More unprepared students taking algebra

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The push to have U.S. eighth-graders take algebra classes is creating unintended and damaging effects on some struggling middle schoolers, researchers say.

In the 1990s, algebra for eighth-graders became a national goal and more U.S. eighth-graders now take algebra than any other math course. But, says Tom Loveless, author of a Brookings Institution study released Monday, thousands of "woefully unprepared" students are taking the advanced courses, hurting even the better-prepared students.

"The 'democratization of algebra' sounds like a worthy goal -- it certainly stems from good intentions," Loveless said in a news release. But, he adds, "when a large number of students who don't even know basic arithmetic are placed in classes with students several grade levels ahead of them, the result is false democratization."

Using previously unavailable National Assessment of Educational Progress data, investigators were able to examine student-level information on a nationally representative sample of 160,000 eighth-graders.

Lawless says he found that from 2000 to 2005, as enrollment in advanced math classes rose among eighth-graders and enrollment in basic math declined, there was a significant jump in the percentage of very low-scoring students placed in the advanced courses.