December 14, 2023 • 25 mins
Welcome to this episode of the Sneaker Principal podcast, where we explore the significance of Algebra 1 in our education system. As an experienced school leader, I'll share why Algebra 1 is crucial and challenge educators to prevent it from becoming a barrier for students. We'll also discuss the role of principals in promoting math education and its impact on students' success, both academically and in their future careers. Join us on this enlightening journey to prepare students for the 21st-century workforce.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
So this is my open letter to principals about
Algebra 1.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
When they see me.
They know that every day, whenI'm breathing, it's for us to go
farther.
You know, every time I speak, Iwant the truth to come out.
You know what I'm saying.
Every time I speak, I want toshiver.
You know, I don't want them tobe like.
They know what I'm going to say, because it's polite.
They know what I'm going to sayand even if I get in trouble,
you know what I'm saying.
Ain't that what we're supposedto do?
I'm not saying I'm going torule the world or I'm going to
(00:28):
change the world, but Iguarantee that I will spark the
brain that will change the world, and that's our job.
It's to spark somebody elsewatching us.
We might not be the ones, butlet's not be selfish.
And because we're not going tochange the world, let's not talk
about how we should change it.
I don't know how to change it,but I know if I keep talking
about how dirty it is out here,somebody's going to clean it up,
(00:48):
and now he's been promoted.
His job principle.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Good morning everyone .
This is Ucheng Joku.
Welcome to the Sneak BusinessBook podcast.
It is about 5.30 in the morningand I woke up thinking to
myself how we don't have thisconversation about Algebra 1 and
(01:24):
why is so important.
I'm going to say this If you'rea school leader and I'm going
to let the elementary schoolprincipals off the hook but
specifically middle school andhigh school, if you don't make
Algebra 1 a priority, you'redoing our students a huge
(01:48):
injustice.
One thing I've learned over 19years actually, I keep saying 19
years, but it's been longerthan that.
If I count the years, that, thefew years I spent working as an
intern for social work actuallymany, many moons in California,
it's over 20 years.
(02:11):
And in those years, if you alsoinclude my time in college and
especially in high school,middle school how important
Algebra is.
And some might say, well,there's very little use for
Algebra in the real world.
But Algebra is a gatekeeper.
(02:32):
And how do I know it's agatekeeper?
The number of students everyyear that struggle to just pass
Algebra, especially in a placelike New York State where, for
the time being, you have Regentsexams, and these are exams that
test skill sets within certaincontent areas to allow you to
(02:54):
graduate with a Regents diploma.
It's pretty much the basis ofmeasuring whether or not you've
been educated enough to move onbeyond high school.
And one of the exams thatconstantly holds students back
is Algebra.
Typically, what happens isAlgebra is a course that you
(03:17):
have to take when you get tohigh school, preferably in the
ninth grade, and when you getthere you know you take the
class.
It's a one-year class, but whathappens is a lot of students
don't really fare well inAlgebra.
Then, to make things worse, totake the Regents exam or
whatever examination in yourlocality to prove that they have
(03:39):
, you know, I don't even saymastered, because we use mastery
in a very, very, very loose way.
But let's be honest here.
We don't really go for mastery,we just want to kiss the past.
So, like in New York State,passing, at least in New York
City, is 65.
If you get 65 minimum out of100, you've passed and you know.
(04:03):
65 just means you were able toexercise some level of
discernment and figuring outwhat the answer is without
really truly engaging the biggertopics.
You know well enough to getthose questions right.
So you know enough to getthrough the test, but you don't
(04:25):
really know enough to havegrounding to move on to higher
math courses and again 65.
But the reality is that, excuseme, let me take a sip of this
jasmine tea, wake my throat up.
On the side note, those of youwho don't do this you should
(04:48):
make this a practice in themorning.
Have something warm to kind oflike get your system going, to
get the body just energized.
I like to do jasmine tea in themorning.
Sometimes I might do turmericginger tea, but I still get my
coffee on the way to work.
But this is a way for me tojust kind of like get my body
going.
So there's not paid sponsorship, it's just me talking about my
(05:11):
daily health practices.
So, yeah, tea.
So algebra becomes a bottleneck.
A lot of kids get stuck.
A lot of kids find themselvesrepeating the class or doing
some kind of some remediationbecause they passed the class,
(05:32):
or they passed the class but nothigh enough to or well enough
to do on the test and they getstuck there.
And this is where I hate mathbegins for a lot of kids.
You know, I mean they might notlike it, but when you get the
algebra they get to that placeof I hate math I hate.
(05:52):
I hate algebra and a lot ofschools you know, like in New
York, I think, you have togeometry and after geometry you
could be done with math.
But the problem again is you'relimiting access because again it
could be argued that you don'treally need math.
(06:13):
If you, if you're movingtowards certain fields, or at
least you don't need algebra,you need I mean of course you
need basic math.
You can, if you can't, count,change.
I'll meet basic basiccalculations.
That is a problem, a bigproblem.
But the argument is like youknow, this is get to algebra,
she can graduate.
But I say this math is agatekeeper.
(06:35):
Algebra is a gatekeeper becausewithout algebra your chances of
really navigating, you know,career pathways and being future
ready is very limited.
And what I mean by careerpathways?
There are many careers thatrequire advanced certifications
(06:58):
and these are for advancedcertifications.
Whether it's certificationcertification or actual college
degree or whatever it may be,you're going to find math
somewhere, somewhere there,especially at prestigious
institutions.
I'm not talking about degreemills with their schools out
there.
They'll give you, they'll giveyou a degree just for sneezing,
you know, in, in, in, in cadence, and obviously you have a, you
(07:21):
have a bachelor's degree in, youknow, in Illinois, and
thermodynamics of sneezing, Idon't know.
But if we're talking aboutplaces that where you will be
trained and prepared to go intolegitimate fields, a lot of
these places want to see youroverall transcripts.
You want to see, do you want tosee, how you perform in the
(07:41):
core content areas?
Because what you get into yourinstitution, you're going to be
challenged.
You're not only that, you'recompeting with other candidates
for a fixed number of seats.
So if math is not there you are, you're literally being blocked
(08:01):
out.
So let me let me talkspecifically about my experience
as a high school principal.
I knew, without a doubt,algebra 1 was a problem.
It was a problem when I was inschool.
It was a problem when I was adean and assistant principal in
(08:23):
high schools.
So when I became a high schoolprincipal, within I would say
about a year, we drafted andcreated a plan to no longer
allow students to just come inand, you know, flounder in the
(08:43):
abyss of failing Algebra 1.
We instituted for those kidswho came in and we pre-tested
them and we saw, whoa, that theywere not gonna trend very well
towards passing Algebra and thestate regions in Algebra.
So what we did was you came inand you did a two-year sequence
(09:05):
of Algebra.
So the first year was prettymuch pre-algebra All the basic
skills that you need to have tobe able to be successful in
Algebra.
1.
There were kids who came in andand thankfully their principals
, their schools, had a verysimilar philosophy on the
importance of being high schoolready by having a strong
(09:28):
foundation in Algebra.
And so when these kids ineighth grade took Algebra and
they took it in middle schoolwhether it was a seventh or
eighth grade sequence or it wasjust eighth grade they took it,
they passed the regions and andwhen it came to me, I didn't
have to assess because I neverwent just on what your score was
.
I now have to do my baselineassessment and see where are you
(09:51):
?
Are you someone who'sapproaching who's at mastery,
approaching mastery or justpassed?
And that was it.
If you were at mastery, thenyou went straight to geometry.
You came into ninth grade andyou went straight to geometry.
We were not playing games, youalready passed the class and
everything else, straight togeometry.
Those who were approachingmastery, who really needed some
(10:15):
grounding.
They would come in and theywould sit in a course.
Maybe we would call itsomething like advanced,
advanced Algebra, so we canreally make sure we grounded
them even further so they wouldbe able to go to geometry and
beyond.
Those who came in and they werejust like they had nothing and
(10:36):
we knew they didn't need a lotof remediation.
And I don't believe inremediation, I really believe in
acceleration.
So those who need to beaccelerated to what they need to
be, we put them into a two-yearsequence and that was algebra,
pre-algebra and algebra one andit was literally one course but
just spent over two years makingsure we were giving the
(10:57):
foundations and we were pushingthem to be ready for to be
successful and it would gostraight into.
So if they did a two-yearsequence, that would mean ninth
grade, pre-algebra, tenth gradethey would do algebra one, then
in the 11th grade they would dogeometry.
In some cases, because of theway geometry really functions,
(11:18):
there were kids who a lot ofkids were able to give them
their sophomore year algebra oneand geometry at the same time.
But they had such a stronggrounding in that pre-algebra
class, ninth grade year, theydid stellar and they were able
to actually have algebra one andgeometry at the same time.
And it's not always advised,but you have to make sure you
(11:43):
have strong teachers who areworking together, who can kind
of fill in the gaps for eachother.
But we did that.
And why did we have such astrong emphasis on on algebra?
Because I wanted every kid, bythe time they graduated, to at
least minimum, various minimumset in algebra two.
(12:03):
So if you came in like justwith nothing pre-algebra, ninth
grade, algebra one, tenth grade,geometry, eleventh grade, or if
you were just that kid and weknew we can get you there, you
would couple algebra one andgeometry at the same time, then
junior year, if you did those,if you did two at the same time,
(12:26):
then junior year you'd be analgebra, algebra two or
trigonometry.
And if, if you were just youweren't able to do that, still
fine, you did pre-algebra,algebra, geometry and your
senior year, algebra two,trigonometry.
But I wanted you to have allfour years of math Because, as
(12:47):
you are now applying to colleges, trade programs, whatever the
case is, you had a very strongtranscript in math education
Because it's something thatstands out, you know.
But now those kids who came inwith algebra re-past.
Let me tell you about theirpath.
They would go to algebra one,ninth grade, geometry, tenth
(13:09):
grade, trigonometry, eleventhgrade, and, depending on how
strong you were, some kids wouldgo to pre-calc, some kids would
go to straight calculus,because what we had was teachers
who would embed calculus inalgebra two, trigonometry, and
kind of finished like which kidswere just stars that we can
(13:32):
accelerate them, and allpre-calc was at a slower pace,
but then calculus was just likestraight.
It was a college course and forour artists, those who were
just like this is not my jamthey would go to stats, you know
, advanced placement stats.
(13:52):
And the reason for this is wewanted to make sure when these
students applied to colleges orwhatever they chose to do next,
they were just that muchstronger.
I had kids who were like youknow what?
I want to go to the military,that's what I want to do, I'm
not ready for college, I justwant to get away from here.
And they have to choose themilitary.
(14:13):
For the military you have totake the ASVAB.
That thing is the Armed Forces,battery, armed Forces, verbal
and something, something thathas been many years, but ASVAB
and overwhelmingly thosestudents who went through this
(14:34):
sequence of math, they scored sohigh on ASVAB, you know,
especially in the math sectionand the technical sections they
scored so high.
So you have kids who were notjust going to be infantry, they
were like going throughengineering, they were going
into military intelligencebecause they just had a way of
(14:55):
thinking that is only that couldonly be influenced by having a
strong math education, then onlythat, the level of confidence.
But when a kid now is amongsttheir peers from other schools
and their peers are like I'mdoing math and they're in the
10th grade, I'm doing math andthey're like well, my school, I
have to keep it going.
They know they're different,they know what we're doing is
(15:18):
different and they know theoutcomes are different and we
tell them this every single day.
The first class that I had whograduated from my last school as
a prior school principal, thatwere really part of the
beginning of the sequence when Isaid they all were sitting, all
(15:41):
of them were sitting in mathsenior year and some were
sitting.
Some were sitting in ASVAB-1,I'm so ASVAB-2 trigonometry.
Some were sitting in AP stats.
Some were sitting in PreCalcand a lot of them were sitting
in both, either PreCalc andstats or some kind of
combination.
When I say all 100% of ourgraduate seniors got into
(16:01):
college.
70% of them got fullscholarships, like they were
fully covered 70%.
And one common denominatoracross all of them was their
math education.
Was their math education?
Because I know for a fact, whenyou apply to college and they
see your transcript and they seeall that math, they're like
(16:22):
whoa, even if you're just, Imean, I don't want you to have
in a, c, c's in math, but evenif you have C's or B minuses,
the fact that you kind of pushedalong through math means
there's a certain level ofcommitment and perseverance and
grit.
But we all know most peoplethey run away from math.
(16:46):
But the fact that students madeit all the way through said
something about them.
Also what they decided to do tomajor in or career-wise.
And of those students who the100% got into college again,
none of them went to college.
Some of them said you know what?
I'm going to go into theworkforce right now.
That's what I need right now.
Some opted to go to themilitary, some opted to go to
(17:07):
trade school and that wasprobably fine, because the one
thing that I know is that wegave them something that can
never be taken away, you know,and that is self-determination
grounded in the fact that theyknew they can do more Because
(17:28):
they did more than others, andthat is something that's very,
very important.
So this is something that I'mgonna challenge you, as a high
school principal, to reallythink about.
If your school does not have aexpectation that all your
students are gonna do foyer'sand math, start thinking about
(17:49):
that.
Don't be just a diploma manpushing kids out.
Put them in a space when theyfirst come down to stand.
This is the sequence, this isthe articulation from the moment
you walk into this high schooluntil you graduate, and I have
kids who, like again, they dothe pre-algebra, ninth grade,
(18:10):
algebra, tenth grade, geometry,eleventh grade, and then they
sit in algebra two andtrigonometry and that's their
senior year, and wheneverpossible, we add computer
science in there or we might addstats in there, because we know
that that is the commondenominator in determining
(18:33):
whether or not a student isgonna be seen for their ability.
Now let's talk about middleschool.
So middle school because again,this is an area where a lot of
schools don't even think aboutMiddle school is often treated
like an extension of elementaryschool, depending on who's
(18:54):
leading that space or thephilosophy of the district.
But I challenge people torethink about middle school as
the cheat code for success inmath in high school.
What do I mean by that?
You have a whole entire spacethat typically most states are
under-regulated.
(19:14):
When I mean under-regulated,the requirements are very, very.
You know, con lucy-goosey, yeah, there are requirements, but if
you go above and beyond youneed to be able to lose your
loan.
So do I see?
Middle school?
Is this?
Kids coming in the sixth grade?
You gotta assess them, yougotta know, you gotta re-find
out.
You know what, do they know?
(19:35):
Where can we start?
And I would say thisPre-algebra should be spiraled
in from sixth all the waythrough seventh.
So be spiraled in.
Whatever the state requirementsare for sixth grade math,
seventh grade math, you have tofind the time in there to spiral
in pre-algebra, whether it'ssay, okay, sixth grade it'll be
(19:57):
two units, one or two units ofpre-algebra.
No, I know schedule will be anissue, but maybe, rather than
just having those five 45-minuteblocks, you take away from
somewhere and add another45-minute block a week that when
the kids walk into thatclassroom they know they're just
doing pre-algebra.
Looking at equations,understanding the center
(20:21):
structure of equations, you knowgraphing those basic and it
should be fun.
There's no heat, just fun.
Practicing skills, develop afoundational understanding.
Same thing in seventh grade andthen, as time goes on, build
upon that.
Build upon that Because by thetime they get to the eighth
(20:44):
grade, those students should behigh school ready.
By the time they're done withthe eighth grade, you know,
having two years of pre-algebraspiraled in, spiraled in, and
then eighth grade either sittingcompletely in the algebra,
because I don't know a singlestate that would say, oh no, we
don't want our eighth gradersdoing algebra.
If the kids can do algebra,trust me, people will let it
(21:06):
happen, unless it's a state theywouldn't, and I don't know what
that state is and if there is,please let me know in the
comments.
But however, eighth gradeshould be algebra.
And if you're in New York, Itell my kids if you're not ready
for the Regents exam, then youwon't take it.
(21:28):
We're going to assess you,we're going to make sure that
you're not just getting the 65.
You're getting as close to themastery as possible and if you
don't, it's okay.
Go to high school with what youknow.
And again, we will reach out tothe high school and say, hey,
do me a favor, assess this kid,because this is what the kid did
here and any real good highschool and we tend to want to
(21:51):
send our kids to those schoolsthat we know that have
understanding of what howimportant math is we'll assess
that kid and say, hey, wow,you're either at emerging,
approaching mastery, or you'reat mastery.
If you're at mastery, maybewhat we need to do is maybe
provide you with some kind ofRegents prep Saturday or after
(22:11):
school morning or period of dayjust to get you ready for the
test because you already knowthe content.
Or or, if you've passed it,okay, just put you in geometry.
That's what we need to do, youknow, at the end of the day, I'm
saying also say, if you wantour kids to have access to
spaces that we know are supercompetitive, let's give them the
(22:34):
competitive edge, because bynot doing so now think about all
the things that can go wrong.
If they're not competitive andthere are not enough spaces to
be able to compete and actuallyshow out what they know and
prove that they deserve to be incollege spaces in those right
jobs in those right fields.
Then the options become minimal.
(22:56):
People always say I've heardthis that prisons are built
based on third grade readingscores, and that might be the
case, but more prisons are alsobuilt by students not being able
to perform or be competitive inspaces with math, because then
(23:21):
you come out to the real worldand your options are very
limited.
And then guess what happens?
You dab on in spaces that youprobably shouldn't be, and there
are prisons being built for ourchildren, intentionally waiting
for those who decide to go thewayward path.
(23:41):
So again I'm going to challengeyou, principals, educators,
superintendents, wherever youare.
What is your math plan?
Not just only to close theachievement gap, even though
that must be done.
What is your math plan toensure that your students are
ready to go into the world andnot just survive but conquer?
(24:04):
Alright, guys, we're trainingJoku Sneaker.
Principal, have a great day,have an amazing, amazing day and
I'll talk to you later.
Peace.
So this is my open letter to principals about
Algebra 1.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
When they see me.
They know that every day, whenI'm breathing, it's for us to go
farther.
You know, every time I speak, Iwant the truth to come out.
You know what I'm saying.
Every time I speak, I want toshiver.
You know, I don't want them tobe like.
They know what I'm going to say, because it's polite.
They know what I'm going to sayand even if I get in trouble,
you know what I'm saying.
Ain't that what we're supposedto do?
I'm not saying I'm going torule the world or I'm going to
(00:28):
change the world, but Iguarantee that I will spark the
brain that will change the world, and that's our job.
It's to spark somebody elsewatching us.
We might not be the ones, butlet's not be selfish.
And because we're not going tochange the world, let's not talk
about how we should change it.
I don't know how to change it,but I know if I keep talking
about how dirty it is out here,somebody's going to clean it up,
(00:48):
and now he's been promoted.
His job principle.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Good morning everyone .
This is Ucheng Joku.
Welcome to the Sneak BusinessBook podcast.
It is about 5.30 in the morningand I woke up thinking to
myself how we don't have thisconversation about Algebra 1 and
(01:24):
why is so important.
I'm going to say this If you'rea school leader and I'm going
to let the elementary schoolprincipals off the hook but
specifically middle school andhigh school, if you don't make
Algebra 1 a priority, you'redoing our students a huge
(01:48):
injustice.
One thing I've learned over 19years actually, I keep saying 19
years, but it's been longerthan that.
If I count the years, that, thefew years I spent working as an
intern for social work actuallymany, many moons in California,
it's over 20 years.
(02:11):
And in those years, if you alsoinclude my time in college and
especially in high school,middle school how important
Algebra is.
And some might say, well,there's very little use for
Algebra in the real world.
But Algebra is a gatekeeper.
(02:32):
And how do I know it's agatekeeper?
The number of students everyyear that struggle to just pass
Algebra, especially in a placelike New York State where, for
the time being, you have Regentsexams, and these are exams that
test skill sets within certaincontent areas to allow you to
(02:54):
graduate with a Regents diploma.
It's pretty much the basis ofmeasuring whether or not you've
been educated enough to move onbeyond high school.
And one of the exams thatconstantly holds students back
is Algebra.
Typically, what happens isAlgebra is a course that you
(03:17):
have to take when you get tohigh school, preferably in the
ninth grade, and when you getthere you know you take the
class.
It's a one-year class, but whathappens is a lot of students
don't really fare well inAlgebra.
Then, to make things worse, totake the Regents exam or
whatever examination in yourlocality to prove that they have
(03:39):
, you know, I don't even saymastered, because we use mastery
in a very, very, very loose way.
But let's be honest here.
We don't really go for mastery,we just want to kiss the past.
So, like in New York State,passing, at least in New York
City, is 65.
If you get 65 minimum out of100, you've passed and you know.
(04:03):
65 just means you were able toexercise some level of
discernment and figuring outwhat the answer is without
really truly engaging the biggertopics.
You know well enough to getthose questions right.
So you know enough to getthrough the test, but you don't
(04:25):
really know enough to havegrounding to move on to higher
math courses and again 65.
But the reality is that, excuseme, let me take a sip of this
jasmine tea, wake my throat up.
On the side note, those of youwho don't do this you should
(04:48):
make this a practice in themorning.
Have something warm to kind oflike get your system going, to
get the body just energized.
I like to do jasmine tea in themorning.
Sometimes I might do turmericginger tea, but I still get my
coffee on the way to work.
But this is a way for me tojust kind of like get my body
going.
So there's not paid sponsorship, it's just me talking about my
(05:11):
daily health practices.
So, yeah, tea.
So algebra becomes a bottleneck.
A lot of kids get stuck.
A lot of kids find themselvesrepeating the class or doing
some kind of some remediationbecause they passed the class,
(05:32):
or they passed the class but nothigh enough to or well enough
to do on the test and they getstuck there.
And this is where I hate mathbegins for a lot of kids.
You know, I mean they might notlike it, but when you get the
algebra they get to that placeof I hate math I hate.
(05:52):
I hate algebra and a lot ofschools you know, like in New
York, I think, you have togeometry and after geometry you
could be done with math.
But the problem again is you'relimiting access because again it
could be argued that you don'treally need math.
(06:13):
If you, if you're movingtowards certain fields, or at
least you don't need algebra,you need I mean of course you
need basic math.
You can, if you can't, count,change.
I'll meet basic basiccalculations.
That is a problem, a bigproblem.
But the argument is like youknow, this is get to algebra,
she can graduate.
But I say this math is agatekeeper.
(06:35):
Algebra is a gatekeeper becausewithout algebra your chances of
really navigating, you know,career pathways and being future
ready is very limited.
And what I mean by careerpathways?
There are many careers thatrequire advanced certifications
(06:58):
and these are for advancedcertifications.
Whether it's certificationcertification or actual college
degree or whatever it may be,you're going to find math
somewhere, somewhere there,especially at prestigious
institutions.
I'm not talking about degreemills with their schools out
there.
They'll give you, they'll giveyou a degree just for sneezing,
you know, in, in, in, in cadence, and obviously you have a, you
(07:21):
have a bachelor's degree in, youknow, in Illinois, and
thermodynamics of sneezing, Idon't know.
But if we're talking aboutplaces that where you will be
trained and prepared to go intolegitimate fields, a lot of
these places want to see youroverall transcripts.
You want to see, do you want tosee, how you perform in the
(07:41):
core content areas?
Because what you get into yourinstitution, you're going to be
challenged.
You're not only that, you'recompeting with other candidates
for a fixed number of seats.
So if math is not there you are, you're literally being blocked
(08:01):
out.
So let me let me talkspecifically about my experience
as a high school principal.
I knew, without a doubt,algebra 1 was a problem.
It was a problem when I was inschool.
It was a problem when I was adean and assistant principal in
(08:23):
high schools.
So when I became a high schoolprincipal, within I would say
about a year, we drafted andcreated a plan to no longer
allow students to just come inand, you know, flounder in the
(08:43):
abyss of failing Algebra 1.
We instituted for those kidswho came in and we pre-tested
them and we saw, whoa, that theywere not gonna trend very well
towards passing Algebra and thestate regions in Algebra.
So what we did was you came inand you did a two-year sequence
(09:05):
of Algebra.
So the first year was prettymuch pre-algebra All the basic
skills that you need to have tobe able to be successful in
Algebra.
1.
There were kids who came in andand thankfully their principals
, their schools, had a verysimilar philosophy on the
importance of being high schoolready by having a strong
(09:28):
foundation in Algebra.
And so when these kids ineighth grade took Algebra and
they took it in middle schoolwhether it was a seventh or
eighth grade sequence or it wasjust eighth grade they took it,
they passed the regions and andwhen it came to me, I didn't
have to assess because I neverwent just on what your score was
.
I now have to do my baselineassessment and see where are you
(09:51):
?
Are you someone who'sapproaching who's at mastery,
approaching mastery or justpassed?
And that was it.
If you were at mastery, thenyou went straight to geometry.
You came into ninth grade andyou went straight to geometry.
We were not playing games, youalready passed the class and
everything else, straight togeometry.
Those who were approachingmastery, who really needed some
(10:15):
grounding.
They would come in and theywould sit in a course.
Maybe we would call itsomething like advanced,
advanced Algebra, so we canreally make sure we grounded
them even further so they wouldbe able to go to geometry and
beyond.
Those who came in and they werejust like they had nothing and
(10:36):
we knew they didn't need a lotof remediation.
And I don't believe inremediation, I really believe in
acceleration.
So those who need to beaccelerated to what they need to
be, we put them into a two-yearsequence and that was algebra,
pre-algebra and algebra one andit was literally one course but
just spent over two years makingsure we were giving the
(10:57):
foundations and we were pushingthem to be ready for to be
successful and it would gostraight into.
So if they did a two-yearsequence, that would mean ninth
grade, pre-algebra, tenth gradethey would do algebra one, then
in the 11th grade they would dogeometry.
In some cases, because of theway geometry really functions,
(11:18):
there were kids who a lot ofkids were able to give them
their sophomore year algebra oneand geometry at the same time.
But they had such a stronggrounding in that pre-algebra
class, ninth grade year, theydid stellar and they were able
to actually have algebra one andgeometry at the same time.
And it's not always advised,but you have to make sure you
(11:43):
have strong teachers who areworking together, who can kind
of fill in the gaps for eachother.
But we did that.
And why did we have such astrong emphasis on on algebra?
Because I wanted every kid, bythe time they graduated, to at
least minimum, various minimumset in algebra two.
(12:03):
So if you came in like justwith nothing pre-algebra, ninth
grade, algebra one, tenth grade,geometry, eleventh grade, or if
you were just that kid and weknew we can get you there, you
would couple algebra one andgeometry at the same time, then
junior year, if you did those,if you did two at the same time,
(12:26):
then junior year you'd be analgebra, algebra two or
trigonometry.
And if, if you were just youweren't able to do that, still
fine, you did pre-algebra,algebra, geometry and your
senior year, algebra two,trigonometry.
But I wanted you to have allfour years of math Because, as
(12:47):
you are now applying to colleges, trade programs, whatever the
case is, you had a very strongtranscript in math education
Because it's something thatstands out, you know.
But now those kids who came inwith algebra re-past.
Let me tell you about theirpath.
They would go to algebra one,ninth grade, geometry, tenth
(13:09):
grade, trigonometry, eleventhgrade, and, depending on how
strong you were, some kids wouldgo to pre-calc, some kids would
go to straight calculus,because what we had was teachers
who would embed calculus inalgebra two, trigonometry, and
kind of finished like which kidswere just stars that we can
(13:32):
accelerate them, and allpre-calc was at a slower pace,
but then calculus was just likestraight.
It was a college course and forour artists, those who were
just like this is not my jamthey would go to stats, you know
, advanced placement stats.
(13:52):
And the reason for this is wewanted to make sure when these
students applied to colleges orwhatever they chose to do next,
they were just that muchstronger.
I had kids who were like youknow what?
I want to go to the military,that's what I want to do, I'm
not ready for college, I justwant to get away from here.
And they have to choose themilitary.
(14:13):
For the military you have totake the ASVAB.
That thing is the Armed Forces,battery, armed Forces, verbal
and something, something thathas been many years, but ASVAB
and overwhelmingly thosestudents who went through this
(14:34):
sequence of math, they scored sohigh on ASVAB, you know,
especially in the math sectionand the technical sections they
scored so high.
So you have kids who were notjust going to be infantry, they
were like going throughengineering, they were going
into military intelligencebecause they just had a way of
(14:55):
thinking that is only that couldonly be influenced by having a
strong math education, then onlythat, the level of confidence.
But when a kid now is amongsttheir peers from other schools
and their peers are like I'mdoing math and they're in the
10th grade, I'm doing math andthey're like well, my school, I
have to keep it going.
They know they're different,they know what we're doing is
(15:18):
different and they know theoutcomes are different and we
tell them this every single day.
The first class that I had whograduated from my last school as
a prior school principal, thatwere really part of the
beginning of the sequence when Isaid they all were sitting, all
(15:41):
of them were sitting in mathsenior year and some were
sitting.
Some were sitting in ASVAB-1,I'm so ASVAB-2 trigonometry.
Some were sitting in AP stats.
Some were sitting in PreCalcand a lot of them were sitting
in both, either PreCalc andstats or some kind of
combination.
When I say all 100% of ourgraduate seniors got into
(16:01):
college.
70% of them got fullscholarships, like they were
fully covered 70%.
And one common denominatoracross all of them was their
math education.
Was their math education?
Because I know for a fact, whenyou apply to college and they
see your transcript and they seeall that math, they're like
(16:22):
whoa, even if you're just, Imean, I don't want you to have
in a, c, c's in math, but evenif you have C's or B minuses,
the fact that you kind of pushedalong through math means
there's a certain level ofcommitment and perseverance and
grit.
But we all know most peoplethey run away from math.
(16:46):
But the fact that students madeit all the way through said
something about them.
Also what they decided to do tomajor in or career-wise.
And of those students who the100% got into college again,
none of them went to college.
Some of them said you know what?
I'm going to go into theworkforce right now.
That's what I need right now.
Some opted to go to themilitary, some opted to go to
(17:07):
trade school and that wasprobably fine, because the one
thing that I know is that wegave them something that can
never be taken away, you know,and that is self-determination
grounded in the fact that theyknew they can do more Because
(17:28):
they did more than others, andthat is something that's very,
very important.
So this is something that I'mgonna challenge you, as a high
school principal, to reallythink about.
If your school does not have aexpectation that all your
students are gonna do foyer'sand math, start thinking about
(17:49):
that.
Don't be just a diploma manpushing kids out.
Put them in a space when theyfirst come down to stand.
This is the sequence, this isthe articulation from the moment
you walk into this high schooluntil you graduate, and I have
kids who, like again, they dothe pre-algebra, ninth grade,
(18:10):
algebra, tenth grade, geometry,eleventh grade, and then they
sit in algebra two andtrigonometry and that's their
senior year, and wheneverpossible, we add computer
science in there or we might addstats in there, because we know
that that is the commondenominator in determining
(18:33):
whether or not a student isgonna be seen for their ability.
Now let's talk about middleschool.
So middle school because again,this is an area where a lot of
schools don't even think aboutMiddle school is often treated
like an extension of elementaryschool, depending on who's
(18:54):
leading that space or thephilosophy of the district.
But I challenge people torethink about middle school as
the cheat code for success inmath in high school.
What do I mean by that?
You have a whole entire spacethat typically most states are
under-regulated.
(19:14):
When I mean under-regulated,the requirements are very, very.
You know, con lucy-goosey, yeah, there are requirements, but if
you go above and beyond youneed to be able to lose your
loan.
So do I see?
Middle school?
Is this?
Kids coming in the sixth grade?
You gotta assess them, yougotta know, you gotta re-find
out.
You know what, do they know?
(19:35):
Where can we start?
And I would say thisPre-algebra should be spiraled
in from sixth all the waythrough seventh.
So be spiraled in.
Whatever the state requirementsare for sixth grade math,
seventh grade math, you have tofind the time in there to spiral
in pre-algebra, whether it'ssay, okay, sixth grade it'll be
(19:57):
two units, one or two units ofpre-algebra.
No, I know schedule will be anissue, but maybe, rather than
just having those five 45-minuteblocks, you take away from
somewhere and add another45-minute block a week that when
the kids walk into thatclassroom they know they're just
doing pre-algebra.
Looking at equations,understanding the center
(20:21):
structure of equations, you knowgraphing those basic and it
should be fun.
There's no heat, just fun.
Practicing skills, develop afoundational understanding.
Same thing in seventh grade andthen, as time goes on, build
upon that.
Build upon that Because by thetime they get to the eighth
(20:44):
grade, those students should behigh school ready.
By the time they're done withthe eighth grade, you know,
having two years of pre-algebraspiraled in, spiraled in, and
then eighth grade either sittingcompletely in the algebra,
because I don't know a singlestate that would say, oh no, we
don't want our eighth gradersdoing algebra.
If the kids can do algebra,trust me, people will let it
(21:06):
happen, unless it's a state theywouldn't, and I don't know what
that state is and if there is,please let me know in the
comments.
But however, eighth gradeshould be algebra.
And if you're in New York, Itell my kids if you're not ready
for the Regents exam, then youwon't take it.
(21:28):
We're going to assess you,we're going to make sure that
you're not just getting the 65.
You're getting as close to themastery as possible and if you
don't, it's okay.
Go to high school with what youknow.
And again, we will reach out tothe high school and say, hey,
do me a favor, assess this kid,because this is what the kid did
here and any real good highschool and we tend to want to
(21:51):
send our kids to those schoolsthat we know that have
understanding of what howimportant math is we'll assess
that kid and say, hey, wow,you're either at emerging,
approaching mastery, or you'reat mastery.
If you're at mastery, maybewhat we need to do is maybe
provide you with some kind ofRegents prep Saturday or after
(22:11):
school morning or period of dayjust to get you ready for the
test because you already knowthe content.
Or or, if you've passed it,okay, just put you in geometry.
That's what we need to do, youknow, at the end of the day, I'm
saying also say, if you wantour kids to have access to
spaces that we know are supercompetitive, let's give them the
(22:34):
competitive edge, because bynot doing so now think about all
the things that can go wrong.
If they're not competitive andthere are not enough spaces to
be able to compete and actuallyshow out what they know and
prove that they deserve to be incollege spaces in those right
jobs in those right fields.
Then the options become minimal.
(22:56):
People always say I've heardthis that prisons are built
based on third grade readingscores, and that might be the
case, but more prisons are alsobuilt by students not being able
to perform or be competitive inspaces with math, because then
(23:21):
you come out to the real worldand your options are very
limited.
And then guess what happens?
You dab on in spaces that youprobably shouldn't be, and there
are prisons being built for ourchildren, intentionally waiting
for those who decide to go thewayward path.
(23:41):
So again I'm going to challengeyou, principals, educators,
superintendents, wherever youare.
What is your math plan?
Not just only to close theachievement gap, even though
that must be done.
What is your math plan toensure that your students are
ready to go into the world andnot just survive but conquer?
(24:04):
Alright, guys, we're trainingJoku Sneaker.
Principal, have a great day,have an amazing, amazing day and
I'll talk to you later.
Peace.
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