DJ> SK> ->    The report also noted that after EQUITY 2000 was
DJ> SK> introduced -> at the schools, students passed Algebra I at
DJ> SK> rates comparable to -> those before the program was
DJ> SK> introduced, even though enrollment has -> almost doubled.
DJ> 
DJ> Our system also requires virtually all students take algebra.
DJ> This language is curious. It seems that no claims are being made 
DJ> for increased achievement. We could expose my cats to the worm 
DJ> theory of parallel universes in an improved fashion. Wouldn't do 
DJ> much good, however. 
    Something similar happened when I was a HS student.  
    The guidance counselor "encouraged" virtually all college-bound kids to 
take every math and science course they could schedule, pushing many kids 
into a physics class they lacked the math skills to handle.  As a result, few 
of the kids learned anything and it was a nightmare for a teacher stuck with 
teaching Newtonian physics to a class of which 90% lacked the needed algebra 
skills.
DJ> In our system, the courses may be _called_ pre algebra and 
DJ> algebra, but the actual content is a different matter. Some of 
DJ> the old timers are in trouble with the administration for the 
DJ> student failure rates. 
    The aforementioned physics class had the same problem for the teacher, 
since many kids from country-club homes were failing at spring midterm a 
course they needed to graduate.
--- Simplex BBS (v1.07.00Beta [DOS])
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