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Algebra I stumping high school freshmen
Class of 2011 confronts tougher state requirements
BY LORI HIGGINS • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • May 27, 2008
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Thousands of high school freshmen across Michigan are failing Algebra I, the first of four math courses this
class of students must take and pass to fulfill what are among the toughest graduation requirements in the
nation.
The failure rate -- estimated at 20% to 30% of about 113,000 freshmen -- has some predicting a crisis by the
time these students are juniors and must take Algebra II.
In Macomb County after the first semester of this school year, the failure rate was around 28%.
"We have enough data to think this is going to continue to be a problem," said Gayle Green, assistant
superintendent with the Macomb Intermediate School District. Failure rates for Oakland and Wayne
counties haven't been compiled but officials there are concerned, too.
The alarms are ringing statewide. Lawmakers are searching for solutions that won't water down the tough
mandates that sailed through the Legislature and were signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2006.
The requirements call for the Class of 2011 to take four years of math, including Algebra I, geometry and
Algebra II.
The failure rates are similar to what schools have seen in the past. The difference this year is students who
fail Algebra I will find it harder to make up that credit.
"It's going to be catastrophic," said Derrick Fries, assistant professor of education at Eastern Michigan
University and a retired K-12 educator.
Fries is among those who worry that students struggling with Algebra I will give up at the thought of three
more years of the subject. In research on the impact of the new rules, he predicts that in a few years 30,000
students a year could drop out of high school, up from 10,000 to 20,000 now.
But Sharif Shakrani, codirector of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University, believes those
concerns are grossly overstated. He said the implication is that students can't handle Algebra I, a conclusion
he rejects.
"Algebra I is a basic necessity," said Shakrani, whose background is in math. "To say that some of our kids
cannot learn algebra ... is ... an insult to our students. This is unfair to these kids."
Let's compete with the world
Deborah Waller, whose son Adam Waller is a freshman at Cass Technical High School, agrees. Adam took
Algebra 1 first semester, after having taken a portion of the class in middle school. He's now struggling
through Algebra II. She said American kids need to be competitive with kids from countries like India and
China.
"These kids need to be put up to the challenge and see what they are capable of," she said.
Some students say they understand the need for four years of math, even the need for the specific courses
that are required -- even as they grapple with those challenges.
"It's going to get harder," said Nicole Birkenshaw, 14, a freshman at Fraser High who is finding success in a
special class created for students who might struggle. But, "in the world now, everything has to do with
numbers."
Among the people raising concerns in Lansing about the impact of the new requirements is Elizabeth Letts,
whose son Steffan Doubek is a freshman at Marquette High School. Until this year, Steffan was able to take
special education math courses because he has a disorder that makes it difficult to recall multiple steps and
sequential events. But this year, he was put in an algebra class. And though he's taking a special education
math class, too, it won't count toward graduation.
"This year he has become depressed and defeated. He hates school and has often been reduced to tears,"
Letts told lawmakers during a House subcommittee hearing earlier this month. "He's being set up to fail and
the hardest part of this is he realizes it."
Lawmakers also heard from Ann Pierson, a high school special education teacher who said she's "never
experienced the frustration I've seen in ... students I have this year."
For some of Pierson's students, algebra comes five times a day -- during algebra class, during an algebra
concepts class, in a support class, during her preparation period and after school.
Consequently, "they hate school and it's a shame," Pierson said.
Meanwhile, legislation that is before the House Education Committee would create an alternate high school
diploma that students could earn to graduate, a general diploma that doesn't require Algebra II. House Bill
5943 would require three years of math, including algebra I and geometry -- or the equivalent taken in a
career technical course.
In addition, a House subcommittee has been holding hearings this year to examine the scope of the math
problem.
Rep. Tim Melton, chairman of the House Education Committee, said the key to the subcommittee's work is
coming up with a solution that doesn't "water down the graduation requirements."
Problems anticipated
Melton, D-Pontiac, said he's concerned by what he's hearing about the failure rates.
"We need to be prepared. The last thing we want to have is kids dropping out of school because they can't
get through Algebra II," he said.
Schools began responding to the crisis even before it hit. In the two years since the new requirements
became law for the Class of 2011, many schools like Fraser High in Macomb County, have designed
programs to help struggling math students. So have schools across the region, including in Plymouth-Canton
and Redford.
In many cases, high schools are trying to make up for what students should have learned in elementary and
middle school, when there was no expectation that they would have to take such rigorous math courses.
"That's nine years' worth of schooling they've already experienced," said Michael Yocum, director of
learning services at Oakland Schools, Oakland County's intermediate school district. "A lot of work needs to
be done. Curriculum changes need to be made. And they need to be made all the way up the line. This is not
a high school issue. It's a K-12 issue."
Using MEAP scores
In Fraser Public Schools, students whose MEAP scores and classroom performance identified them as being
more likely to struggle with algebra were placed in a double block of the class, meaning they meet every
day for 90 minutes, while other students meet 90 minutes every other day.
Principal David Richards said 84% of those students have a passing rate -- a remarkable rate, he said,
considering these were the kids most likely to struggle or, worse, fail.
Bryan Roy, 14, of Clinton Township said math is a difficult subject for him, but the double dose of it is
helping this year.
"I'm doing better. I don't feel as rushed. My teacher helps me and I don't feel like I'm not smart."
Samantha Maynard is among those students, too. Last year, she said, she hated the subject. This year, it's her
favorite. The reason, she said, is that the extra time gives her teacher, Amy Jager, time to work one on one
with students, explore different techniques for learning and use technology to learn.
"Since this year it's gotten easier," Samantha said.
The additional time is key, but Jager, one of three teachers teaching algebra in a double block, said it took a
re-examination of the way they teach. The teachers worked as a team and with professionals from the
Macomb Intermediate School District to design the program.
"We were trying to be proactive," Jager said. "We knew we had to do something different to get these kids
through."
Another popular approach schools are trying is scheduling some students into a math support class to go
along with their Algebra I. In the support class, they get help with concepts that confuse them and a teacher
works to keep them on track and "fill in the gaps in their learning," said Mike Bender, director of secondary
education for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools.
Coaching helps
In the Roseville School District, they began placing coaches in Algebra I classes to work directly with the
classroom teacher after the first semester. The coaches, generally retired teachers, college graduates with
math backgrounds or laid-off professionals are an extra level of support.
The impact: In the 12 sections of the class that have coaches, 50 students had failing grades at the end of the
first semester. Halfway through the second semester, when the coaches were present, only 22 had failing
grades.
That has Mike LeFeve, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Roseville, vowing that
next school year: "I'm going to try to put those coaches in place from day one."
Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or [email protected].
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