Increasing Equity in Accelerated Math Pathways in Middle School

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.

Gain Support for District Equity Initiatives

Allow students multiple chances to accelerate

Provide multiple opportunities for students to enter these pathways. Multiple entry opportunities allow students who may not meet placement criteria in sixth grade to qualify later to enter the accelerated pathway.

Summer bridge courses that review content not covered in unaccelerated pathways help students who enter later succeed in accelerated courses. Administrators at District A, District C, and District D all increased the number of entry points to accelerated math pathways to increase equity in student access.

Profiled districts provide at least two opportunities for students to enter accelerated pathways in middle school.

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Employ various accelerated pathway entry criteria

Use multiple placement criteria and consider adjusting required performance thresholds. Employing multiple assessments provides students who might not enter the accelerated pathway based on one assessment with varied opportunities to demonstrate their skill in math.

Placement criteria can include student grades, internal readiness assessments, and third-party diagnostic exams. In addition to requiring multiple assessments, administrators at District A also adjusted the assessment score thresholds for pathway entry. Contacts report this action increased the representation of Latinx students in accelerated pathways.

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Develop a curriculum to challenge every student

Provide in-class challenges and opportunities to accelerate in high school to support high achieving students in math. Teachers in District E employ task-based learning in all math courses (i.e., teaching math concepts via student problem solving instead of asking students to watch teachers solve problems). During learning tasks, teachers can challenge high-achieving students through learning extensions.

Also, while administrators at District E eliminated the accelerated math pathway in middle schools, the district provides opportunities for high-achieving students to accelerate in high school. In some high schools, high-achieving students may take two math courses simultaneously. Also, high-achieving students can take a single compressed course (two years of math in one year) in 11th grade to accelerate.

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Communicate changes via parent nights

Communicate pathway and curriculum changes to parents through parent nights with education experts. Parent nights explain the new pathway and curriculum to parents, show parents what their student will learn under the new curriculum through sample lessons and math tasks, and bring in experts to explain why administrators changed the math pathway structure and curriculum.

Administrators at District E organized 20 parent nights during the first year of the new math pathways, and contacts report parents left parent nights with a better understanding on why administrators eliminated the middle school accelerated math pathway.

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