James Glover II / Star staff Maria Ortiz teaches an algebra readiness class Thursday at Hueneme High School in Oxnard. The state school board has voted to mandate algebra testing for all eighth-graders.

Midway through summer vacation, dozens of teenagers sat hunched over desks in an Oxnard high school last week, tackling algebra.

They start their freshman year at Hueneme High School this fall but are spending six weeks this summer brushing up on skills they will need to master the subject some experts call the gateway to college.

Success in algebra is linked to both higher graduation rates and college admissions, a national mathematics advisory panel reported this year. And this month, state officials decided to make sure all students are tested in the subject by the end of eighth grade. Plans call to phase in the requirement within the next three years.

About half of California public school students currently take Algebra 1 in middle school, and the state school board's decision makes the Golden State the first in the nation to require the full algebra course at such an early stage.

Local school officials say it's a good goal, but they worry the resources and support — including enough qualified math teachers to teach algebra to the state's nearly 500,000 eighth-graders — don't exist yet to make it work.

"I'm a big proponent of high standards and high expectations," said Jeff Chancer, an assistant superintendent for Ventura Unified School District. "Yet I don't know if all eighth-graders are going to be able to get there within three years."

The Ventura district, like others throughout California, has had the number of students studying algebra in the eighth grade increase for years. Statewide, the number has gone from about a third to half of all students.

Governor promises funding

The state Board of Education had been scheduled to consider adopting a new math test, proposed by state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell, for eighth-graders who haven't taken Algebra 1. The exam would have included some algebra standards but not all. Those students now take a general math test.

But following a last-minute recommendation from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a majority of trustees decided to require all eighth-graders to take the full algebra test.

Schwarzenegger has pledged funding to help schools meet the new requirement. But school officials question whether that's a promise he can keep.

The governor "offered no specifics about additional support or resources," O'Connell said in a written statement released after the board's vote. "Let's not forget local school boards across the state are cutting programs because of our state budget crisis."

Algebra 1 is a requirement to graduate from high school and has been included in the state's eighth-grade standards for years. But many students need other classes or a pre-algebra course first, and critics of the state board's decision say pushing students into higher-level math too early could increase the dropout rate.

State board members, however, agreed with the governor's contention that O'Connell's proposed exam could set up a two-tiered system that fast-tracked some students into regular algebra while allowing others to take a less rigorous test.

I want to get better'

Angel Lozado didn't know about the debate in Sacramento when he got up each morning for his summer algebra class at Hueneme High School. But while other teens might have been sleeping in or heading to the beach, he said, no one had to drag him to class — the algebra readiness classes were helping him understand the subject.

"I want to get better," said Angel, who knows algebra is a must for the higher-level math courses he'll need for college. About 40 students are taking the algebra readiness course at Hueneme High this summer, designed to fill in gaps and get ninth-graders ready to take algebra in their first year of high school.

At CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo, hundreds of ninth-graders in Oxnard Union High School District summer algebra academies and their parents spent Saturday learning about what it takes to go to college.

"You have to be very focused" to do well in algebra, Karen Espinosa, 14, said as she was going into a session about engineering careers.

She said it's not an easy subject, but one she needs to realize her dream of attending medical school.

"In my experience, the students who are not ready for Algebra 1 and go into an algebra readiness course start to change their perception about mathematics" for the better, said Jim Short, a veteran math teacher who works as a math specialist for Oxnard Union.

They might think math makes little sense, and when materials are there to help them fill in the holes, they start to understand, he said.

Without that support, some students might be able to memorize enough to get by, but they do not develop a true understanding or ability to solve problems, which they need to succeed in higher-level math courses.

If all eighth-graders are simply pushed to take Algebra 1, "we'll simply see more kids coming to us who are already turned off to math and are convinced they're not good enough," Short said.

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District, about 65 percent of eighth-graders were enrolled in Algebra 1 in 2007 — far above the state average. Of those, about 82 percent scored as proficient or advanced on the end-of-year exam.

When the bar was raised, more kids rose to the occasion, Assistant Superintendent Janet Cosaro said. But she, too, cautioned that students, teachers and schools will need more support to keep raising the bar, and the math support needs to be available in kindergarten through seventh grade, not just in the eighth grade.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.