Everyday Algebra 2: an intervention strategy to help students meet the A-G requirements--is it supporting long term student performance?

In trying to meet the needs of low-performing students, schools around the United States are trying a variety of intervention techniques. For example, Whitney High School, in Rocklin, CA, requires a district goal of 70% of its graduating seniors to be college ready. In addition, they discovered that Algebra 2 was the gatekeeper to college acceptance. With this realization, the math department created a double block Algebra 2 program they called Everyday Algebra 2. This program mandates twice the amount of instructional minutes for low-performing students. Thus far, the program has been successful in its first year. This study was designed to investigate the first step in seeing if the double block treatment helps close the learning gap for low-performing students in their future math classes.\ud Chi-square and t-test statistics were applied to compare the performances of the intervention group and control group of regular students. It is determined that\ud 1. t tests show no difference on the Algebra 2 final. Thus, both groups preformed at the same level in Algebra 2.\ud 2. chi-squared analysis showed dependence regarding grades earned in Math Analysis (a future math class), indicating that lower grades were more likely to come from the intervention group.\ud 3. t tests show the intervention group does not sustain their gains and that they perform significantly below the non-intervention group on the Math Analysis exam.CSU, Chic