The Algebra Conundrum

It is no secret that many gifted students are ready for algebra much sooner than it is generally offered in our standard sequence of instruction in our schools. Most of these students have mastered prerequisite knowledge and skills, and are clearly ready for a challenge. Taking algebra earlier than the typical freshman year of high school will allow them to pursue their mathematical passion and start them on a trajectory to prepare them for college and careers.

It is also no secret that schools, including those in Wisconsin, have considered algebra advancement to be a conundrum. These questions are often asked: Is this type of acceleration important? For whom? Are we finding the right students? Are we over-identifying students, only to find that some students are not prepared? Are we under-identifying students, especially historically underserved students, depriving them of content and challenge that they need and deserve? What if we place students in Algebra I in eighth-grade and they struggle; what do we do then?

In this recent article, Untangling Who Should Take Algebra – and When in The 74, author Lauren Camera outlines the emergence of thinking on this conundrum. She begins by stating, “When it comes to access, readiness, and placement in Algebra I, states and districts across the country have ping-ponged between extremes for decades, often without clear evidence to back up drastic and frequent policy shifts.”

Citing an Ed Research for Action study entitled Evidence-Based Practices for Algebra I – Access, Placement, and Success by Elizabeth Huffaker of Stanford University, Camera shares that selection for early Algebra I placement should be based on academic readiness (measured by carefully crafted entrance requirements), and not on grade level or subjective judgments. This, the study asserts, will lead to both stronger student achievement and greater access, especially for historically underserved students.

The study also examined the research surrounding the tradeoffs between “tracked” and “mixeed-proficiency” grouping practices.Though the research bears out that grouping students by readiness is an efficient and effective way of targeted teaching, grouping them together, (“tracking”) them, is often viewed as inequitable because it can lead to a fixed mindset, discouragement, and disengagement in some students.

For gifted math students, however, a “mixed-proficiency” classroom will probably not provide the pace, depth, and challenge that they require and deserve.

So what is a school district to do? If the entrance bar is set too high, we exclude students; if the entrance bar is set too low, we will undoubtedly encounter students who require additional support to be successful.

San Francisco schools struggled with this conundrum in the late 1990s. They attempted to enroll all eighth-graders in Algebra I under California’s “Algebra for All” initiative; this effort was met with lackluster results. In 2015, the district attempted to correct, withholding Algebra I for all eighth-grade students, making them wait until ninth-grade for this course. The district faced a wave of criticism from parents and caregivers who believed that their students were not being sufficiently challenged or prepared for high level math courses, and so the district re-corrected again this year with a much more nuanced plan, providing clearer identification criteria and support for educators and students. They applied lessons learned from evidence-based research. Here are some of the findings:

The research demonstrated the best way to identify students for early enrollment into Algebra I is “with a combination of test scores, rather than relying solely on subjective referrals or a single test score.” You can download a helpful tool and discussion questions for districts and educators here.
The research showed that students are much more successful in Algebra I when enrollment is based on academic readiness, not grade level.
Academic support, including tutoring, summer school, and “double-dosing” (two periods of math each day) will help students who need additional help to be successful. Districts and ducators must be prepared to supply these resources.

Huffaker of Stanford sums up the algebra conundrum with these words of encouragement for educators, “There should be an emphasis on raising the floor, not lowering the ceiling when we’re thinking about balancing access and achievement. We always say that supported acceleration is a great way to get all or most of your students on an advanced pathway. And it sounds really great to have everyone kind of on that early Algebra I one trajectory. But districts face significant resource constraints and staffing. So I think our real goal here was to provide a framework where districts could come in with their local priorities and resources mapped and see what’s realistic for them.”

What are your district’s priorities? Are they realistic? What support resources do you have available? How can you assure that all students are given sufficient challenge and support in your district? If your district is struggling with the algebra conundrum, I hope this article has been helpful.

As always, I welcome your thoughts. Together we grow.

- Jackie Drummer, Past President and Current Advisor, WATG

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Science and the Arts

By Dal Drummer • November 10, 2025

Almost every week we see headlines in the news lamenting the current state of students and education. Titles such as these – “Chronic Absenteeism Continues to Plague School Systems,” “Why Do Students Spend So Much Time on Their Phones?,” “Should Phones Be Banned From the Classroom and Will That Improve Test Scores?" – are prolific and often worrisome. This often leads to proposed solutions, some which undoubtedly have been tried (both successfully and unsuccessfully) in the past. Why do educational leaders (and politicians) continue to “reinvent the wheel” by proposing and utilizing the same (but re-branded) solutions to student learning problems over the years, dropping one after another in favor of a latest “trend” that will supposedly fix everything? Why aren’t we getting results? I feel the above questions are related and may have an easy solution, one that has produced many studied and practical results. It is a solution that I have experienced in my decades of teaching as well. Recently I read an article in K-12DIVE entitled Drawing connections between art and science can improve academic outcomes by Briana Mendez-Padilla. K-12DIVE is a news outlet that provides business journalism and in-depth reporting on trends in the pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade education sector. In this article, students in Mississippi had persistent low test scores until the school decided to make changes and incorporate the arts (and even artists) to work with and alongside the sciences. As a result, test scores rose significantly, as did social interactions between students. In this article, the author points out that today’s teachers are often competing with technology for kids’ attention. Just taking away technology doesn’t insure greater learning, nor does ignoring it. Teachers need to utilize what attracts kids to technology if they want better attendance and better learning. The author points out that students learn best in different ways (as we know); some students have auditory learning preferences, some kinesthetic, and some visual. Some learn best by reading, others not. Many of today’s students are also heavily into music, movement, and video. This is evidenced by their “plugged in” behaviors and their preference for online creation and viewing. It then stands to reason that the more ways a teacher can present material or allow students to learn using their technology, the more the students will be involved in their learning. Learning or showing evidence of learning can be much more than drawing a picture of the plant cycle (straight out of the science book) or making a shoebox diorama, practices of the past. As educators, we need to move our practices into spaces that our students inhabit. Some simple examples about different ways of learning/demonstrating wave action using science and the arts together could be students acting out wave action through dance using their different music choices (singly or in groups). Teachers could also, using light, prisms, and paints, show how colors can mix and affect how we see our world, and then critically analyze the use of light and color in water portrayed in historic and contemporary works of art (found online, of course). Or students could create music that they feel mimics wave action, mixing and remixing existing music or creating their own. Many of them have technological expertise and a great desire to use it. By teaching our curriculum in their world, using the arts as a vehicle, will, many believe, generate renewed excitement in learning. Finally, in order to develop curricular connections between science and the arts, administrators have to deliberately set aside time for curricular collaboration. Collaboration isn’t something that just magically happens; it takes time, interest, and creativity to connect them, a marriage of will and skill! Professional development time should be used to develop curricular connections, therefore enhancing teachers’ skillsets. Better teaching makes for better student outcomes. Coordination between the arts and sciences shouldn’t take much of a monetary investment; it can often be free, and the results can be priceless. Many free connections exist within community arts organizations, and they can enhance a school or school system. I know this because of my decades of experience as a visual arts specialist and arts coordinator in Milwaukee’s Lincoln Center of the Arts. The arts and sciences have much in common. In fact, through the Renaissance period, the arts and sciences weren’t two separate fields. They were one! They have many connections. Let’s put them back together using today’s technology! See a need for this in your child’s school? Share this article (and others) with them. For more information I direct you to the following articles. https://artsintegration.com/what-is-arts-integration-in-schools/ https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/articles-and-how-tos/articles/collections/arts-integration-resources/what-is-arts-integration/ https://www.edutopia.org/topic/arts-integration/ - Dal Drummer, WATG Board Advisor

The Importance of Intellectual Peers for Gifted Students

By Jenna Cramer • November 10, 2025

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