ACSA was on board last week in support of the inquiry into costs outlined by the superintendent of public instruction in his California Algebra 1 Success Initiative.

The State Board of Education voted July 9 to implement Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to require that all eighth-grade students be tested in Algebra 1 within three years.

SPI Jack O’Connell, education organizations and educators from throughout the state have expressed serious concerns with this decision. O’Connell specifically said that in addition to the efforts of dedicated educators, the new mandate must be matched with significant investments to help schools prepare all students to take and successfully pass Algebra 1 at the eighth-grade level.

Secretary of Education Dave Long has voiced his support for the math mandate and also acknowledged costs associated with making it work could run into the billions of dollars.

“ACSA concurs with Jack O’Connell that there will be significant costs associated with the Algebra 1 mandate,” said Legislative Advocate Sal Villaseñor. “And we appreciate the recognition that the success of this plan depends on support for site administration.”

ACSA worked diligently to have the site administrator’s role highlighted in the SPI’s analysis.

Due to those efforts the initiative now includes wording that the mandate “will ensure that the algebra professional development training for administrators will have a focus on the school site administrator’s ability to serve as both an instructional leader for Algebra 1 and an overall learning leader.”

O’Connell developed the California Algebra 1 Success Initiative to ensure all schools and all students have the resources necessary to prepare for and meet the eighth-grade Algebra 1 mandate, which he maintains was precipitously entered into without education community input.

“I would have preferred a broader conversation about the best way to invest in our schools and reform our system to ensure our students graduate with the skills necessary to succeed in the competitive global economy,” O’Connell said. “But given the State Board’s decision, I believe it is imperative we focus on ensuring our students are now given the resources they need to successfully reach this mandate.

“Since the governor’s Algebra 1 requirement takes effect in just three years, we must make the investments in our school system now in order to meet this extremely tight timetable for public education.”

Among the most pressing issues in the initiative is the need for qualified math teachers. O’Connell stated there will be a need for double the number of algebra teachers in California under the new mandate. His initiative calls for, among other recruitment measures, working with the college and university systems to develop those teachers at a cost of more than $30 million.

Other measures proposed in the initiative include:

• Increasing instructional time for middle grades, so all sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students receive sufficient mathematics, pre-algebra and algebra instruction and support. Cost: $1.5 billion in General Fund for local support.
• Expanding school counseling services in grades 4-8 to identify and provide services for students not adequately prepared to take Algebra 1 in eighth grade. Cost: $40 million in General Fund for local support and $185,000 in General Fund for state operations.
• Increasing funding for the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program to support the purchase of mathematics instructional materials in grades 4-7 intervention programs for struggling students, and Algebra 1 materials for grade 8. Cost: $134 million in General Fund for local support.
• Implementation of a focused and comprehensive algebra professional development plan for all teachers and administrators in grades K-12 to directly correlate mathematics algebra standards. This plan initially focuses on grades 4-8 and will augment SB 472 and AB 430 trainings, and includes the elimination of the 3 percent cap on the Reading and Mathematics Professional Development program to allow more teachers to receive needed mathematics professional development. Cost: $108 million in General Fund for local support.
• Providing incentives to expand the recruitment and retention of Highly Qualified math teachers. Cost: $80 million in General Fund for local support.
• Requiring the CSU and UC systems to accelerate mathematics teacher training programs that will enable kindergarten through grade 12 schools to recruit and retain highly qualified math teachers to address the current teacher shortage. Cost: $15 million in General Fund for local support.

Read the full text of the initiative at www.cde.ca.gov.

“It is now up to the governor to keep his commitment by fully funding the Algebra 1 Success Initiative,” O’Connell said. “If he is not willing to provide the full funding necessary to support our students and teachers in reaching this mandate, then it is incumbent on him to instruct the State Board to reconsider the Algebra 1 requirement for all eighth graders.”

Schwarzenegger issued a statement that he is glad to see O’Connell “embracing the goal of teaching algebra to all California eighth-graders and moving forward to improve educational achievement in California.” He said he will work with the education community to determine the best way to implement and support the mandate.