Should Algebra 2 Be Required Essay

The new Common Core State Standards for Mathematics bring a new opportunity to the classrooms of the United States that many people view as a controversial. According to the NCTM (2013) “The Common Core State Standards offer a foundation for the development of more rigorous, focused, and coherent mathematics curricula, instruction, and assessments that promote conceptual understanding and reasoning as well as skill fluency” (par. 1). While some people believe that the Common Core State Standards may hinder progress in the classroom for many reasons including too much government control, teaching to the test, an excessive focus on language arts and math, and wasted resources, others agree with the NCTM statement about that claims the standards help increase conceptual understanding, reasoning, and skill fluency.

The main point of this piece was about whether or not an Arizona State University student, Gordon Adams, needed to take the required college algebra courses in order to graduate before attending ASU College of Law. Adams desperately wanted to enter the law school in the Fall of 1993, however, he was required by the school to take two college algebra math courses before graduating. If he was to take those classes he would have missed the opportunity to attend law school in the Fall of 1993 and would instead have to wait until the following year.

Disturbingly, “nearly one-fifth of high school students and over 50 percent of middle school students are enrolled in math classes whose teachers neither majored or minored in math” (Drew, 2011, p.9). In 2000, 31 percent of high

I was a junior at Brentwood High School, who arrived to the United states from Peru a couple of months ago, and after complaining for three months, Christine Burrows, my guidance counselor, decided to change my Algebra class by a “higher” level math.

So schools do not fall behind on these requirements, some states such as Vermont and California are compelled to spend up to triple the amount of time on reading and math subjects. The requirements are constantly being raised by other top schools, making it difficult for lower-preforming schools to compete. According to a survey done by the Center on Education Policy, 71 percent of the nation’s 15,000 school districts have severely reduced teaching history, music, foreign language, and other subjects to increase study on reading and math (Dillon).

High-stakes grading depends on unknown factors. Under the new tests, students must attain a certain cumulative score on all EOC assessments to graduate, but the state has not yet revealed what this required score will be. Students must also achieve a certain level of performance on EOC assessments for algebra two and english three for enrollment into four year colleges, but once again the state has not yet decided what this number will be. Teachers have determined that EOC tests are written in language three levels way harder than TAKS tests for the same grade level. This means students may know the subject matter, but may not understand what is being asked because test questions are phrased in language beyond their grade level.

Texas faces many problems with the current educational system and many of them continue to go unresolved due to the way Texas has established certain laws. A decline in education has been seen since 2006 when legislators decided to cut property tax which pays for education (Maule). Those policies only further hinder the progress of education improving, which is why policies like those do not need to be further implemented. More involvement with students is needed and that will be acquired by having more effective teachers. Many studies have shown that students with effective teachers do better in class than those with ineffective teachers. Not only do students do poorly with ineffective teachers, but “[s]tudies show that most students drop out due to poor academic performance. And studies have proven that the teacher in the

Education plays an important role in every person’s future. Not only does it enhance a person’s intellect, but it allows them to discover what they want to become. For the past years, high school students were having trouble graduating and when Texas ranked the lowest in the population that received a high school diploma, the state decided to minimize the amount of exams students had to pass. Although Texas students became successful in graduating, this way of graduating harms the student because they were unable to understand the basics in their education. The reduction of End-of-course exams from fifteen to five and later to three motivate students, but also teaches them that they don’t need to work hard.

Since a public school district’s success is determined by state and national assessment, officials in school systems across the country have sought to make changes to effectively address the academic deficits of students. A push in education over the past couple decades has been the race to Calculus and the belief that this path is necessary for a student to succeed in advanced math courses in college. Although there has been a dramatic increase in the number of students in high school Calculus, enrollment in Calculus 2 at college has remained relatively unchanged for the last two decades (Bressoud, 2004; 2009). Many students who have taken Calculus in high school are arriving unprepared for Calculus in college (Bressoud, 2007).

Texas has “courses… identified as advanced and, as such, eligible for exemption as noted in section 33.081 of the Texas Education Code” (http://www.uiltexas.org). Texas has taken these students trying to better themselves into consideration and has made the needed exemptions for their benefit. This policy in turn cannot be to blame for fear of losing eligibility when taking advanced courses. Education Week reports "In mathematics, 29 nations and other jurisdictions outperformed the United States by a statistically significant margin, up from 23 three years ago," and "in science, 22 education systems scored above the U.S. average, up from 18 in 2009" (http://www.edweek.org). The U.S. continues to fall behind other countries, and since the No Pass No Play policy has benefits that could bring the U.S. up in ranks it could be the way to go. It is time to make a difference and start tightening the reins and get the U.S. to a respectable spot it

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was first implemented in 2010, nine years after I graduated from high school. Although I wasn’t personally affected by the new academic standards, it has a direct impact on the current and future generation of leaders, innovators, and world changers including my future children. The initial purpose of the Common Core Standards is to set high-quality learning goals designed to prepare students to be college and career ready. Given the current controversies surrounding CCSS, studies have shown that although the intent was to benefit students in the long-run it may actually be hindering their mathematical and reading skills. To further explore the arguments behind the Common Core initiative, I will

2. Describe the pattern of growth in the “Number of people told” column for both Scenario A and Scenario B.

Yes, the “No Child Left Behind Act” was based on the “Texas miracle”. Congress quickly passed laws that every state was required to test their students grades 3 through 8 in reading and math.

According to livescience less than a quarter of workers actually need complex math. If less than a quarter of workers actually use their educational background, which brings up the question on why do students have to learn these unique

Most students in my algebra II class, in high school, disliked math substantially. Math was only required to be taken for two years and if you were going to attend college, Algebra II was a requirement. When their two years were up, I could say that about half the students did not continue math. Many students in my Pre-Cal class always had a thing about asking the teacher when they were ever going to solve a problem like that in the “real world”. I noticed that the ones who had lower standards for example, they were set on going to the junior college or going straight to working, did not continue math after two years in high school. The students who were set on going to a four year university continued on with math. The students with lower standards did not care to go above and beyond. This had me thinking. If some students felt that math was useless in the “real world”, why are we required to take it? In my opinion I feel that students should be required to take a math class as a GE requirement, but it should be math that is applied to the “real world”. Those who need math in their career can continue their math studies even further.