The made headlines in 2014 when it eliminated the curriculum for eighth graders in an effort to bolster struggling kids’ performance by allowing them more time on foundational classes — and to address inequities in which students got fast-tracked for advanced high school math.

Board members did not respond to emails seeking comment, but the superintendent, Maria Su, in a statement on the district’s website said she welcomes the change. 

“We’re excited to offer Algebra I to our eighth grade students as part of our goal to help more students succeed in math, working to increase the number of students meeting grade-level standards from 42% in 2022 to 65% by 2027,” she said. 

Critics say eliminating 8th-grade algebra robbed capable students of that early, first step in a math sequence that allowed them to take calculus their senior year — a prerequisite for some top colleges and, arguably, for careers in lucrative STEM fields. 

A backed up these claims, showing participation in Advanced Placement math initially fell 15% while “large ethnoracial gaps in advanced math course-taking remained.” 

Residents in 2024 supported a ballot initiative to bring back the course and it became available to some students through a pilot program: The district served 3,827 8th graders in 2024-25 and 1,030 of them took Algebra I that school year, according to state data cited by researchers.

Rex Ridgeway, along with several others, to restore the course in 2023. He told ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ this week the change was overdue. He said it will prevent students like his granddaughter, Joselyn Marroquin, who was deprived of the course in her middle school years, from having to take it elsewhere. 

“During this period of time, students, like my granddaughter, had to either take a summer algebra accredited course or double up in the 9th grade and take both Algebra I and geometry in order to be on track to take calculus in the 12th grade,” he said. 

A retired stockbroker, Ridgeway tutored his granddaughter from first to ninth grade, filling in what he considered deficiencies in the district’s math, English and science instruction. Marroquin is now a freshman at San Jose State University, her grandfather said, majoring in business administration, corporate accounting and finance — and minoring in economics.

The Board of Education narrowly approved the algebra measure Wednesday night in a 4-3 vote. According to the school district, Algebra I will be offered in eighth grade as an expanded math course at 19 of its middle and K-8 schools. 

Students who meet the academic criteria will be automatically enrolled in both Math 8 and Algebra I — but can opt out of Algebra I if they choose. 

Those who don’t test into the course can still enroll in it as an elective and students’ whose test scores reflect strong ability in the subject can take only Algebra I.

Thomas S. Dee, a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education and an author of the earlier , said he celebrates the board’s move: He and co-author Elizabeth Huffaker, as part of a second study currently in the works, found that 8th graders who took Algebra I along with Common Core Math 8 as part of the pilot program experienced substantial learning gains. 

Dee said, too, he supports the automatic enrollment of already proficient students, saying the tactic should “ensure that those gains will be broadly realized among all the students ready to take algebra — regardless of their other circumstances and background.”

But Dee’s enthusiasm is tempered: He said his research reveals the need for the district to improve math curriculum for students prior to 8th grade so they are better prepared for algebra. 

“Broadening algebra access without addressing the uneven patterns in algebra readiness will increase achievement gaps,” he said. 

And, allowing parents of students taking Algebra I to opt out of Common Core Math 8 will deprive them of a chance to advance, he said.

“Our results indicate that families that make this choice will leave truly substantial learning gains on the table and increase their child’s risk of having to retake algebra in 9th grade,” Dee said. “I viewed the board’s insistence on this issue partly as a reflection of a legacy of distrust that was created through the community’s experience with earlier generations of district leadership.”

Huffaker, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Florida, said automatic enrollment “nudges students who are likely to succeed in algebra into the course” and notes that the district’s plan will also increase math instructional time at most campuses. 

But she, too, has concerns about families opting out of one of the two simultaneous courses. 

“We completely understand why a family might value an additional elective that allows their child to take art, for instance,” she said. “But the learning gains from the expanded math option are really worth taking seriously, especially because they extend even to the most high-achieving students. There wasn’t really a cap on who benefited.”

Melodie Baker, executive director at ImpactSTATs Inc., and a Women in AI Fellow at , said the real question isn’t when students take algebra, but whether the pathway makes sense at all. 

“A sequence designed as a pipeline to calculus was built for a different era,” she said. “Meanwhile, students need data fluency, computational thinking and applied math for an AI-driven economy.”

Automatic enrollment policies are valuable, she added. 

“But expanding access to an outdated curriculum only gets us partway there,” she said. “True progress means rethinking what we teach, not just who gets access. Math should be a foundation for the future, not a relic that sorts students into winners and losers.”

Despite these facts, a study I co-authored on schools in high schools in the New England region found that don’t offer AP statistics. I was curious about what appears to be a disconnect between math pathway standards and math in practical applications. And further, what might be done to create more rigorous math opportunities for a wider number of students?

I collaborated with University of Texas researchers on another that followed millions of students in the state. We found that those who pursued calculus were more likely to major in science, technology, engineering or math and enroll in highly selective colleges. For classmates who were not pursuing STEM majors, taking calculus had minimal long-term effects on their future careers. There were no significant differences in degree completion or wages for those who studied calculus and those who took other math classes.

Our research doesn’t dispute that students who take calculus often go on to earn higher salaries than those who don’t, but the cause and effect is more nuanced. Calculus itself doesn’t necessarily lead to bigger paychecks; rather, students aiming for high-earning fields like engineering or computer science tend to take it because those careers require it. 

In fact, based on our research, after accounting for students’ academic preparation, those who took statistics earn just as much money in the long run as those who studied calculus. This further supports the conclusion that while calculus remains essential for STEM-bound students, it shouldn’t be the only marker of rigor. 

Forcing students not planning a STEM career to take calculus because it’s the only rigorous math option may discourage and frustrate them, while a different math course such as statistics might better prepare them for high-earning careers in other fields that better align with their interests. For example, statistics and data science courses can build skills that are applicable in areas ranging from business to public policy, health care and the social sciences.

That’s why high schools and colleges should offer — and recognize — multiple rigorous math options. Rather than making calculus the only advanced math class, schools should provide choices that match students’ aspirations, and colleges should value these on par with AP calculus.

What should matter is giving every student the opportunity to tackle challenging, relevant subjects such as calculus, statistics, computer science and data science. Those courses should be backed by robust standards, curricula and assessments, like those established by the AP program, to ensure the courses will be recognized by colleges  for their academic rigor that is also aligned with students’ career paths. 

The AP program is widely recognized and accepted by colleges for its standards, curriculum and comprehensive end-of-course exam. Districts that offer a wider variety of AP math options will provide more students with access to rigorous relevant math.Other emerging options, like AP computer science courses or perhaps a future AP data science class, could also serve as rigorous alternatives, giving students a choice of advanced math that connects directly to their aspirations.

In the longer term, state education officials wishing to develop data science or quantitative computing opportunities would be wise to follow the AP recipe that has made the program the gold standard for high school education. And high schools should make AP statistics itself more broadly available, especially for those considering non-STEM majors. More students are likely to discover relevance and career opportunities in collecting, analyzing, visualizing and interpreting data. It’s time to build and strengthen high school math pathways that better reflect that reality.

With many colleges dropping standardized testing for applicants, transcripts featuring calculus — preferably Advanced Placement — have come to . However, of American high school students have no access to calculus whatsoever. As a result, of science, technology, engineering and math majors who arrive at college needing to take precalculus manage to earn a STEM bachelor’s degree, while those who didn’t progress past algebra 2 in high school have a less than 40% chance of earning any four-year degree whatsoever.

This problem begins in middle school. As I learned with my daughter, students who are not offered algebra 1 until ninth grade are de facto removed from the advanced math track. They will take geometry in 10th grade, algebra 2 in 11th and pre-calculus — not calc — in 12th. 

That may not be an insurmountable impediment for non-STEM majors, though it still affects which colleges all applicants ultimately get accepted to. But how many 14-year-olds are absolutely certain of their future career goals? My daughter had no interest in STEM until the summer between her junior and senior years of high school, when she participated in a introducing female and minority students to engineering. She’s now applying to college as an electrical engineering major, something that would be more difficult if she’d stayed on the curriculum path that terminated before calculus.

My husband insisted on keeping all doors open for our daughter, which is something all students deserve. In order to make that happen, however, all students would need to be able to take algebra 1 before high school. 

, only about 20% of middle schools offer algebra 1 to all their students, while 60% report some availability. And those opportunities are . A 2023-24 survey by the Rand Corp. determined that “nearly half of the wealthiest schools offered algebra to all of their eighth grade students, regardless of math ability, compared with about a third of the poorest schools.”

My daughter, as I’ve written before, is not a natural mathematician. She was fortunate that her middle school offered eighth grade algebra to all students. If she’d attended a program that didn’t have the course available, or one that dictated who could sign up based on prior mathematical knowledge, her future options might have narrowed as early as elementary school, when she wasn’t performing at the top of the class. If she’d gone to a high-poverty school instead of a wealthy one, she likely would have had no chance to give eighth grade algebra a try.

only about 24% of American eighth graders were enrolled in algebra 1, though that doesn’t necessarily mean they all .

What this all shows is that at least 75% of American public school kids are going to have a harder time getting into — and succeeding — at a college STEM program than if they’d enrolled having completed calculus. This is especially true for low-income and minority students, who would benefit most from a rigorous college education and a high-paying career.

That’s unconscionable. That’s unacceptable.

School is supposed to be about expanding opportunities, not limiting them. 

But then COVID struck. 

Thomas had trouble learning the subject online: She mastered some of the material two years behind schedule.  

“I always did really well in math — until I entered high school,” she said. “Because of COVID, I had to learn so many things on my own, especially in my ninth-grade year.”

Despite this challenge, Thomas remained a focused and determined student: She’s already earned an associate degree from Ivy Tech Community College and hopes to attend a top-ranked school next fall, possibly Columbia University, to which she applied early decision.

Thomas’s struggle with mathematics mirrors that of students throughout the nation: Test results released in June charting long-term trends show 13-year-olds have suffered tremendous losses. The NAEP scores unveiled in October 2022 revealed a five-point decrease in math for fourth graders and an eight-point plummet for eighth graders, the largest drops ever recorded.

Disparities along racial lines were significantly worsened by the pandemic and the alarming outcomes for Black students on state exams in Indiana, where Thomas lives, prompted the state’s NAACP last year to release an plan to address long-standing inequities. 

Last year, in Indianapolis, Thomas’s city, passed both the math and English sections of the state’s tests. Recent state assessments show a majority of children in Indiana cannot meet minimum math standards: Just 41% of students in grades 3-8 scored proficient or better in the math portion of the state’s ILEARN exam. 

In Indiana and across the country, educators and advocates are searching for ways to make the subject more relevant and engaging — and less a source of failure. 

Some are working to address persistent obstacles for low-income children and students of color by re-evaluating their requirements and offerings. To that end, many are providing students with additional pathways — not just one road leading to calculus, a course whose value is being questioned, even for those students who seek a career in STEM.  

Thomas is among BELIEVE’s 300 students, most of them children of color: 51% of the charter high school’s student body is Black while 41% are Latino. Nearly all qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year. 

Thomas is currently enrolled in Advanced Placement Statistics, excelling in a class she believes will one day help her to better her local community. 

She’s glad her school offers numerous rigorous mathematics courses and plans to continue with the subject in college where she seeks to study journalism, education and law. Thomas is one of seven children: Hers is the first generation to attend college. 

ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ: Do you think it’s possible to skip your freshman year of college after earning so many college credits in high school?

Jania Thomas: I’m hoping that I could move into my sophomore year. It just depends on the college that I get accepted to and how many of my credits transfer over.

Tell me how you’ve done in math through the years.

Before high school, math was, for sure, my favorite subject because it was something that I quickly latched on to and that I could understand. It’s not like the sciences or reading because it’s all stats. You just have to understand the steps. I always did really well in math — until I entered high school.

And what happened then?

Because of COVID, I had to learn so many things on my own, especially in my ninth-grade year. That’s when the letters came into it: sign, cosign, tangents and triangles. I really struggled, especially my freshman year and into my sophomore year.

Did that improve when school resumed?

I was better in the classroom environment. I started to get it because I had more one-on-one time with my teachers. I had to learn things that I thought I knew from my ninth-grade year in my sophomore and junior year.

How have you done since?

When I took my college algebra class at Ivy Tech, I really enjoyed it. It was more focused on degrees, measurements and numbers.

Many students in previous generations were told to take calculus to qualify for top-tier schools. Did you ever hear that?

I’m really glad to have the opportunity to choose the math classes I want: I have more autonomy over the courses I can take. I’ve spoken with my counselor, and she’s never said that.

What role do you think math will play in your professional life?

I don’t know what specific field I want to go into, but I like dealing with finances.

I want to fight against inequality within the American system. I know I’m going to have to understand a lot of concepts pertaining to money, which is all math.

But you want to pursue the subject for other reasons, right?

I want to be someone you could come to if you’re struggling. I want to start a tutoring program. I’ve tutored before and I want to be able to help students in all subjects. If I stopped learning math now, I wouldn’t grow (in that area.) I would rather have a growth mindset than one that’s stagnant.

How far do you plan to go educationally?

I want to get at least one doctorate. I’ve always told myself I will be in school for the rest of my life because I enjoy being in the classroom environment. I’ll just be getting degree after degree after degree, not trying to reach a limit, but just trying to attain the most information that I can so that I can apply it to the real world and teach it to other people.

Are you concerned about paying for school?

That’s one thing that’s given me a lot of anxiety in my senior year. My school is focused a lot on trying to help us fill out scholarships. I’m just going to fill out as many scholarships as I can my senior year and while I’m in college.

But a survey by ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ reveals the answer is more complex, that while some schools have revised their acceptance criteria based on the availability of rigorous courses, including calculus, others have not. 

Queries sent to 20 top-tier colleges and universities, many of which are recognized for their strong engineering programs, found that 11 do not require it while six strongly recommend or encourage it.

Calculus may not be a must, but it is still expected at many institutions.

looks for some applicants to complete the class if they have access to it. Likewise, , and strongly recommend or encourage at least some applicants to take the course in high school.

was alone among the 20 in still mandating calculus. In fact, the Ivy League school tells incoming freshmen that at least one of their two letters of recommendation must be from a math teacher and they are “strongly encouraged” to make that person their precalculus or calculus teacher.

Caltech dropped calculus, physics and chemistry from a list of required courses while widening students’ opportunity to showcase their abilities through other means, including the completion of online courses through the free .  

Ashley Pallie, Caltech’s executive director of undergraduate admissions, noted it was a significant shift for the STEM-intensive titan. The school had required a calculus course for decades, she said, despite pushback from applicants. 

“Every year, we would get lots of students who would write in and say, ‘I was on track to take it, but the teacher isn’t able to teach us here,’ or, ‘Not enough students signed up for the class,’ or, ‘The class isn’t offered at my high school,’” she said. “And the answer was always, ‘No. We need to have the course requirement.’ ”

But that changed when Pallie and two faculty members, who set admissions criteria, learned at a February conference on equity and college acceptance the extent to which the course is not available, particularly to low-income applicants, students of color and those living in rural areas. 

Pallie credited Melodie Baker, national policy director at , an organization that promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success, for sharing the information at that gathering. Calculus still has merit, Caltech faculty concluded, but should no longer be mandated. 

“So now it’s less about having taken the course and more about, ‘Can you showcase to us that you have proficiency and mastery?’” Pallie said. 

MIT follows a similar model; it wants incoming freshmen to have two semesters of calculus but allows them to place out of the requirement either through outside credits or by taking an Advanced Standing Examination.

Calculus is not required for admission to any school or college, including the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business. 

And the same holds true at , , , and Johns Hopkins. 

The explanation is simple, according to one school’s spokesperson. 

“We recognize not all high schools have a calculus course available to students, so it is not required for admission to Johns Hopkins University,” said Jill Rosen.

Baker, of Just Equations, said colleges and universities should always seek to widen the opportunities for bright applicants so they can one day help solve the world’s most complex and enduring problems. 

“When math is used as it was intended, to cultivate and develop talent rather than rank and sort students, the future of STEM looks like a microcosm of the larger society,” she said. “It looks very different from what it looks like today: It looks well-represented.”

The doesn’t demand calculus for entry to any of its undergraduate programs. However, the school does prefer that students study the topic at some stage: It’s mandatory for some majors, though it can be taken at the college level. 

Still, a spokesperson for the five-college system said, “Anyone can get in without it.”

For other colleges, the answer is nuanced. Neither calculus nor precalculus is a requirement for first-year admissions at the , a spokesperson said. 

The vast U.C. system, which encompasses 10 campuses and some , does, however, note that those interested in STEM, data science and the social sciences are “strongly encouraged” to consider a math course sequence that prepares them for calculus — either during high school or in their first year at the university.

Sharon Veatch, school counseling department chair at the rural Housatonic Valley Regional High School in northwest Connecticut, follows college admissions criteria closely. Two of her former graduates are now at Harvard and a couple of others have recently graduated from Cornell. 

She said universities have become less focused on calculus in recent years: Their decision to admissions tests from consideration means they are looking at students more holistically, placing less emphasis on any one class. 

But, Veatch said, many top-ranked universities urge students to take the most rigorous course available. For those at her high school, that means Advanced Placement calculus. The campus hasn’t offered AP Statistics for years. 

“In general, when I advise students, I say, ‘You need to max out on the curriculum,’” she said. “Because that’s what I’m being told.”

Maxing out, of course, means something different from one state to another as several are reassessing their mathematics offerings.

California has tried to broaden high school students’ opportunities by providing other academic pathways, not just those that lead to calculus. 

But there’s been a push and pull between , with the state recently backtracking on a key issue for college applicants: The faculty committee that sets admissions requirements for the U.C. system that data science could no longer be a substitute for Algebra II. The state Board of Education, which oversees K-12 and is looking at reframing math statewide, soon after removed its endorsement of data science as a substitute for that subject. 

, a crown jewel in higher education in that state, recommends four years of rigorous mathematics — including algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

“We also welcome additional mathematical preparation, including calculus and statistics,” its website advises.

Calculus is not necessary for entry to the University of Wisconsin. But spokesman John Lucas said direct admittance to the engineering program is highly selective, “so, it’s rare for a student to not have taken calculus.”

Georgia Tech is a bit more explicit. Laura Simmons, an admissions counselor there, said in an , that students should take the most challenging courses available to them. If that means seeking out a dual enrollment math class at the local college, they should choose wisely.

“We’re never going to pretend that college algebra is the same as a calculus class,” she said. 

, which relies largely on recent findings from outside research groups and the federal government, warns that on just about every indicator that matters — basic skills, college going, mental health and more — the pandemic has set older students back.

“Time is running out for these kids,” said Robin Lake, director of , a research organization at Arizona State University. “Many have already exited the K-12 system, either by graduating or essentially disappearing on us. Too many kids still are missing — we don’t know if they’ve dropped out or where they’ve gone.”

Outside researchers who study these students said the fears are justified. In response, Lake and others are proposing a raft of reforms, including extending “gap years” to any high school graduates who need time to catch up — as well as a new commitment to reforming high school so it works for more students. 

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona acknowledged the slow pace of academic turnaround, calling it “appalling and unacceptable.”

“It’s like as a country we’ve normalized those gaps,” he said in separate remarks to reporters Tuesday,

Cardona spoke just before the department unveiled new efforts to spur pandemic recovery, including $50 million in competitive grants for literacy and higher expectations on districts to track and reverse chronic absenteeism. The department also released new data showing that roughly 187,000 tutors and mentors have signed up through its National Partnership for Student Success — bringing it closer to its goal of recruiting 250,000 adults to help students get back on track by 2025.

‘Insidious and hidden’

As of this fall, researchers said, about 13.5 million students in four high school graduating classes have been affected by the pandemic.

CRPE first issued its “State of the American Student” report in September 2022, saying pandemic school closures in 2020 and 2021 led to “unprecedented academic setbacks” for American students that made pre-existing inequalities and the nation’s youth mental health crisis worse.

A year later, CRPE says, students are still struggling in many areas. They point to record-low math and reading scores on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress for fourth- and eighth-grade students — in both grades, one in three can’t read at even the “basic” achievement level.

And missed more than 10% of school days during the 2021-22 school year, twice as many as in previous years. More than reported “stunted behavioral and social-emotional development” in students because of the pandemic, researchers note.

But they say schools should pay extra attention to older students, many of whom lost critical instruction time during the pandemic. 

The pandemic, Lake said, “is continuing to derail learning throughout K-12. But what we came away with was that the derailment is looking a little bit more insidious and hidden, in some ways. That is true especially for older students.”

The , for instance, needs 7.4 months of schooling to catch up to pre-pandemic levels in reading, and 9.1 months of schooling in math, according to recent assessments.

Last year’s NAEP scores showed that 30% of eighth graders performed “” in reading; 38% were in math. At the same time, just 2% of students received at school, which Lake called “a massive missed opportunity.” 

In a few places, researchers noted, the pandemic knocked older students off track, as in Washington state, where 14 percent of public high school students received at least during the 2020-2021 school year.

Even college-bound high school students are underperforming: The on the ACT college admission test last year was 19.8, they noted, the lowest since 1991.

Researchers also noted that, overall, college going is down: Between 2019 and 2023, the U.S. higher education system lost an estimated .

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday in advance of the report’s release, Lake said recent data on college are “extremely concerning.”

She called for the development of what she calls a “New American High School” that abandons academic tracking and standardized diplomas for a system that helps each student “understand their own conception of a good life” through knowledge and skills. It would also help them more easily change course if needed.

In the report, Lake noted several promising new models, including Colorado’s , designed to help rural districts create career-relevant learning experiences aligned to the needs and aspirations of local economies.

She also highlighted Seckinger High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia, a planned artificial intelligence-themed high school that will offer a college prep curriculum “taught through the lens of artificial intelligence.” Students will also be able to pursue an education in developing AI, she said. 

A gap year for struggling students

Lake proposed that high schools and community colleges consider a new kind of post-high school “gap year” designed to help struggling high school graduates get back on track academically and prepare for college and careers. 

“Gap years are oftentimes known for serving as a time for exploration for more advantaged kids,” she said. “Let’s change that.”

The idea is still in development, she said, but could be developed quickly.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but we need to get going,” she said.

While high school graduation rates are rising, the researchers said, so is grade inflation — 90% of parents believe their child is actually above grade level in reading and math, according to a March 2023 , making it likely that many students are exiting the K-12 system unprepared for college and careers.

Outside experts who study education systems and secondary education said CRPE’s alarm over the data is justified.

“There’s going to be a long tail of the pandemic,” said Robert Balfanz, a scholar who studies high school as co-director of the at Johns Hopkins University.

He said a key problem from the pandemic is that many students were forced into virtual learning at key points in their education: while making the leap to more challenging reading, for instance, or diving into Algebra or calculus. “Kids that miss core transitional learning, I think, are almost hit twice,” he said. “They have that same amount of learning loss. But you could argue in some ways it was even more strategic of a loss because those are such key building blocks.”

He noted that the best predictor of whether a student will earn a college degree is if they earned “decent grades in challenging courses.” But if they don’t get access to these or don’t learn foundational material, “that’s a problem.”

Unequal access to such coursework, Balfanz said, can push students out of advanced classes. 

He is concerned that during the pandemic, many students who “officially took calculus” or other advanced courses virtually may not have gotten all of the material required. “And those kids are probably already in college.”

In the paper, researchers lamented that our K-12 system “leaves to chance” nearly every aspect of the transition from high school to college and careers, from students discovering their interests and talents to selecting a career pathway aligned to them. 

And few students ever get guidance on how to change careers and find new training or postsecondary opportunities when their interests and priorities shift.

Balfanz said the decline in “postsecondary momentum” could be the result of many factors, including the high cost of college, students who don’t feel well-prepared and a labor market that holds many opportunities for high wages without a college degree.

“I think a combination of those factors is going to push some kids to delay post-secondary,” he said. “And the more you delay it, the odds of success are less.”

Trying to go back to school at that point, he said, is “always challenging.” 

A new kind of report card

Dan Goldhaber, director of the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research () at the American Institutes for Research, said COVID recovery “has not fully happened” in many schools. 

“I’m not feeling super optimistic about pandemic recovery writ large right now,” he said. 

The new CRPE report, he said, demonstrates the “real conundrum” that schools face in communicating with parents: “I think that schools need to convey in more plain English where kids are at,” he said. 

But he said results from large-scale standardized exams “don’t resonate the way that information about their own students would resonate. What we need is for school systems to just be really clear with individual families about when their students are struggling. And I don’t think that school systems typically do that.”

Educators, he said, are typically optimistic about students’ chances of bouncing back — and fearful of being blamed for kids’ academic problems. 

“Schools don’t have a ton of incentive to communicate in ways that might negatively bounce back to them,” he said.

Lake, the CRPE director, said one good way to fix this problem is simply to rethink report cards.

“Parents look to report cards first,” she said. “And report cards need to be able to say how the kids are actually doing — not just that they’re getting a particular grade. Are they mastering the skills that they need to graduate? Are they on track? And so that’s where I’d focus my efforts.”

Linda Jacobson contributed to this report.

Some have modified graduation requirements or retooled stalwart courses — particularly Algebra II — to include data science, statistics and probability, topics of great interest to a wide swath of students headed to college or the workforce. 

No longer are they steering everyone toward calculus, a course that is not universally available — nor pertinent to all students’ academic and professional lives. 

And high schools are not making these critical decisions in isolation: Many are working with college administrators — post-secondary math is also being reconsidered — to better align their coursework. 

Many member states also pledge to train high school teachers to help make the switch.

“Everyone agrees that different college students need different math — quantitative literacy for humanities, stats for most social sciences, calculus for STEM and economics,” said David Kung, the Center’s policy director. “Everyone also agrees that all K-12 students should be in the same math through at least algebra. The big question is where and how to branch [after that], with different students getting different math — and how to do that equitably.”

The , which seeks to ensure all children — particularly the underserved — have equitable access to high-quality mathematics and science instruction, began operating out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1991. It has helped shape math for students in that state and has also worked with dozens of districts outside Texas, its efforts funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The revamping of mathematics comes at a critical time: Math proficiency tanked nationwide during and after COVID, prompting educators to seize the opportunity to overhaul the subject with the hope of improving student engagement and outcomes. 

Josh Recio, the Center’s course program specialist, said change of this magnitude takes time: It often requires agreement from several entities, including mathematics teachers’ organizations, the legislature, and parent and community groups. Then, every district in the state has to change its graduation requirements, while also incorporating new course material.

“Each step of this process takes coordinated actions that are not easy to achieve,” Recio said. â€œAnd yet, states are persevering because they can see the benefit to students.”

The Center requires those participating in its to make a three-year commitment: Washington and Georgia are on their second cycle. 

Utah started working with the Center around that same time, though it wasn’t officially a member state when the program began. Still, the partnership proved fruitful: In its first three years, the state accomplished three essential goals — and has already seen remarkable academic gains. 

First, it brought K-12 educators and state college leaders together to identify three entry-level college math courses: statistics, quantitative reasoning and college algebra. 

“It really helped to solidify that progression of math content that gets taught all the way through from high school to early college,” said Lindsey Henderson, secondary mathematics specialist with the Utah State Board of Education. 

Then, it made sure to offer these classes to high school students so they could earn college credit for them prior to graduation. 

Finally, Henderson said, the state changed its mathematics offerings so that not all students would be pushed toward calculus: Through pamphlets and online literature, Utah encourages families and students to pick classes aligned with their goals. 

“If you want to be a STEM major or work in business, you should consider college algebra,” she said. “If you’re interested in humanities or performing and language arts, you should take quantitative reasoning. If you’re interested in nursing or psychology, you should take statistics.” 

Like many other participating states, Washington also reworked Algebra II: It identified the elements of the subject it believes all students need and added data science, quantitative reasoning and mathematical modeling, said Arlene Crum, director of mathematics for the state education department. The new course was piloted in the 2022-23 school year.

“We have multiple graduation pathways within Washington where we support and value students heading in many different directions, not only to a four-year university, but many to two-year colleges, the military or into industry,” Crum said. “So, Algebra II should not just be a course that prepares students for the calculus pathway, but it should help students in their thinking for wherever they’re going.”

Washington also reworked its eight-year-old “transition to college” math class, often taken in the 12th grade, bolstering the course’s social-emotional learning elements while also emphasizing statistics. 

Oregon also has changed its high school math standards with the goal of increasing student engagement and participation while improving outcomes for all. 

It now requires two years of foundational algebra, geometry, and data/statistics and a third year that allows students to choose courses from a variety of options, including quantitative reasoning, data science or advanced mathematics. Students can continue into a fourth year through advanced courses in these pathways, including calculus.

“Increasing the number and percentage of students who excel in math and meet high school mathematics graduation requirements is critical to ensuring future post-secondary success — and keeping career options open to students in a variety of CTE and STEM-based fields,” said Oregon Department of Education spokesman Peter J. Rudy. “This is important for all students, most especially for students who are farthest away from mathematics learning opportunities that bring math to life.”

Henderson, of Utah, said these changes have helped more students meet and exceed state mathematics requirements: Just 28% of students completed four years of high school mathematics in 2012 compared to 87% in 2020, after the new initiatives were implemented. 

And, she said, children with disabilities are faring much better in the subject: While only 43% were earning grade-level mathematics credit in 9^th grade in 2012, the figure shot up to 85% in 2020. 

“The pandemic has forced us to recognize that student interest in mathematics is really important,” Henderson said. “It helps us to reach really great outcomes. We want to show kids that math is useful. It’s not just a set of procedures that can only be used by a few.”

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ.

Many capable Hispanic, Black and English learner students did not elect to join these classes on their own or were passed over by their instructors. And their parents were often unaware they could make the request. 

Dallas ISD, which serves some 142,000 children, took note of the disparity and in 2017 formed a racial equity advisory council — some of whose members had children in the district — with the goal of improving opportunity for all. 

It decided to move from an opt-in model to an opt-out policy in the 2019-20 school year. Since then, all students who score well on state exams are now automatically enrolled in advanced mathematics, reading, science and social studies — or some combination of the four. Under the current model, students cannot opt out without written parent permission. The move has dramatically increased participation among traditionally marginalized children.

The initiative is particularly consequential in mathematics. It places far more students on track to take eighth-grade algebra, a prerequisite for more advanced coursework in high school. Prior to the shift, only 20% of Dallas ISD 8th graders were enrolled in Algebra I compared to 60% today. 

“We talked about some cold hard facts and part of that was to … increase enrollment in the good stuff and ensure students are going to be successful once we get them in there,” said Shannon Trejo, Dallas ISD’s chief academic officer. “Advanced coursework in high school is a pipeline: You have to get in in middle school. The question was, ‘How do we ensure students who are prepared are enrolling?’”

And the policy has not led to a decrease in student scores as some speculated: Last year’s 8^th-grade Algebra I students had similar pass rates as those in years prior, the district said, with 95% of Hispanic students passing the test and 76% meeting grade-level proficiency; 91% of Black students passing and 65% meeting grade level and 95% of English learner students passing the state exam and 74% meeting grade level. 

Drexell Owusu, chief impact officer at , which connects donors with charitable organizations among other endeavors, said he appreciates the district’s decision to raise the bar for students who’ve shown they are capable of more challenging work. 

“As a parent to three Dallas ISD students, I hold my own children to this standard, knowing that the challenge of advanced coursework is how they will reach higher heights as learners and people,” said Owusu, a member of the district’s advisory council. “As a business and community advocate, I’m thrilled with the increase in success rates for honors courses knowing that this will lead to great jobs and increased living-wage attainment for these students in the future.”

Dallas’s decision to open up its honors classes comes as educators and advocates across the country are reckoning with racial inequities in advanced courses and questioning whether current curricula serve today’s students. Some are urging decision makers to include access at every turn of a child’s academic career and to consider more modern and relevant coursework. 

This is particularly true of calculus, long considered a benchmark of high school success and often perceived as a prerequisite of college admissions — at least for wealthier students who have access to the course, which can be hard to find in Black, Hispanic and impoverished communities.

Like many school districts across the country, Dallas saw its math scores falter in recent years, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the “Nation’s Report Card.” Eighth-grade math scores dropped by eight points nationally since the test was last administered in 2019, while fourth-grade scores dropped by five points — the largest decreases ever recorded.

The results were less alarming for in Dallas, who saw their scores fall from 265 to 261 and Black students in that grade who saw their marks dip from 252 to 249. The city’s fourth-grade math were about as dire, with Hispanic students in that grade seeing a six-point drop, from from 236 to 230, while Black students slid from 222 down to 218. 

Hispanics make up 71% of Dallas’s student body, Black students account for 20% and English language learners, who the district refers to as emergent bilinguals, make up 49%, according to Dallas ISD’s White students account for 5.5% of total enrollment.

Students of color had been dramatically underrepresented in the district’s advanced programming. Just 33% of Hispanic sixth graders, 17% of Black sixth graders and 31% of English learners in that grade were enrolled in 6^th-grade honors math classes in the school year. Conversely, 51% of white sixth graders took advanced math that year. 

By the 2022-23 school year, 59% of Hispanic sixth graders, 43% of Black sixth graders and 59% of that grade’s English learners were enrolled in 6^th-grade honors math classes. The percentage of white sixth graders in advanced math also grew substantially, to 82%.

In past years, Dallas ISD school board Trustee Ben Mackey said some students weren’t selected for such programs because teachers believed they misbehaved in class. 

“Maybe that kid was acting up because they were not challenged,” he said. “Within two years of this policy, 94% of eligible students are taking these classes. It makes such a drastic difference in terms of whether the student will be college ready and career ready. We need to give every single person a chance to be successful in life, so when they leave us, they are not three steps behind.”

Juany Valdespino-Gaytan, the district’s executive director of engagement services, said the new model helps capture talented students who might not have known about the honors path. 

“The whole premise is that we are really trying to increase access to all students,” she said. “The policy change was our first effort toward that goal, making these courses available to any student and automatically requiring them to opt out. It puts students in a space where they are advocated for based on their performance.”

Trejo, the district’s chief academic officer, said Dallas ISD is tracking outcomes year over year, with a focus on whether students continue on an advanced pathway in high school. 

“I want our kids to graduate and be able to choose among different colleges and among different careers because they have been so well prepared in mathematics that people want them,” Trejo said. 

But some in education say it’s time to reconsider this de facto requirement: Many schools — particularly those serving large numbers of Black, Hispanic or low-income students — don’t offer the course. And even when they do, it’s of dubious value, they say. 

“High school calculus is a complete waste of time and a form of torture,” said Alan Garfinkel, professor of integrative biology and physiology and medicine at UCLA. “The view … that math is a bunch of symbolic expressions, and you bang on them with tricks to get other symbolic expressions, is a bankrupt concept of math, dating from the 19th century.”

The course, as it’s often taught at the high school level, is inaccessible and often perceived as irrelevant to students’ interests, critics say. of high school graduates earned credit for calculus in 2019, according to data culled by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a statistic no doubt shaped by its unavailability. 

Only 52% of schools with high student of color enrollment offered the course in 2017-18 compared to 76% of schools with low student of color enrollment, according to a from the Learning Policy Institute. 

The study, which analyzed data primarily from the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection, found the course was also scarce in more impoverished communities: Just 45% of high schools enrolling a high proportion of students from low-income families offered the class compared to 87% of high schools with a low proportion of these students. 

In addition to its uneven availability, some say calculus isn’t entirely relevant to college-level studies and that other classes, including those in statistics and data science, should be considered just as worthy. 

“There is a perception that calculus is required for admission to selective colleges, regardless of the fact that only about a handful of higher ed institutions in the U.S. actually require the course for all students,” said Melodie Baker, national policy director at , an organization that promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success.

The push for calculus, said Dave Kung, director of policy at the , harkens back to an earlier era in U.S. history: It was all about producing physicists and engineers to beat the Soviets in various ways. Other mathematics, including statistics and linear algebra, took a back seat, he said.

“The fact that calculus is the default college math pathway is an artifact of a time that’s now long gone,” he said. “Other branches of mathematics have risen in importance in the digital age, but our curriculum hasn’t been updated to reflect that change.”

Sarah Spence Adams, professor of mathematics at Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, said she understands why high school counselors place such power in the course: College admissions officials had come to rely upon it, perhaps unfairly. 

“Without that stamp of approval, it may be seen as harder and more labor intensive to determine if college applicants have pushed themselves academically,” said Spence Adams, who also teaches electrical and computer engineering. 

She does not believe a single course is necessary for college success. 

“I am rightfully worried that the disproportionate focus on calculus is unfairly excluding students, particularly students who come from backgrounds that have been historically excluded — and are still being excluded — from STEM majors and the well-paying careers that can follow,” she said. 

Access to the course varies across the country, influenced by race and wealth. Only 27% of New York state high schools with high student-of-color enrollment offered calculus compared to 81% of schools with low student-of-color enrollment, The Learning Policy Institute found. In New Jersey, the organization reported, the difference was 50 percentage points: It was 49 percentage points in Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Those who question calculus’s importance are not just considering students who wish to pursue the humanities: They say it might not be a necessity for those who want careers in STEM.

“A background in calculus is certainly helpful — and many colleges do expect it for students pursuing STEM degrees — but research shows that deeper mastery of prerequisites for calculus is more important than calculus itself,” Baker said. “High school students should not rush through the curriculum to take the course. And even most selective colleges can support students who didn’t have access to calculus in high school.”

Bill Tucker, senior advisor of the Pathways Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said the current sequence of mathematics courses from middle to high school means many students are being placed on a track starting in the fifth grade. 

Oftentimes, he said, neither they nor their parents know why, but the availability of algebra at the 7th- or 8th-grade level also can be a predictive factor. 

“Students are on the calculus track — or not,” Tucker said, adding all high schoolers should have the option of taking the course. 

The Gates Foundation has devoted $1.1 billion over the next four years — the start of a decade-long pledge — with the goal of improving the availability and quality of mathematics instruction to students across the country with a focus on Black, Latino and low-income children. 

The money, which arrives after years of pandemic strain and related learning loss — particularly in mathematics — will support the creation and use of high-quality instructional materials designed to increase student motivation, engagement and persistence. 

It will also be used to boost the number of teachers prepared to provide top-notch math instruction and to better align the math course pathways leading from high school to college. 

“Having calculus as the gatekeeper for competitive college admissions doesn’t make sense because of all of the inequities … and because it is taking one form of math and giving it a special place,” he said. “We want to have that equal opportunity … but we don’t want to make it so every student has to go to that door.”

Baker was among several who said the unofficial standard must change. 

“The focus on calculus in high school is a vicious cycle that needs to stop: It’s inequitable and will not lead to a stronger body of college applicants or a stronger society,” she said. “It will lead to more of the same and delay 21st-century advancement that relies on data and technology.”

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ.