Chapter 7: The Algebra Project: Breaking The Algebra Code

I chose to depict the Algebra Project as a Great Curriculum in order to illuminate its ability to transform the lives of the students who participate in it. And not only that students’ lives changed as a result of participating in the curriculum in the classroom, but also that their lives are also changed beyond the classroom as well. Here I describe the Algebra Project; its implications for changing the lives of underrepresented ethnic minorities through mathematics achievement; and how it has the ability to prepare disadvantaged youth to become active members of a society that values democracy as a way of life. While researching the Algebra Project, I visited Lanier High School located in Jackson, Mississippi, where I met its founder and chief practitioner, Robert Moses. Lanier was the first high school to implement the project, providing students who graduate from its Algebra Project middle school cohort experience with a different approach to mathematics as well as the life-changing direction provided by experiences inside and outside of the classroom.