http://www.news-record.com/news/local_news/article_b71129e2-d143-11e2-9b03-001a4bcf6878.html
I worry every time I read one of these stories that people have the idea that aligning to the Common Core State Standards requires little more than rearranging the classes they already have. This story from North Carolina reports on the concern that kids won't take 7th grade algebra, waiting for 8th grade instead. If you're really trying to align to the CCSSM, I don't see any reason to call a middle school course "Algebra." There's plenty of algebra in the middle school CCSSM standards, yes, but there's a lot of other content too, and in the end it shouldn't come down to what you call the course. It will, though, because parents and students want the prestige of taking "algebra" early, regardless of what's taught in it.
I worry every time I read one of these stories that people have the idea that aligning to the Common Core State Standards requires little more than rearranging the classes they already have. This story from North Carolina reports on the concern that kids won't take 7th grade algebra, waiting for 8th grade instead. If you're really trying to align to the CCSSM, I don't see any reason to call a middle school course "Algebra." There's plenty of algebra in the middle school CCSSM standards, yes, but there's a lot of other content too, and in the end it shouldn't come down to what you call the course. It will, though, because parents and students want the prestige of taking "algebra" early, regardless of what's taught in it.