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Illinois law now requires Algebra, Geometry, and an additional year of high school math for high school graduation (previous requirement was 2 years of math, courses not specified).
Sounds good - until the Illinois State Board of Education changed their policy so that students are not allowed to earn credit towards high school graduation before 9th grade.
Net effect: No one can take Algebra before 9th grade.
and
There are students who have completed Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II/Pre-Calculus before 9th grade. Under Illinois law and ISBE policy they have had those three years of high school honors math credits and grades stripped from their Academic Records and High School transcripts. They have exhausted the High School math curriculum through AP Calculus BC by 10th grade, leaving them short of the three years of H.S. math credits required for H.S. graduation - and their GPAs and Class Ranks are now below those of students who have completed H.S. math only through Algebra II.
The ISBE has refused to revise their policy for cases like these, effectively placing a limit on the high end of the achievement spectrum and effectively punishing those students for achieving to the best of their ability.
School policy usually reads something like this example: *No high school credit will be awarded to elementary or middle school students concurrently enrolled in high school courses.* These kids have taken high school courses at the high school, taken the same quizzes, tests, and finals as their high school classmates, but are then informed that their work and effort do not count (and will actually count against them) because they took those classes before they were in 9th grade.
Now they are openly penalizing smart kids.
18 comments:
There is only one thing to do.
Go out and rent "Harrison Bergeron"
"All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so." This is the premise of the Showtime film adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual "Handicapping" which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence.
Hmm. Well, this is disturbing since my 6th grader is in the high 8th grade algebra class. He will be bussed to the high school next year (unless he screws up big, which is always possible.)
What do they do with them when they run out of classes?
I hope anon that posted over at your site comes over here (or I'll just go over there.) I definitely want to hear more about this since we can't exactly move.
From what I understand (and after looking at the ISBE website), school districts can count Algebra I and Geometry taken in middle school as fulfilling the content requirements for Algebra and Geometry, but kids still have to take 3 years of Math in high school. So I guess that would leave Alg II, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus for high school. I think our district also offers AP Statistics or AP Computer Programming courses to fulfill the Math requirement, and I know some kids take Math courses at local colleges.
This is just staggering.
I'd love to know the source of this rule.
The effect is to keep kids in public school for four years no matter how advanced they are.
Which keeps the funds flowing in.
Schools penalize everyone: top, middle, bottom.
This has been a core revelation for me.
Empirically speaking, a school that penalizes one group of kids is always a place that penalizes other kids, too.
I've seen it over and over again.
The middle school principal just told a large group of parents that the kids "who are struggling" are "the only ones I'm concerned about." (Words to that effect.)
Well, there's a reason those kids are struggling, and it's the same reason my own "top-third" kid is struggling.
[Catherine Johnson said...
I'd love to know the source of this rule.]
ISBE Guidance Document for P.A. 94-0676 (State Graduation Requirements):
“An Algebra I course taken in middle school, however, cannot be counted as meeting one of the three years of mathematics that high school students must complete in order to receive a high school diploma. In other words, courses taken before ninth grade do not reduce the number of courses that a high school student is required to complete under state law.”
Further confirmed by a report to Community School District 303 (serving parts of Kane and DuPage Counties in Illinois) on Feb. 13, 2006:
“Tom Rosene, Principal Accountability Consultant from the ISBE, confirmed with the Assistant Superintendent for Learning and Teaching that the state expects these (graduation) requirements to be met by students while they are enrolled in grades 9-12.
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The ISBE is aware that there are students who are accelerated in the high school math curriculum to a greater extent than taking Algebra I in 8th grade, and that those students will exhaust the high school math curriculum before earning the required three years of math credits in grades 9-12, but they continue to refuse to revise their Guidance Document for such students.
In fact, they get downright surly when questioned about it.
[From what I understand (and after looking at the ISBE website), school districts can count Algebra I and Geometry taken in middle school as fulfilling the content requirements for Algebra and Geometry, but kids still have to take 3 years of Math in high school. So I guess that would leave Alg II, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus for high school.]
The problems some students are facing are...
They are advanced further than Algebra I and Geometry in 7th and 8th grades.
Some high schools' Honors Math course sequences combine Alg II/Pre-Calc into one year, then kids go on to AP Calc BC.
Even in schools that do offer AP Stats and AP Comp Sci, there is usually only one (or two) section of the class offered - scheduling conflicts cause significant problems.
Commuting to a college for a class while still in high school is not always feasible.
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It's not a money issue. Illinois schools are funded largely through (exhorbitantly expensive) local real estate taxes. The schools get the tax revenue no matter what. Tax levy increases are based on the CPI. Schools are not paid per student per year, with the possible exception of funding for Special Ed.
Thanks anon,
Are you in the Chicago suburbs? Don't answer if you don't feel comfortable.
I have a son who I'm sure will be through Algebra II by 8th grade. He's in his second year of algebra now even though it isn't quite algebra 2. I think. I'm never quite sure.
I guess I need to ask them what they plan on doing. I'm sure he's not the first to have this problem, but the schools must have some kind of plan. I would think. They've been shipping kids over from the middle school for a while in my district and apparently in neighboring towns as well.
Well, I now know what to ask...
I don't know why I carry on thinking there has to be a rational reason.
There doesn't have to be a rational reason.
"Because I say so" is the reason.
By the time my husband was 16, he had taken Calc 1, 2, & 3, Discrete Math, and Linear Algebra at the local college, as well as Engl 101, Comm 101, Soc 101, and drafting.
This didn't prevent his parents from having to fight tooth and nail to get the school district to let him graduate in December of his senior year at age 16. They were obsessed with making everyone spend 4 years in HS, even though it was blatantly obvious that he had exhausted all the academic opportunities they had available. This is one of the reasons that we are going to homeschool--to avoid the 4-year cookie cutter education!
The students that I know about are in the NW Chicago suburbs. (I'm sure there are others elsewhere, as well!)
Their school district has had a long history of successfully accelerating students in math as needed, and bussing them between the Elem/Jr Hi/H.S. for their classes as necessary. But, that particular district no longer offers math acceleration beyond Algebra I in 8th grade. In part, because of the new State restrictions on earning high school credit towards graduation requirements, but also because the district leadership has gone more towards a social justice focus. Educators who embrace the social justice ideology do not think it's fair or morally right that some students are more capable than others of reaching high levels of achievement.
Looks like Illinois's plan to deliberately limit student achievement at the high end is starting to work.
This isn't really that big of a problem. It's stupid and annoying, but not a real problem.
So what if the state doesn't let the kid have a high school diploma? A simple piece of paper isn't going to stop a kid that good from going to college. Heck, Dartmouth never asked me if I actually finished high school -- they just assumed it based on my record thus far and my mid-year grades. I don't think I've EVER needed to prove to anyone that I finished high school.
I've dated two "high school drop-outs" whose parents had enough of their nonsense high schools and pulled them out of high school and sent them to college -- real colleges, not community college.
Don't get sucked in by the school's game. Remember: dropouts count AGAINST the school, so if the kid doesn't get a diploma, The Man is sticking it to himself.
Don't get sucked in by the school's game. Remember: dropouts count AGAINST the school, so if the kid doesn't get a diploma, The Man is sticking it to himself.
lol!
I didn't even think of that.
A brief note explaining why the students' GPAs and class ranks are lower than they should be could be included with the college apps for students in states that refuse to recognize high school courses completed before 9th grade.
Admission to public colleges could be a problem. Most require a high school diploma.
Private colleges would be more open to highly achieving students who do not meet high school graduation requirements. But, would lack of a HS diploma cause a problem with qualifying for scholarships and financial aid? Private colleges are costly.
One of the people I was thinking of went to a public college (his state's "Flagship" university) on a full scholarship. For most colleges the financial aid form is due in January of the senior year, and the aid decisions are sent out in April-ish, I think, so that shouldn't be a problem.
I have never -- not once -- been asked to prove that I graduated from high school. I don't even know where my high school diploma is.
Once the kid is a confident and successful adult, it will make a great story to tell over beers with friends from work -- why he/she was the honors student who "dropped out" of high school.
It's much better for kids to get a good education without a credential than for them to get a credential without a meaningful education.
, but also because the district leadership has gone more towards a social justice focus.
Anon,
I'm east of you in the burbs and I'm picking up the same vibe from teachers and administrators.
All one needs to do is check out the IL Loop website and click "math" and "Chicago suburbs." From there you can see how infested with constructivst math texts the entire area has become.
One of the problems with these curriculums (among so many others that we've documented) is the notion that we can and should learn at the same pace. I have spoken to more than a few teachers and administrators who "believe" in this notion and reject the problems that come from it. They feel good about it and that's that.
I hope RH is right (I assume she is), but it is disconcerting.
As a parent, you can really never take your eye off of the ball. I thought when we got to high school I could relax.
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