A Think Twice Review of:

The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra

Think Twice - Oct 14, 2008

Publisher/Think Tank - Brookings Institution

Author(s) -

This report argues that as a misguided national push a subgroup of students enrolled in eighth grade algebra lack the basic mathematical skills they need to succeed. It further argues that this unpreparedness harms those students as well as the highly proficient students in the class.

Reviewer(s) - Carol Corbett Burris

Burris’s review of the Brookings report finds that its analysis provides little or no support for its conclusions. The declining NAEP scores that provide the impetus for the report may have several explanations. She criticizes the report’s final conclusion – that universal 8th grade algebra is ill-advised – as “not substantiated by the data presented.”