Virginia Mathematics Teacher Spring 2017

Algebra Achievement of Urban High School Students Andrew Wynn, Cheryl Adeyemi, Gerald Burton, and Crystal Wynn

Introduction

civil-rights activist Bob Moses in 1982. Bob grew up in a poor family but had a strong academic prowess and was able to attend a competitive high school, and eventually was able to earn his Master’s degree from Harvard University. Having been instrumental in the civil rights movement, he sought to conquer injustice wherever he saw fit. After observing the poor quality mathematics education that his daughter and her classmates were receiving in the public schools in Mississippi, Bob sought to immediately impact the curriculum by offering to teach Algebra to his daughter and her classmates(Moses and Cobb, 2002). Armed with a strong desire to see equality in both areas of social justice and mathematics, Bob developed the idea that mathematics education is a civil-right. Therefore, Bob developed his ideas into a curriculum to foster change in the urban mathematics classroom. Doing much of his early work in classrooms in Mississippi, Bob was able to affect students first hand as a math teacher. His motivating factor was the thought that “the information age of computers and networks has put advanced mathematics…on the table as an education necessity” (Checkley, 2001). Algebra Project Pedagogy The Algebra Project developed a mathematics curriculum that began with the idea that math is a language that needs to be learned because it is not a natural language. Today, the Algebra Project method impresses upon students that the language of mathematics needs to be learned, and that they, as students, are capable of learning the language replete with syntax, structure, and conceptual meaning Once students buy in to the concept of learning the language, the Algebra Project curriculum is centered around the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) (Kress, 2005). Using the ELC, students being taught using the AP pedagogy begin with a concrete experience in their community, make observations about their experiences, reflect on their experience and

Student achievement is a major concern for schools, law makers, and other stakeholders. A by -product of this concern is the fact that algebra has served as a gatekeeper and barrier for many students who were interested in majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at the collegiate level (Ladson-Billings, 1997). While mathematics has proven to be a barrier for students from all races, research has shown that upper level math courses become even greater obstacles for students who are of African-American or Hispanic descent or who have disabilities (Martin, 2012; Noble, 2011). These students often fail to complete high school. According to Cortes, Nomi, and Goodman (2013) suggest, “One theory for these low high-school completion rates is that failures in early courses, such as algebra, interfere with subsequent course work, placing students on a path that makes graduation quite difficult”. In fact, “beginning with the first international mathematics achievement test administered to students in the 1960s, the problem of poor mathematics performance has emerged as an issue of national concern” (Mayfield and Glenn, 2008). With respect to algebra courses, reform efforts have been implemented to try to increase student performance further improving students’ access to upper level mathematics classes. Finding interventions that not only improve urban school students’ achievement by making the mathematics more understandable, but that also help increase urban school students’ desires to want to pursue math opportunities by giving them a better experience is critical. Interventions based upon experiential and structured experiences may cause students to grow in algebraic understanding and abilities, while developing their own experience of mathematics. The Algebra Project presents itself as one such intervention. History of the Algebra Project, Inc. The Algebra Project (AP) was founded by

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 43, no. 2

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