After Algebra I comes Geometry, Algebra II, and Calculus. It doesn't seem too much to ask in 4 years of high school to have kids take Algebra I. Kids in most other countries do that and more. My son in his G/T class will take Algebra I in 7th grade.
The problem, programmatically speaking, is that states require multiple years of math for graduation, and the math classes run sequentially. So, a student waiting until junior year to take Algebra 1 will not have enough time to complete the requirements and graduate on time.
Maybe this is the problem, in that we're requiring too many units of math for graduation. For the non-college bound, it appears to me to involve too much needless repetition. When I was in HS I was that "ambassador" type who could move among social groups at will, and I had a number of friends who were, shall we say, less than diligent in their studies. I had a few conversations with individuals about their math difficulties, and they let me flip open their books, at which time I discovered that HS students were still working on decimals, fractions, and other skills I'd mastered in elementary school, in a class they required for graduation.
Unless the goal is to teach a child to hate math, what is the point?
I could see making Algebra I a graduation requirement, then making individual decisions for students on what it would take to get them to that level. If they need remedial math, fine. If not, I think they'd be better served taking the class when they're ready, getting it out of the way, and then making a decision about whether to pursue math further, or just take extra electives.
