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And Verily the Stay Says Unto You: If You Want a Diploma, Push a Camel Through the Eye of a Needle
Ohanian Comment: Let's see now: We'll have special ed algebra, minority algebra, alternative lifestyles algebra. Why not just say that alegbra study is not for everyone and drop it as a requirement for a high school diploma? If I were willing to get into the diploma requirements game, I think a music/arts requirement would be of much greater value than algebra.
Angel Thompson is trying hard not to be among the first students in California to be denied a high school diploma for not learning algebra.
Halfway through their senior year, hundreds of East Bay students are still struggling to meet a state graduation requirement that kicks in this school year. Starting with the class of 2004, all high school students must pass Algebra I to earn a diploma.
The new requirement is especially tough for Angel, a 17-year-old student at Olympic continuation high school in Concord. Math has always been hard for her. She never memorized the multiplication tables. Yet, to graduate, she must learn to solve equations, which she calls "all this letter stuff."
"I hate math," she said. "I'm just trying to graduate as soon as I can."
State lawmakers made Algebra I a graduation requirement in 2000, one year after they created the high school exit exam, which includes algebra. Originally, both requirements were to begin in 2004, but the exit exam was delayed until 2006 after too many students failed the exam in several attempts.
The state hopes to prepare more students with the higher-level math skills they need for college and careers by stepping up the rigor of math classes from elementary through high school. Algebra has been moved back from ninth to eighth grade, and many high schools have eliminated math classes lower than algebra from their course schedules all together.
To help students pass the class, some districts have split algebra into two years for students who need more time to complete the course, and they have offered tutoring before and after school.
The state has not tracked how many of this year's seniors have not yet passed algebra. But spot checks around the East Bay show that the requirement will be a bigger hurdle at some schools and districts than others.
In the Acalanes high school district, 20 seniors have not passed algebra. At Mt. Diablo High School in the Mt. Diablo district, 39 seniors are enrolled in Pre-College Math I, the district's equivalent of Algebra I, and Pittsburg High has 37 seniors who haven't met the new requirement.
The biggest cause for concern may be in the West Contra Costa school district, where about 36 percent of seniors are now enrolled in algebra. They must earn at least a D in the class to graduate.
One of those students is Patricia Hernandez, a 19-year-old senior at Richmond High.
"That class is really, really hard," she said of Algebra I. "I feel a little bit strange because I think I'm failing."
Still, Hernandez said she's sure she and the other seniors in the class will do what they need to in order to graduate.
"It's hard, but if we try our best we're going to get through it," she said.
Students who do not pass will have a chance to take it again in summer school, said Patti Crotti, West Contra Costa's senior director of curriculum and instruction.
The district is working to improve math instruction in middle and high school while trying to meet the needs of high school students who have not been successful in math in the past, Crotti said. This year's 12th-graders did not benefit from the new higher math standards in lower grades, she said.
At El Cerrito High, not nearly as many students are missing algebra as in the district overall, said Linda O'Connor, head of the math department. She said about 5 percent of seniors haven't passed algebra yet, and most of those students are in special education programs.
Special education students also are required to pass an algebra class, but instruction can be modified to fit their needs. They can apply to the state Board of Education for a waiver.
El Cerrito High plans to offer a modified algebra course for special education students next term, but O'Connor is concerned that disabled students who have not had the opportunity to take algebra so far will be denied a diploma, because they won't pass even the modified class.
At Olympic High in Concord, 96 of 225 seniors still need algebra credits to graduate.
Math department head Valerie Aksoy said she is worried that many of them will not pass -- and won't graduate -- because, like Angel, they lack the fundamental math skills such as fractions and ratios that they need for algebra.
"We have way too many kids who don't have the background," she said. "Some kids struggle with math so much this just increases their pain 100-fold."
Students come to the continuation school with widely varying skills and credits. They may have missed large chunks of school when they were young because they moved around a lot as children, were sick, or had other personal problems that took a priority over school, Aksoy said.
About 15 of Aksoy's 80 students are working at a pace to graduate by the end of the school year.
The school's warnings to parents and students about the new requirements have started to take a dire tone, said Rinda Bartley, school principal.
"There is still a lot of denial out there," she said. "Some of the students who have gotten it are beginning to panic."
Michael MacDonald, an 18-year-old senior in Aksoy's class, admits he didn't pass his Pre-College Math I class last year because he was lazy and skipped class a lot. But this year he's been to all his classes.
"I'm trying because I don't want to screw up," he said. "I want to get out of school and get the job I want."
— Suzanne Pardington
Students Must Do the Math
Contra Costa Times
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http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/living/education/7410911.htm
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