http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/22/san-francisco-middle-schools-no-longer-teaching-algebra-1
Yet another story about Algebra 1 where people have a false impression that (a) algebra is a thing you learn in just one year and (b) learning that thing in 8th grade makes you better than if you learn it in 9th grade. If you look at what the Common Core asks 8th graders to do -- not just in the algebra standards, but in the statistics standards -- I think most parents would see that the focus on linear equations and linear modeling is as much "Algebra 1" as the algebra course they probably took as 9th graders in their youth.