Does a Double Dose of Algebra Help High-School Students?

In this Education Next article, Kalena Cortes (Texas A&M University), Joshua Goodman (Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government), and Takako Nomi (St. Louis University) report on a follow-up study of 11,507 students who took a “double dose” of algebra in Chicago high schools. Researchers found that increased time in algebra resulted in minimal gains for most students, and for a subset of students – those who initially had relatively high math skills and below-average reading skills – had a more significant effect on high-school graduation rate, ACT scores, and college enrollment. An additional finding was that increasing classroom time on algebra didn’t hurt students’ achievement in other subjects; students actually did a little better in reading and science courses. 

“A Double Dose of Algebra” by Kalena Cortes, Joshua Goodman, and Takako Nomi in Education Next, Winter 2013 (Vol. 13, #1, p. 70-76),

http://educationnext.org/a-double-dose-of-algebra 

From the Marshall Memo #464