Jason Stanford wonders why Texas Instruments wants every student to pass Algebra 2 as a graduation requirement. That is the current requirement. And why Texas Instruments feels so keenly about it that it hired high-powered lobbyist Sandy Kress to work the Legislature. Stanford explains why TI is so passionate about this particular subject.
Kress was the architect of No Child Left Behind. He also lobbies for Pearson. He is an outstanding lobbyist. Pearson won a $500 million contract to test kids in Texas even as the state cut funding by more than $5 billion for public schools.
Once you start following the money, it’s hard to stop.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I believe that a case can be made for advocating Algebra II for students; however, I don’t believe that every person can grasp it. I feel that the processes used to understand algebra as well as geometric theorems, axioms, etc. are beneficial to developing a mind that is more analytical. Therefore, there are benefits to taking these courses. I don’t necessarily think everyone is interested in it, though. The difficulty would be in:
1) creating and sustaining an interest in algebra, 2) giving each child the time necessary to learn it, 3) realizing that some children won’t comply (do the homework), and 4) figuring out what to do when the child doesn’t pass the course.
I think that treating all students as “the same” insofar as the demands needed for graduating, when it is not essential (or affordable) for all students to go to college, is misguided. Oh, and I might add, where are the jobs when they complete high school or college? And, if we continue to dump people from the workforce at younger and younger ages, yet demand of them to seek employment until age 67 or 70 to limit the paltry Social Security they might receive, just what IS the purpose behind all of this?
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To enrich even more the avaricious bastards that are at the top of the socio-economic pile.
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I like the article, but the author doesn’t understand the product line at TI. Our Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 classes use the TI-83+ and TI-84+ calculators.
Texas Instruments TI-83+ Graphing Calculator: $109.00 at Staples.com. Before school specials often bring the price down to around $90.00.
http://www.staples.com/Texas-Instruments-TI-83-Plus-Graphing-Calculator/product_383237
Not that $109 or $90 isn’t a high price, but it’s not $250 as the author suggests.
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Well, if the curriculum requires those calculators then the district should pay for them and not the individual students paying the costs. No different than a text. And it doesn’t matter who pays as long as TI is making the money, eh!!
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The thing about this is that Algebra 1 and 2 are very easily taught without a graphing calculator. And maybe taught better.
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Algebra II and above in our area requires the TI-84. None are provided, except perhaps a classroom set. One more cost a parent needs to pay…
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I Googled “texas instruments algebra standards graphing calculators”
And found the answer:
From the texas instruments website:
http://education.ti.com/en/us/products/calculators/graphing-calculators
“Many standardized tests and college entrance exams permit, or even require the use of a graphing calculator…”
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Of course it is about the money. There was a similar scandal in New Orleans right before Katrina where a computerized math program was purchased with the Special Education Department’s state money and the same board member also got principals to require uniforms and those uniforms could only be bought at her friend’s business.
As for Algebra II, I made a D in high school that was given to me. When I went to class with a student 30 years later I realized I remembered nothing about Algebra 1. But I graduated from college with a 3.67 and for my Masters with a 3.86. Unless you are going into a Math related field you don’t need Algebra 2 and it can lower your GPA. Practical Math would be a much better requirement.
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Cognitive development is cumulative…(Piaget) Theorem: Geometry should be taught first, as it is fundamental to reasoning (concrete). Geometry leads directly to trigonometry (analysis of angles) which leads to algebra (formulas, codified knowledge, abstract). But to practice geometry properly, you have to have one of those pointy thingies, whaddaya call it, a moral compass??
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Hmmmm… following that line of logic… then there are probably many Rheeformers who have NOT practiced geometry properly, because it requires a moral compass.
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money won’t buy…
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BIG Money interest. Guess what calculator pops up on the math MAP NWEA test now aligned to the common core national standards (let’s call them what they are). A fancy graphing calculator replica of one made by Texas instruments. Naturally Math teachers around the country will be in a mad rush to buy TI graphing calculators to match the one used by NWEA so that students will know how to use them. How many students will that be? Enough to equal a huge cash profit for TI
Always follow the money.
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This is a loaded question or at least, there is not a simple black and white answer.
I think kids need to leave high school knowing Algebra 1 with some Geometry and Statistics. Statistics may have more utility today than Algebra 2.
After graduating, if students were not interested in higher math offered in high school, then college can bring them along if their interests change–as did mine. I hated math in high school and now I am a certified math teacher! (and law student) You never know!
I did, however, receive a good grounding in math in high school which has served me well.
One thing is for sure, human beings learn and develop at different times and rates. Trying to force everyone through the same shape hole is counter-productive and perhaps even destructive.
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Yes, do follow the money and assume that profit and greed are behind any educational initiative coming from corporate interests and their lackeys.
However, that doesn’t automatically mean that any idea they push is flat-out wrong, and it would be naive and potentially harmful to take a position on how much (or little) mathematics kids “need” based solely on the fact that a lot of folks push for lots of bar raising (which inevitably involves tougher mathematics requirements, since math is the subject in this country most likely to allow for sorting of kids in ways that seem, to the naive or careless, to be grounded in unarguable facts) have ulterior motives that are usually financial.
Much of what we judge about mathematics requirements is often fueled by personal (usually negative) experiences with school mathematics, coupled with the obvious fact that many of those advocating for ever more math (much of it pushed ever further down in grade levels) do indeed appear to have only avarice and/or political/social/religious motives coupled to the push to destroy public schools. Hard to look objectively at mathematics once you’ve seen it through those lenses (and I’m not minimizing the importance of those perspectives, particularly the latter one).
However, it might be better to look at mathematics through the lenses of the social justice folks (e.g., Eric Gutstein, et al.) as well as very wise curriculum thinkers like Marion Brady. If we stop asking questions of the form, “What’s the minimum amount of mathematics we should insist that ALL students know at each grade level?” (which always comes with one-size-fits-all assumptions plus the belief that every child learns at a uniform rate), and start asking, “What tools do students need to answer questions they have about making sense of their worlds?” and suddenly individual choice and perspective come into play.
If we stop assuming that we need to dictate from on high a specific path (which is inevitably the one that leads, quite foolishly in my view, to the top of Calculus Mountain) all students must follow in specific subjects and start seeing things from the two perspectives mentioned in the previous paragraph, a lot of the corporate b.s. falls apart, as does most of what the educational deformers use to ramrod their agenda through Congress and various state legislatures. And then math becomes something about which far more sensible, individual decisions can be made, with the input of more stakeholders than simply the ones seeking to turn a profit, the ones who in fact should have the smallest voice, not the only one.
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You sound like my former thesis mentor—complete with Michigan blue! If you are he in disguise–Hi!
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No, I’m not in disguise and haven’t mentored anyone’s thesis. I did graduate work in math education at UM from ’92 to ’98, however, and have stayed in Ann Arbor, teaching mathematics and coaching math teachers in various high needs schools/communities. I wonder who your thesis mentor actually was.
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Interesting that you are in fact from Big Blue land. I probably should not reveal my mentor’s name publicly without his permission but am sending good vibes your way.
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Well, if you want to let me know privately, it’s mikegold@umich.edu
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How did they teach Algebra 2 before graphing calculators? Do the calculators really get used that much, or are they more electronic landfill material?
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I’m old so maybe how I learned is irrelevant today, but we plotted the graphs ourselves on paper in Algebra 2. I still remember the kid next to me always drew faces in his parabolas – I bet the calculator can’t do that.
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That calculators are ubiquitous in American math classrooms is largely a result of a concerted effort by TI, HP and the like to increase profits (under the guise of increased learning), which is not to say calculators can serve no useful purpose. One of the original (and useful) entry points into the science classroom for calculators was to replace slide rules for extended calculations, and that application still makes sense. But in math classes, there’s no unbiased evidence calculators improve achievement, and, notably, they’re largely absent from the classrooms in A+ performing countries.
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You claim that every study that shows positive results from using calculators is biased?
And are we prepared to state that if something is not used in a given set of countries, then we shouldn’t use it here (on the assumption that “high-performing” is an unbiased notion, among other assumptions)?
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My kids prefer Wolfram Alpha to any calculator.
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Actually there is good research, not connected to the reformer crowd, that shows if kids take and pass algebra 2, the chances of graduating from college go way up. It is an excellent goal, but I would not make it a requirement.
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That is certainly consistent with my experience at the university where I teach. The very interesting question concerns causation. It may well be that student characteristics that lead to completion of algebra 2 also contribute to success on college.
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Has there been any research on the minimum IQ level required to comprehend basic Algebra?
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IQ is a bogus concept that has no logical basis in reality.
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So Texas Instruments can sell more calculators.
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Great rant about Algebra here:
http://bit.ly/1340dlY
I personally think we should be teaching a lot more data analysis and a lot less algebra. This would likely entail more use of TI products, not less.
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Algebra II, if taught in an analytical/theoritcal way, would be absolutely useless to most high school graduates. However, if the same content were rewritten into a format that connects to the real-world uses and applications it could open the doors of future possibilities for many students.
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As a Calculus teacher in a high school, I can honestly say that Algebra 2 is pretty much useless for anyone not taking Calculus (most kids). A broader curriculum of advanced financial math and statistics would be more useful to most kids. Sadly, US math curriculum contains little practical application, and much theory. We get no flexibility because they test everything we teach.
So, in Indiana we drag all these kids through Alg 2 so they can graduate and all we really did was water down the course. Correlation does not equal causation (in regards to the alg2 college reference). Most students don’t get to even discuss that concept.
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Mr. K…. Thank you for pointing out the necessity and practicality of teaching advanced financial math and statistics. Students would definitely be better served, and I believe more interested in, learning about economics and the power of money in the world. Math illiteracy is rampant even among those who have managed to pass Algebra and calculus in high school.
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“. . . the power of money in the world.”
Careful, you may be considered a socialist for words like that!
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If students and schools buy the calculators used Texas Instruments wouldn’t make any money. Maybe a calculator swap. My sister and cousin never had to buy them. I gave them mine the minute I didn’t need them anymore.
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As noted by everyone else, Texas Instruments does make the calculators that students use for these courses. My TI-83 is still going strong 15 years years later. However, in contrast to technology that old, the prices have not changed at all.
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In the State of Florida, ALL students who want a standard diploma (the only other type is a special education diploma that is basically worthless) must pass Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and one higher level math class…choices are Trig, Calc, Statistics, etc. Four credits of math, higher than Algebra I! I realize your point in this article was about Texas Instruments, but I can’t imagine there is a better way to increase your high school dropout rate than the way Florida is doing it. We keep raising the bar, but what are we doing about the ones who couldn’t reach the original bar?
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To Mr. K – I am puzzled by the frequent statements about replacing algebra and calculus by statistics and advanced financial math. How far could you get in either field without some calculus not to mention algebra?
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I am bringing this from a high school perspective. We do not need 100% of our kids taking Alg 2. Using that correlation without causation causes many problems. I teach in the International Baccalaureate curriculum. Most kids can do the math for most problems using technology. It is the critical analysis of the data that is useful. I have kids that took a watered down Alg 2 (because our state forces all kids to take it), and they do fine. Most practical probability, financial math, logic/Venn diagrams, etc, can be done using formulas that came from a higher math realm.
The kids that are going on to study advanced financial math or stats in college are not the kids I am talking about. I am speaking of the kid who might get a 2 year or learn a trade or even enter the workforce right after high school. These kids need to learn how not to get screwed by math (aka banks, credit card companies, etc) and to see that there is a practical application to it. If we force them through Alg 2 (the MOST theoretical math class), they miss an opportunity to apply math to real situations. Now, maybe we could change the Alg 2 curriculum for some kids, but as educators, we rarely have freedom to make these decisions. Plus, the Calculus track kids need Alg 2 in a traditional manner. ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.
Now, if you want some correlation…when shorts get shorter, the number of shark attacks increases. In fact, there is a very strong correlation. If you are thinking that right now we should be making laws against short shorts to save lives, then maybe you ought to be a politician that tries to impose your great knowledge on the schools. Correlation does equal causation, right?
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You don’t need integral calculus for high school stat because of the tables in the back of texts. Algebra 1 is sufficient for elementary statistics. I would like to see high school kids take a economics course so they comprehend choice, opportunity cost and incentives. And you don’t need calc and alg 2 for that.
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All our students are required to take Economics here. It is a great class, but not from a mathematical perspective. I have emailed our state repeatedly about a math class for kids that aren’t going to a 4-year college. It is slow moving.
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Actually in the example you give causal relations are involved. Both wearing shorts and going into ocean water and becoming more likely to be a victim of a shark attack are causally related to seasonal changes in temperature.
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Statistically significant correlation coefficents usually do indicate the existence of underlying causal relationships. Of course if one calculates a large number of correlation coefficents by pure chance a few spurious ones will turn up.
But if two random variables consistently show statistically significant correlations then this indicates underlying casual relationships.
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You fail to see the sarcasm in my response.
There is some causal relationship…however, you would not want to make ridiculous conclusions like getting rid of shorts will stop shark attacks.
That is the problem with the Alg 2 argument. Just because kids take Alg 2, they are not gifted with an ability to now be successful in college. There are too many variables involved.
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