LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School board members this week urged the school to make it clear that students should take algebra by eighth grade.
Otherwise, they said, students’ chances of success are diminished.
At this week’s board meeting, member Michael Thomas said it’s often made to seem that taking algebra in eighth grade is the accelerated path.
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But he said that mindset must change, suggesting that all students should strive for algebra before they reach high school.
Thomas said a school administrator noted in a previous meeting that the chances of survival on the SAT dim without algebra by eighth grade.
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“That seems a very important guide or benchmark we should really hone in on,” he said.
Board member Elvia Nava agreed. She said she had been perplexed as a junior high parent how taking algebra in those grades was perceived as advanced. Communicating with parents early, Nava said, is important.
“It’s good to give families the different options so that you don’t really have to know only if you have an older kid who already went through it and you wish you would have known,” Nava said. “You want everyone to know, whether you’re new to the community, whether you’ve had a high schooler or not because we do have a wide diversity of community members.”
Member Kari Dillon said parents may not realize that their children taking algebra in middle school is important. Parents, she said, have faith that teachers are going to place their students in the right classes.
In response, Scott Eggerding, director of curriculum and instruction, said he has been a “bug” on administrators not to say “mastery entry criteria” for classes such as algebra.
Superintendent Brian Waterman said feeder schools should not put students in algebra if they are not ready.
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