Hold Algebra Nation Accountable When SC Test Results Available

The cost of homework help just went through the roof. Help with algebra now comes with a million-dollar price tag for South Carolina's students. 

What is Algebra Nation? It's an online program that "features video tutorials, practice problems and an interactive homework help page." Thanks to the additional millions that the Charleston County School District has spent on Chromebooks and their ilk, it's readily available to CCSD students.

Study Edge has figured out how to create big business out of tutoring, and the best part is that many, if not most, of its "tutors" are unpaid teenage students. They rack up points instead. The company employs only a "handful" of "study experts." Probably they live in India. Why not?

It's a genius of a business model.

Study Edge has results from Florida for the last three or four years to back up its promises. "Algebra Nation also ran a full-court press in the Statehouse as budget talks began last year, paying $20,000 to lobbyists in the first half of 2017, according to state Ethics Commission filings. The state Legislature approved Algebra Nation as a pilot program for the 2017-18 budget year, setting aside a one-time sum of $1.5 million."

That was money well spent.

Its affiliate, the Lastinger Center at University of Florida, already had its hooks into CCSD for "literacy coach training," so this program is another step into this particular edublob. "The Charleston area's Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative got on board with the idea after reviewing it with leaders from nine state colleges and universities, according to CEO John Read."

"About three-quarters of South Carolina students who took the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam last school year passed it, according to the S.C. Department of Education. But scores skewed toward the bottom end, with only 9 percent earning an A, 13 percent earning a B, 22 percent earning a C, 30 percent earning a D and 25 percent earning an F."

Want to bet that their report card grades "skewed toward" the top end?