Peter Whorisky
"Requiring Algebra II in high school gains momentum nationwide"
Washington Post
April 3, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/requiring_algebra_ii_in_high_school_gains_momentum_nationwide/2011/04/01/AF7FBWXC_story.html?wprss=rss_education
Topic: Education Reform
Turns out statistics show that a significant indicator of college success and beyond is high school algebra II. So, there is a push to make everyone take it…
My feeling is that once everyone takes it, the statistical significance will disappear.
Key Points: Interesting article, well worth the click to read. I can hear students cringing now.
Relevance: Determining what is taught and what is not and why continues to be an area of interest to me.
So I am not sure if it was a requirement of the state when I was in high school, or just a requirement of my high school to graduate, but Algebra to was mandatory. Although it isn't spelled out explicitly, it looks like the State of Oregon now requires Algebra 2 to graduate: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=2861 the link says that 3 credits of math (3 classes) are required at Algebra 1 and higher. If you took math in sequence where I went to school, it went Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2. This requirement correlates with the Oregon University system. Minimum entrance requirements for the UO and OSU are three years of high school math culminating with Algebra 2.
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