The comment came as a surprise to many parents accustomed to the school system's defense of the algebra initiative -- important enough to be fourth on its touted Seven Keys to College Readiness.
"Hallelujah," said Gordon Brenne, a PTA vice president at Kensington's Albert Einstein High School, when told of Marks' comment.
Brenne has publicly criticized the algebra push even as he has supported other county initiatives, calling it based on "loosey-goosey logic" and not realistic for the Kensington area's highly mobile student population. Hundreds of students arrive at the middle schools and high schools without the proper background in math, Brenne said.
His concerns have gone largely unrecognized by top officials under Superintendent Jerry Weast.
This story was first broken by the Parents' Coalition blog reporting on video remarks of an MCPS Associate Superintendent. The quote and video can be found here.
Hundreds of students arrive at the middle schools and high schools without the proper background in math, Brenne said.
ReplyDeleteYes, if they arrive in HS and don't know algebra yet, getting them to know it by 8th grade could prove problematic.
If no account was taken of transfers, then one can call it a need for refinement, but I'd sooner see the goal remain intact with the expectation of some degree of failure that would be as small as we could make it within practical limits. (See articles about compulsive truants, for one example.)