Fighting the Battle for Middle-School Algebra
Readers of Education Reporter know how drastically U.S. education has declined during the 40-plus years since the release of the landmark report “A Nation at Risk,” and particularly in recent years. In 2023, NAEP test results showed that fewer than 30 percent of government-school students were reading at grade level and a paltry 26 percent were proficient in math. Today, it’s not about teaching academics but about indoctrination with politically charged concepts such as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), social and emotional learning (SEL), and more.
Among the subjects under attack by liberals is algebra, which is critical for launching not only STEM careers but college careers in general. The push to delay algebra until 9th grade or later has been going on for at least a decade, and a February 4 article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) points out that currently only about “a quarter to a third of eighth-graders across the U.S. take algebra.”
The WSJ described a battle between the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and a group of determined parents who fought to restore algebra to middle school. The result was that the district indicated in early February that it would reverse its 10-year-old policy of preventing students from taking algebra until high school, which was implemented “in an attempt to combat racial inequities in math by waiting until more students were ready.”
On Feb. 13, the SFUSD School Board voted to make the reversal official, albeit with implementation of the change to take place over 3 years. According to the Washington Free Beacon, a select number of schools “will experiment with one of three approaches to the course: making it mandatory for all eighth graders, offering it only to those who are ready and interested, or setting it up as a ‘second’ math class that anyone who wishes can take. Students on campuses who aren’t part of the pilot schools but who want to take algebra will have to enroll virtually or take it as a summer class before starting 9th grade.”
Observers including Phyllis Schlafly Eagles leader, John Schlafly, believe restoring Algebra I to middle school is critically important,
and lament the SFUSD’s timeline. “Restoring algebra will take 3 years,” Schlafly notes, “with only one third of students per year, starting next fall. A generation of students has already been shortchanged.”
The district’s about-face came in response to parental demands that their children be allowed to take algebra in 8th grade. These parents “launched petitions, a ballot measure, and a lawsuit, sparring with school officials over questions of equity and privilege.”
A similar effort took place last year in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when parents argued for middle school algebra to be restored to the district. “Algebra I in eighth grade is an important gatekeeper that affects students’ life trajectories and can be provided to all students with proper support,” one parent wrote. “We should send the message to our middle-school scholars that they can do this math — and encourage them, not dissuade them.”
The San Francisco parents struggled for years to restore algebra to middle school “after the district in 2014 concluded that starting students in ninth grade was the optimal way to achieve equity.” The district defended its action by “pointing to data showing fewer students of all races failed algebra after moving the subject to ninth grade.”
But in a recent board presentation, officials admitted that “students’ math scores declined since the algebra ban took effect a decade ago and that the racial gap in advanced math classes has not been fixed. Overall, 8th -grade math proficiency in the district has fallen from 51 percent to 40 percent.... Proficiency among black students fell from 11 percent to 4 percent.” Some observers note that this math decline is happening in schools across the country.
Ultimately, credit for the algebra renewal goes to the determined parents, who objected that “it wasn’t fair to hold back those [students] ready to advance and that the school district was creating new inequities because wealthier families could pay for students to take accelerated math outside school.” The SFUSD eventually offered “workarounds” which included having students “take summer courses, more than one course in a year, or courses that ‘compress’ Algebra II and precalculus,” all of which failed to mollify the upset parents.
John Schlafly takes the parents’ argument a step further. “Students should be introduced to algebra in the 7th or 8th grade, even if some students struggle with it,” Schlafly says. “If students don’t learn algebra until the 9th grade, they won’t be ready for advanced math in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.”
According to a 2021 article from Mind Matters, some educators want to eliminate algebra altogether, claiming that it “is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a high school or college degree — particularly for students of color and first-generation undergrads. It is also the single most failed course in community colleges across the country. So if you’re not a STEM major (science, technology, engineering, math), why even study algebra?”
Mind Matters wrote that taking algebra in the 8th grade “offers both rigor and opportunity, potentially enhancing mathematics literacy across the student population....” The advantages include that students who take algebra in eighth grade are significantly likely to enroll in advanced math courses; for example, by boosting student enrollment in advanced math in 9th grade by 30 percentage points. It is also proven to be a “stepping stone toward high school calculus and college STEM majors.”
Negative impact
Conversely, studies also show that eliminating or even delaying algebra has a negative impact on students. A 2021 article in Psychology Today reported on a study from the U.K. titled Lack of Maths Education Impacts Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development. The study showed that “a lack of math education negatively affects brain development.”
The report acknowledged the “increasingly popular” trend of questioning “the need for an education in mathematics” but noted that the study “questions these practices and suggests that a lack of math education caused students to have lower levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, which is important for many brain processes.”
The study found:
- Although the causal mechanism between math education and GABA concentration remains unclear, the association itself is potentially quite important and certainly warrants further study. As mentioned, GABA, the brain’s primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, has been shown in numerous studies to affect domains such as learning (Trepel & Racine, 2000), synaptic plasticity (Lunghi et al., 2015), and even developing motor functions (O’Shea et al., 2017). Put simply, it is possible that continued math education can have significant effects on adolescent brains, far and above simply preparing students for careers in science.
‘Algebra for all’
The deceptive term “algebra for all” has come into vogue in recent years and actually means the dumbing down of algebra, allegedly to level the playing field for all students. California was “one of the first states to push an ‘algebra for all’ approach that strongly encouraged eighth-grade algebra.” In other words, once algebra was stripped of its original rigor, school districts deemed it suitable for 8th graders.
However, studies show that even dumbed-down algebra doesn’t always achieve the intended result, with the numbers of students who move on to more advanced math classes often remaining static or showing only modest gains. A 2023 Annenberg Brown University Working Paper reported similar results in overall math achievement.
As observers may logically assume, California isn’t the only state with school districts that embrace algebra for all. Virginia’s Fairfax County School District is one example, and there are others.
Some educators suggest that teaching children sound basic arithmetic and reading by phonics in the early grades may do more to level the playing field across all subjects than any dumbed down algebra program later on. Kids want and need to be challenged. While some will be successful and others may struggle, all would benefit from the opportunity to take Algebra I in 8th grade or sooner.
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