8th-Grade Algebra Requirement in California Gets Sidelined
In Washington, everyone applauds a governor who wants to raise academic standards for all students. Back in his or her home state, a governor who proposes to do just that can get sued. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger learned this lesson not long ago when his plan to require algebra testing for all eighth graders angered the state's school superintendent and some education groups. Two organizations representing school board members and administrators filed a lawsuit to overturn the requirement, and now a judge has temporarily put the brakes on the governor's plan, the Associated Press reports. The judge in the case said the state education board that adopted the algebra mandate acted outside its authority and without public input.
In September, when local school officials sued the state, they raised concerns that the mandate was underfunded and could lead to more students dropping out. They said it would take roughly $3 billion to carry out the work of getting all eighth graders ready for an algebra test in 2011-12, when the requirement would take effect. That money would cover the cost of hiring 3,000 teachers and training an additional 1,000 teachers. Since then, the state's budget deficit has worsened, and many school districts are being forced to consider severe midyear cuts. State School Superintendent Jack O'Connell called the algebra mandate "a recipe for disaster."
The California Board of Education told the AP it plans to appeal the judge's ruling. Regardless of the outcome, the case highlights the trouble with trying to raise academic expectations, especially in a recession. (Three leading education groups recently called on federal and state education officials to adopt common academic standards—another expensive proposition.) Also, algebra for all students may sound like a noble goal, but there are serious concerns. Read about them here.
Tags: California | education | math | middle school
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Reader Comments
Falling expectations
My wife is a teacher and we end up in this argument all the time.
In Louisiana the state is pouring money into these "failing" schools in the hopes of reviving them. The end result has always been the same. You can not fix the problem with money. You have to change the attitudes of the kids attending.
If you want to find the root problem of our educational system failure you should look no further than the parents. The schools can only do so much. In an effort to make the schools look better they have been reducing the "minimum" requirements for years. In the end you have a generation of kids who do not know how to work nor do they care to learn. Expectations have been dropped for them in a society where nobody fails. I only hope that their future employers are quite so understanding.
Without Support?
After reading one of the comments left on your page I have come to the conclusion that as a nation we are training lazy and stupid undisciplined kids. How in the world could our education system go from being one of the best in the world to one of the worst? They used to teach Latin along side of algebra to Junior high students before they iunvented this incredible tax structured system and failiung unionized teaching system.
ISN'T THAT SUPPOSED TO BE WHAT THEY ARE DOING?
The government should not issue mandates without a plan to pay for it. Let's face it, we are testing the teachers and they don't want to be tested because we will find out they are not doing their jobs. But they say they will start doing their jobs when they get more $? LOL. The "Two organizations representing school board members and administrators . . ." - translated: unions, have a full nelson submission hold on the liberals, especially on the left coast. More $ won't help solve the problem, the only thing that will force the public teachers to do their jobs is private school vouchers so the kids that want to learn can go to a good school. Since the liberals now have control of most of the country we can expect further degradation for at least another 8 years thanks to factors such as but not limited to:
1) The main stream media churning out their biased liberal propaganda (I have heard MSNBC referred to as Democrat HQ)
2) The liberal public universities feeding a steady stream of liberal brainwash passed off as "higher education"
3) The Republican party leaving conservatives feeling used and abused
4) And now the approval of the "misery loves company" broken, not working with no way out socialist Europeans
Our only hope is that history repeats itself once again after 8 years of dissatisfaction that we can have "regime change".
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