The Truly Brilliant, the Stupid People, and Equity for All
This is an excerpt (Chapter 21) from Confessions of a 21 Century Math Teacher. Although written in 2015, it is relevant to the California Framework for Mathematics which implicitly discourages students who are qualified to do so from taking traditional algebra 1 in middle school.
Occasionally I would see the mother of the Asian girl, Susan who, at the start of the semester, had cornered me about Susan’s performance and whether she could observe my class. I had made an excuse and she never followed up. On certain days, she helped out Mrs. Perren, the math department chair whose classroom was near mine. As I passed Mrs. Perren’s classroom on those days, the mother would look at me, a scowl on her face.
Susan was doing better in my algebra class, but was very distraught over the latest set of standardized tests that I administered. The latest tests were part of the Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP), developed by California State University and University of California. They were straightforward multiple choice exams that had been used for years for placement. The MDTP test was in addition to the Silicon Valley Math Initiative (SVMI) test that students had taken earlier as a new facet of the District’s mysterious placement process. In my opinion, the MDTP was a much better measure of math ability than SVMI’s test which was more formative than it was summative for those of you who know what those terms mean and their proper application.
When I administered the MDTP, I was deluged with questions from all my students. “How is it used to place us? If we don’t pass, what class are we placed in? How is that other test we had to take going to be used?” (This last question referred to the SVMI exam). I decided to see Robin, the student counselor to seek advice on how to answer the questions.
“There are two tests now; the MDTP and the SVMI test,” she told me. “It used to be only MDTP.”
This I knew.
“And what has been the cut-off for the MDTP?” I asked.
“It varies,” she said. “I’m not sure what it is this year. But for sure, both tests are being used. We're doing away with having so many students qualify for algebra. We simply can’t have this many students taking Algebra 1 in eighth grade. Under Common Core, we want the VERY brightest and most talented in math to be allowed to take that."
Being a long-term sub, I guess Robin didn’t feel I needed to know anything official that students could misinterpret. The cut-off has been 80% for years; a student told me. I wouldn’t find that out officially until after the school year was over when I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the school district to find out what it was, and how many students had qualified for Algebra 1.
Students already taking Algebra 1 were given the MDTP for geometry. What Robin didn’t know when we met was that during this transition year to Common Core the results of the MDTP and SVMI tests didn’t matter for those students, since they had been “grandfathered” in to the system (even though they were still required to take the exams). If they received a B- or better in Algebra 1 and the recommendation of their teacher, they qualified to take geometry the next year.
A few weeks after administering the MDTP, I distributed the summary sheets of the scores to my students. The summary did not indicate what class they would be placed in next year.
At lunch time the next day, Susan came to see me in tears. The results of her test were low. “Does this mean I can’t take geometry next year?”
“I don’t know how they will make that decision,” I said. “I’m told the cut-off level varies.”
“I have to get into the geometry class or my mother will kill me,” she said. “I’m not supposed to be telling anyone this.” She put her head in her hands and started crying. “I have to pass algebra and I have to get into geometry.”
I assured her she was passing the algebra course, but suggested she talk to her counselor about the placement exam. “Will you do that?” I asked.
After Susan left I called Robin and left a voice mail explaining that Susan was extremely distressed about getting into geometry and I was concerned. Towards the end of the day, I received an email from Robin, who had met with Susan. She knew about the problems between Susan and her mother. Robin did some research into the placement process during this Common Core transition year (a phrase she always said with a sigh, and a roll of her eyes heavenward). Robin told Susan that she was grandfathered in; she would get in to the geometry class. “That seemed to calm her down a bit,” Robin said.
Problem solved, I thought. For now.
I know there are parents who pushed to get their children into the algebra class. Perhaps Susan’s mother was one who did. But from what I could see in my algebra classes, with the exception of about 3 or 4 students out of 60, they were doing well, with most getting A’s and B’s. From my perspective, the MDTP was an effective placement tool. But the allure of Algebra 1 in eighth grade did have the potential of creating a student elite—now made even more so by the additional hurdle of the ill-conceived SVMI exam.
I recall in one of my pre-algebra classes after I handed the students their MDTP score summary sheets, a very bright girl named Gail said she hoped she placed into Algebra 1. (She in fact scored higher than 80% on the MDTP, and did well on the SVMI test.) “I don’t want to be with the stupid people,” she said to the girl who sat behind her.
It was probably that attitude that caused some school districts to enlist an “honors classes for all” type of policy, so no one would feel left out. Other school districts such as mine restricted entry as much as possible through their exclusionary tactics (which also kept down the number of students taking geometry in eighth and ninth grades). The eighth grade traditional Algebra 1 class has become an endangered species open only to a newly formed and very small elite.
During my assignment at the middle school, about 300 students were enrolled in Algebra 1 in the entire District. This year, the number dropped substantially to 46. Many of the rest would have otherwise qualified, but for the hurdle imposed by SVMI. They were now part of the larger and growing class of the “stupid people” as Gail referred to them. Given how I am seeing Common Core interpreted for the lower grades, her insulting categorization is taking on new meaning. It is a group for whom Algebra 1 will be a watered down Common Core version in ninth grade. All in the name of egalitarianism and the greater common good. -