Algebra I at 8th grade would have placed you a year behind when I was in school. 7th grade was Algrebra 1, Algebra 2 was 8th, Geometry was 9th (first year of highschool). 10th grade had Trig, 11th had pre-Calc, and Calculus was the final year.
I took Algebra 1 in 9th grade, and Algebra 2 and Geometry in the 10th grade. The 9th graders in my Algebra 2 class (who took Algebra 1 in 8th grade) had holes in their algebra background because middle school algebra is taught at a lower level than high school algebra. But I wasn't behind, for I took AP Calculus in 11th grade successfully because of a strong foundation from high school level algebra classes. However, I'm struggling with placement choices for own children as we speak.
Same here. This was in the mid 90's though. Not sure what it's like these days...