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Friday, March 28, 1997

Few students pass algebra end-of-course test

By PEGGY FIKAC

Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN (AP) - Just 17 percent of Texas students who took the Algebra I end-of-course test last fall passed, education officials said Thursday.

In assessing the poor showing, the Texas Education Agency noted that all students must now take Algebra I under tougher standards approved by the State Board of Education.

The board in recent years eliminated state graduation credit for lower-level math courses.

Students who finish Algebra I in the fall are taking something other than the traditional two-semester Algebra I course and may have failed previously.

Officials also noted that the pool of students taking the test in the fall was relatively small, at just 22,932.

Last spring, 28 percent of the 226,348 students who took the Algebra I end-of-course exam passed it. The agency acknowledged that is still a low passing rate.

"The test results show that some students while in kindergarten through eighth grade did not develop the math skills needed to be successful in Algebra I," Education Commissioner Mike Moses said, calling results released Thursday "dismally low."

Moses added that some teachers who may have been teaching lower-level math courses for years have found the change to Algebra I difficult.

The fall 1996 scores are better than fall 1995, when just 11 percent of students passed the Algebra I end-of-course tests.

Students who complete Algebra I in the fall are either re-taking a semester because they failed it the first time; are on a schedule in which the entire course is completed in one semester; or are taking the course as a three- or four-semester class.

Stretching the class out over several semesters is meant to improve students' chances of passing, and 669 school districts have received waivers to allow them to do so.

"This gives students more time to grasp algebraic concepts. It also allows teachers to change their teaching strategies and use a more hands-on approach that can help make algebra more understandable to students who don't learn well in the traditional lecture format," Moses said.

Moses said a new algebra curriculum that will take effect in 1998-99 should help by explicitly outlining what students are expected to learn. He said the agency is working on teacher training.

When the spring scores were released, some officials expressed concern that there could be a disparity between what educators believe they're supposed to be teaching and what is on the test.

The TEA also released end-of-course scores on the Biology I end-of-course test, showing 68 percent of 27,966 students taking it passed. That compares to 62 percent in fall 1995.

Last spring, 76 percent of the 202,061 students taking the Biology I test passed.

The higher passing rate for Biology I is believed to be due to the fact that students choose whether to enroll in it or another science course, according to TEA.

Students who pass end-of-course tests in various subjects, beginning in 1998-99, will be exempt from having to pass the exit-level Texas Assessment of Academic Skills exam to graduate. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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