SFUSD unveils three options for Algebra 1
For years, students in San Francisco’s public schools have not been able to take Algebra 1 until high school. But after years of parent pushback, the school district is expected to revamp its Algebra 1 policy next month.
District officials presented three possible paths forward on Wednesday. The first offers students two choices, one where rising eighth-graders choose between either eighth-grade math as it is currently taught or taking a course that includes both eighth-grade math and Algebra 1.
The second option offers Algebra 1 as an elective during or before the school day. It would mean the district needs to hire additional middle grade math teachers.
The third choice would be to offer Algebra 1 as a summer intensive course that students can opt into before ninth grade. That option would cost the district an estimated $200,000 to hire teachers and run 10 summer math sections.
Those choices were shared during a virtual town hall Wednesday to get feedback before the policy is finalized by the school board on Feb. 13.
Even as the district reaches tentative consensus that Algebra 1 should be put back in eighth grade, heated debate continues about how to do so in a way that does not deepen racial disparities in math performance but still challenges high-performing students without unnecessary stress. The changes come after the school board voted in 2014 to not offer Algebra 1 until high school to delay separating kids into different academic levels and boost enrollment in higher levels of math among underrepresented students.
But a Stanford University study last year showed that this effort may not have had its intended results. It found the elimination of middle school Algebra 1 had little to no impact on improving pass rates, proficiency or enrollment in higher math classes.
Many parents agree there needs to be a change.
Education activist Siva Raj, who has two kids in the district, has been frustrated that his older son had to take both Algebra 2 and pre-calculus in junior year to be ready for AP Calculus by 12th grade.
Raj, who was one of the driving forces behind the school board recall in 2022, hopes a change to the policy will ensure his younger child, who is in sixth grade, won’t have to go through the same ordeal.
“What we have right here in San Francisco seems really backward,” Raj told the Chronicle.
The district said last summer that the issue is a top priority.
Superintendent Matt Wayne said in October that the district wants to increase math acceleration options, but has to explore how to do so equitably.
“For us, that discussion has focused not on if we should offer algebra in eighth grade, but how to offer algebra in the eighth grade in a way that is supportive of our students, that reflects our values and that ensures that they’re going to be successful and students are getting what they need,” Wayne said at a town hall Wednesday night.
Parents advocated for years that the district reinstate Algebra 1 in eighth grade and ultimately sued the school district last March over the issue. The lawsuit is still pending though a hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Adding to the pressure on the district is a nonbinding March ballot measure encouraging the board to put Algebra 1 back in eighth grade.
In October, the district invited about 40 people to join the San Francisco Unified School District’s math policy focus group to make recommendations on how to equitably introduce Algebra 1 in eighth grade, with the goal of implementing the policy by the time the new school year starts this fall, according to the district.
What parents want
Rex Ridgeway, who sits on the math policy focus group and is a grandparent of an SFUSD student, called the time since 2014 “a decade of damage.”
Ridgeway, who wants Algebra 1 to be an option in eighth grade, said the racial inequities in math are real, and that it’s likely that if Algebra 1 is offered in eighth grade come fall, disproportionately more Asian and White students will take the subject.
“But whose fault is that?” said Ridgeway, who is Black. “The problem is this state has neglected Black and Brown kids in elementary. … And again, I’m one of a handful of Black and Brown parents whose kids can do it. You can’t deny us the opportunity, that just because we have Black and Brown kids, you’re just going to keep us out.”
The district ought to focus on helping underperforming students in elementary school get ready to take Algebra 1 in eighth grade, he said, not reducing options for higher performing students.
That’s why he is advocating for the two-pathway model. He also thinks the district should implement an objective metric for determining if students are ready, such as looking at state standardized math test scores.
The current system creates inequities, Ridgeway said, as wealthier parents can simply pay for Algebra 1 classes to be taken outside of school.
He was able to pay $860 for his granddaughter to take a summer Algebra 1 course before high school so that she could be on track to take calculus in 12th grade.
But he said not all families have that option.
Parents disagreed on which of the three models would be best for their children.
Evra Baldinger, who has an 11th grader and a child going into transitional kindergarten, said at the town hall that her family opposes separating students into different classes based on ability.
“Our child is harmed (as is every child, in our opinion) by systems in which Black and Brown children are positioned as less smart and capable,” she told the Chronicle. “That’s how tracking systems function, despite any decision-makers’ best intentions.”
She opposed the first option for that reason.
Jennifer Serwer, whose child is in sixth grade at Aptos Middle School, said she supports the first option.
Jonathan Fong, whose family does not have kids yet, said he prefers the two pathways model because it would mean children would have to make the fewest tradeoffs in giving up extracurriculars or spending more time in school.
“We’re concerned that our children might receive a less competitive education, affecting both college admissions and their early development in math,” he said. He added, “That being said, I really want to stay in San Francisco because I love this city and people.”
Some parents argue that reinstating Algebra 1 in eighth grade is a way to retain families as enrollment in San Francisco public schools has declined steadily since at least 2000.
Autumn Looijen, Raj’s partner, who leads the advocacy on reinstating Algebra 1 in eighth grade for the grassroots group SF Guardians, said she wants to see a different model entirely from the three presented by the district.
In her ideal situation, sixth through eighthgrade math would be compressed into sixth and seventh grade only, and every student who is ready for Algebra 1 would, by default, be enrolled in the subject in eighth grade.
She said this could successfully increase the number of Black and Brown kids in advanced math, pointing to the Dallas school system as a model.
Standards unmet
Fewer kids are meeting math standards as they rise from third grade to eighth grade, SFUSD superintendent Wayne shared in a special math progress monitoring workshop on Tuesday.
While 55% of third graders meet math standards, only 39% of eighth graders do so.
This shows that the district needs to work on foundational skills in mathematics and think about how kids progress to higher-level mathematics, Wayne said.
The goal is for 65% of students to meet standards by October 2027.
The New Teacher Project conducted an audit of San Francisco public schools’ math curriculum in first, fifth, and seventh grades last fall and found many deficiencies in curriculum and equity.
The nonprofit’s audit of K-8 classrooms in 15 schools also found that only 28% of the lessons offered students strong instruction and only 39% of students were deeply engaged in the lessons.
Furthermore, the audit found disparities between classrooms with higher proportions of English language learners and students of color than those with lower proportions of those groups.