ELA victory officially ends 8th-grade Algebra 1 mandate
Published: May 4, 2010
After winning at the trial court level in 2008, CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance has now also prevailed against the State Board of Education’s appeal over the issue of requiring all eighth-grade students to be tested in Algebra I skills.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal last week upheld a preliminary injunction granted to the Alliance, joined by the Association of California School Administrators, that prevented the State Board from implementing its June 2008 move to require Algebra I tests of all eighth-graders. The appellate court agreed with the trial judge that the State Board had violated the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act by failing to give adequate notice of its intended action.
“We are pleased by the judges’ ruling recognizing the legal consequences for the SBE’s violation of the open meeting laws,” said CSBA President Frank Pugh, “but it’s unfortunate that the SBE chose to spend further time and resources on this appeal, especially given the board’s concession that it had violated the open meeting law.”
The lawsuit centered on the State Board’s failure to adequately inform the public before it abruptly voted to make the Algebra I end-of-course exam “the sole test of record” for federal measurements of eighth-graders’ math skills, starting in 2011. The lack of notice denied the public an opportunity to speak to the significant repercussions the policy would have on all aspects of the education system.
“We are pleased with this decision, because a significant reallocation of resources would be needed in order to make the systemic changes necessary to prepare eighth-graders to be successful in Algebra I,” said CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin. From changes in teacher credentialing and professional development, instructional time and materials, and alignment of math standards throughout the lower grades, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell estimated it could cost more than $3 billion to properly prepare all eighth-graders for the Algebra I test.
Common standards and other considerations
In any event, California’s math requirements may soon be superseded by other developments in education policy. Congressional hearings are now under way to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which the State Board had cited to justify the algebra requirement; a reauthorized ESEA is expected to grant greater flexibility on measurements of student achievement than ESEA allowed in its 2001 reauthorization as the No Child Left Behind Act.
Additionally, the California Legislature voted earlier this year to commit the state to adopt new standards in math and English-language arts under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a project of the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. The common standards proposal has not yet been finalized, and no appointments have been made to a 21-member Academic Standards Content Commission, which is supposed to review the standards and advise the State Board on them by July 15, but California must adopt the common standards by Aug. 2 as part of its bid for funding under phase 2 of the federal Race to the Top competitive grant program.
On a separate track, CSBA was part of a California Math Policy Work Group that was convened in September 2009 to discuss a long-term strategy for content and delivery of math instruction in California. Organized by the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, and composed of state policymakers, school leaders, teachers and private business, the group has developed recommendations in the areas of standards, instructional materials, teacher preparation and professional development, assessment and accountability, and student support, all with the goal of improving the education system to help all students succeed in Algebra I by the time they graduate high school.
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