Increasing Equity in Accelerated Math Pathways in Middle School

Key Insights

In U.S. public schools, African American students, Latino students, and students of low socioeconomic status are much less likely to enter accelerated math pathways than White, Asian, and high socioeconomic status students. This report explores strategies used by districts that altered their middle school accelerated math classes to improve equity within pathways and districts that eliminated their middle school accelerated math pathways entirely.

Four profiled districts chose to maintain accelerated pathways, but adjusted placement criteria, provided support strategies for students in the non-accelerated pathway—and in the case of one district—offered an alternative pathway for students outside of the accelerated pathway to reach advanced math courses in high school. Another profiled district chose to eliminate accelerated math pathways entirely in middle school and developed a new, single-pathway, rigorous curriculum to replace their accelerated and non-accelerated math pathways.