For the past few years the district required all 8th graders meet the requirement, but after quantifiable learning loss measured since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of students retaking it in the ninth grade prompted district administration to reexamine the policy.
“If we can set metrics and say that if a student is at this level in sixth grade, students' needs have changed in the last two years significantly, right? And we have a responsibility to meet them where they are, and to give them the best chance that they have to recover from that and be successful in the future,” Board Member Anne Halsey said.
Currently, 126 of the 187 ninth grade students taking algebra 1 are taking it for the second time. If students fail twice, they move on to an asynchronous program to earn math credit.
Wendy Zeiger, district curriculum specialist for SMCISD, said that because the switch to the algebra 1 for all eighth-graders policy is only a few years old, the district does not have enough data to know if it is working.
“You know, we started this a few years ago, and then COVID hit and so, it's kind of hard to say really how it’s truly working because we don't have all the data. We don't have all the [State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness] testing for different years ... we are looking for an alternative for students,” Zeiger said.
Board Member Miguel Arredondo said he would like to see greater focus on intervention in earlier grades to better identify what students might struggle in eighth grade before possibly discarding the standard.
“At a minimum, if the program is changing next year [it should be] opt out only," Arredondo said. "And then we invest as an organization in those students who we know [are] going to struggle when they get to that algebra 1 class versus saying, ‘you've been struggling for the past three or four years. We're going to put you in the other math when you get to that grade level,’ because that is an adult issue and decision, not intervening before.”
The disparity in outcomes between the middle schools was also a point of concern for the board.
“I think we should keep in mind that there is some lack of equity between the two middle schools. So the numbers are different between Goodnight [Middle School] and Miller [Middle School], and that's something that I just hope [we] will keep in mind and ensure that we have equal quality of education,” Board Member Dr. Mari Salmi said.
Zeiger said that over the summer algebra teachers at the middle schools will work together toward a more uniform curriculum between the campuses going forward.
