced math course knows less.”

• Based on NAEP scores, the study concludes that about one out of every 13 eighth-graders in an advanced math class knows very little mathematics. Out of a class of 26, an algebra teacher will have two students for whom the class might as well be taught in Chinese.

• Along with a poor foundation, struggling algebra students are more likely to have teachers with less experience, fewer credentials and weaker mathematics training themselves. “These unprepared students are arriving in algebra classes that are staffed by underprepared teachers,” according to the study.

Politicians — and journalists — often exhort failing schools to work harder, but the Brookings study concludes that’s an impossible order when students arrive in advanced math courses with the skills of second-graders: “No one — no teacher, no researcher, no governor, no school board member, no philanthropist — knows how to teach in one year what has not been learned in six and then how to teach algebra on top of that.”

Learning Curve is a weekly column on education. Please send suggestions for topics or feedback to mdowney@ajc.com.