Douglas Van Dine
Senior Researcher
As we reach the end of another school year, my thoughts turn back to my years as a middle school math teacher. This time of year is always filled with a mixture of emotions: excitement that summer was right around the corner, accomplishment at what my students had achieved, and apprehension that I needed to let my students go so they could move on. Would they continue on a road to success? Had I prepared them for the future mathematics they would face?
As a middle school math teacher, I knew that part of my role in the lives of my students was to prepare them for the transition from arithmetic to algebra. For some, this would happen as they moved into eighth grade and for others it would happen in ninth grade. Had I done enough? How could I gauge who was really ready and when?
Decades of research has been done regarding algebra teaching and learning. This research has highlighted the importance of developing algebraic thinking as a foundation for later success in math, as well as identifying correlations between success in algebra with later success in high school, college, and career. Understanding the important foundational role algebra plays in later success, many schools and districts have opened the door to students taking algebra in middle school.
Importance of Expressions and Equations Knowledge for Algebra I Success
Through REL Central, we recently published a report that offers some insight into students taking algebra in middle school—What Grade 7 Foundational Knowledge and Skills Are Associated with Missouri Students’ Algebra I Achievement in Grade 8? In this report, we examined the associations between student mathematics domain scores in the grade 7 Missouri Assessment Program and their grade 8 Algebra end-of-course achievement. A purpose in writing this report was to use an assessment that students already take rather than ask students to take an additional assessment. The ultimate aim was to provide information to guide school leaders in identifying students who may be the most successful accelerating into algebra early.
We found that all five grade 7 domains (ratios and proportional relationships, the number system, expressions and equations, geometry, and statistics and probability) were independently associated with Algebra I achievement in grade 8. Of these, the expressions and equations domain was the most strongly associated.
As a teacher, knowing that all five domains assessed in grade 7 are associated with Algebra I achievement in grade 8 is valuable. However, knowing that the expressions and equations domain is the most strongly associated I find particularly informative. It not only helps me make more objective recommendations of which students should be accelerated into algebra, but it also allows me to target my instruction to better prepare all my students.
Research in Action: Student Placement in Algebra I
John Downs, superintendent in a smaller district in central Missouri, shared similar sentiments in a webinar we collaborated on about the report, Ingredients for a Successful Algebra Program in Middle School. He shared that in his district, placement of students into algebra in grade 8 was often inconsistent and based on subjective criteria (e.g., classroom participation, homework completion) and/or unreliable metrics (e.g., teacher-created tests, quarter/semester grades).
Recently they’ve shifted toward inclusion of the state test results from prior years. In the webinar, he shares, “But that’s been very much focused on the student’s overall status result—that is, if students achieved advanced status on the state test in sixth and seventh grade. So, the findings are really encouraging to us because it allows us to adjust our identification criteria with special emphasis on results from the expressions and equations domain—so we give that a little bit more weight in our decision-making process.”
As a teacher, I want all my students to succeed. As a middle school math teacher, I wanted to form a solid foundation in my students that would carry them through algebra and higher-level mathematics. Like many teachers, I did my best, focusing on state standards and what I felt were the best avenues of content and instruction. Although a multitude of algebra-readiness assessments are out there, students are already assessment weary. Having solid, evidence-based information like this from an assessment they are already required to take can make a huge difference in supporting those efforts.
