Recently the California State Board of Education, egged on by the Governator and business bigwigs, decided to require that, starting in three years, all CA 8th graders shall take Algebra I, regardless of their state of prior mathematical knowledge, understanding, or ability. The move was in response to a NCLB-related demand from the US Dept. of Ed to align CA’s 8th testing practices with their curriculum standards. More info can be found here. In this post, I discuss rationales given in favor of the policy, arguments made against it, and my own reasons why I think it is both morally wrong and likely to prove to be a big fat mistake extremely misguided. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Add new tag’
CA’s misguided Algebra I policy, or “Here we go again”
Posted in ed policy/politics, math ed, teaching/learning, tagged Add new tag, education, education policy, mathematics education, teaching/learning on August 31, 2008| 5 Comments »
Addofio 