The Algebra Gatekeepers (educationprogress.org)

Can you meaningfully study advanced math without understanding algebra?

The root of this pathology is treating Algebra I as "advanced" math in the first place. This is a uniquely American problem (though it is regrettably spreading to education systems in other English-speaking countries) and something that would be quite unheard of in continental Europe and East Asia. The soft bigotry of low expectations.

> This analysis revealed a systematic failure affecting tens of thousands of children across North Carolina alone, wasting human potential on a massive scale.

What? How is this a waste of human potential? Presumably the kids that didn't take HS Algebra took other classes instead, and probably did well at those. Not taking Algebra does not make you a failure at life, it does not waste human potential on a massive scale.

Maybe the idea is that limited teaching is better done to people who are more likely to be able to make usage of that knowledge in life?

This is exactly the kind of obvious mistake that contributes to the complexity of explaining education outcomes. Requiring a "teacher recommendation" to allow a student to take an advanced course introduces bias and consequently is suboptimal to say the least.

That the following had to be done is sadly the state of affairs in the US:

> In 2018, North Carolina passed House Bill 986, Session Law 2018-32, which included Part II: Enrollment in Advanced Mathematics Courses. This legislation established § 115C-81.36, requiring that "any student scoring a level five on the standardized test for the mathematics course in which the student was most recently enrolled shall be enrolled in the advanced course for the next mathematics course in which the student is enrolled."

Edit to add:

This is also the kind of thing that machine learning/"algo" skeptics/detractors skip over or ignore when evaluating automation: humans are often wrong.

One of the most frustrating articles I've read in a while. Is everything in the US just well-off people colluding to keep everyone else down? Most countries don't have this advanced classes thing. Everyone just takes the same classes. It does not make sense to have admins and other parents with vested interests block kids from whatever classes they want to take!

Does this study account for students who are good at math but have no desire to pursue it?

In San Francisco, the math placement situation is so bad that voters passed a resolution urging the school board to make Algebra I available to 8th graders.

https://ballotpedia.org/San_Francisco,_California,_Propositi...

Such a low bar, but even in the most recent school year, most 8th graders could only study Algebra I via an online course or summer school, i.e. most had no access to an in-person Algebra I course during the school year.

This at a district with average per-pupil operational spending of over $27k.

Damn, before I read this article I would have assumed all grade-level classes with no special facilities requirements were just taught to demand. Crazy to think of a framing that 'advanced' 6th grade math is such a precious resource that your 5th grade teacher can arbitrarily shunt you down an academic path all the way to college. It feels like this exists mostly to create a have and have-nots situation.

Holy shit! I ran into this growing up in California. Would have been early 1990s. I have long been bitter that I had taken algebra in 8th grade, and starting high school in 9th grade they made me take algebra again because I was told I couldn’t skip ahead that far. I was too young to be in the class. For the record, I’m white snd middle class, so don’t fit that pattern, but I am neuro diverse. Anyhow, everyone has excused it at the time with shit like it must have been a technicality, or that the algebra was more advanced, or something along those lines. Anyhow, it’s nice to be validated sometimes, and this is one of those times so I thought I’d share.