Of all the skills a student must learn in a first Algebra course, simple algebraic manipulation is paramount. Without this skill, further advancement in mathematics is not possible.

Standard A1.4.A addresses the state's requirement for this skill. This presentation illustrates the difference in how this skill is taught through in two texts written from two entire different pedagogical perspectives. Many in the educational community prefer Discovering Algebra, and it is on the cusp of being approved for use in the Seattle Public School system as I write this.

Algebraic manipulation skills come as a result of training and practice in the recognition and use of the fundamental properties of real numbers. When a student learns these properties and gains skill in the power over all things numerical that they make possible, they fade into the background, just as rules of grammar, syntax, and punctuation fade from view for one who has learned to write in their native tongue Even though we forget their names they remain the foundation of what we build on top of them.

Those that don't learn them build on a foundation of dubious integrity.