algebra

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

  Educational Accountability in California: Whose Job?

  Examining a controversy over mandatory algebra for eighth-graders in
  California, Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters says it is emblematic of a
  larger issue. "Is it wise to set educational standards that apply to all
  students," he asks, "even though they have an astonishing and ever-widening
  array of innate abilities and cultural, economic, ethnic, and linguistic
  backgrounds?" Walters says the conflict echoes a debate over compulsory exit
  exams for high school seniors. Advocates maintain that such a requirement can
  bring curricula into closer alignment with federal guidelines. Others,
  however, contend that the rules would force some students to drop out because
  they haven't been adequately prepared for the exit exams. Still others argue
  that the tests are meaningless because of their level of difficulty. Walters
  says a lack of accountability for educational outcomes is the controversy's
  most important dimension. "Who truly is in charge of educating those six
  million kids, and therefore accountable for what happens or doesn't happen in
  the classroom?" the columnist asks. The answer is "everyone, and therefore no
  one," he writes, adding: "Until we refine and simplify lines of authority and
  accountability and move away from democracy run so amok that it becomes
  anti-democratic, all will remain unresolved."

  Read more at http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1075349.html

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