~ David Porter gives students the leverage they need to succeed ~

What Is Taught In Algebra I?
Algebra requires abstract thought, a big shift from the comfort of arithmetic’s concrete computations. In the eighth grade, most adolescents are right on the cusp of being developmentally ready for abstract thinking. For many students of this age their brains have developed sufficiently for them to be successful in Algebra. Many will take Algebra I in the eighth grade, do well and go on to take Geometry in their freshman year of high school. Yet some eighth graders are not developmentally ready for Algebra, and they may need to take more beginning level Algebra as high school freshmen.

Students continue to study linear equations and inequalities, and systems of two equations and inequalities. In addition, they explore quadratic and exponential equations.

In Algebra I the study of functions includes composite functions, transforming functions and inverse functions. Arithmetic and geometric sequences are introduced in Algebra I. They can be represented, Algebra I students learn, with either a recursive formula or with an explicit formula using function notation.

During the Algebra I course students continue to build on the statistics that they have learned. Continuing to work with two-way distribution tables they will learn about joint, marginal and conditional probabilities. As the students continue to study scatter plots and lines of best fit, they'll learn how to use residual plots to informally asses the strength of a linear model of data. Algebra I students are introduced to how to  find the line of best fit and its equation through the use of linear regression, and they will interpret the meaning of the regression equation's slope and y-intercept in the context of a study. They will learn to assess the strength of linear model more quantitatively with the correlation coefficient.