New accountability system supports advanced math learners

Virginia’s new accountability system incentivizes schools to provide valuable middle-school math pathways, resulting in more opportunities for Virginia students, especially the most underprivileged.

Virginia’s new accountability system incentivizes schools to provide valuable middle-school math pathways, resulting in more opportunities for Virginia students, especially the most underprivileged. It will also counter the non-evidence-based, anti-acceleration ideology of certain discredited thought leaders in K–12 math education who have had a corrosive effect on Virginia K–12 math education.

Why algebra in middle school is civil rights issue

Civil rights leader Bob Moses referred to the ability to accelerate in math (i.e., go above grade level) in order to take algebra in middle school as a civil right. It has been a longstanding goal of the U.S. Department of Education and civil rights organizations. Nationally, middle schools that are not offering algebra disproportionately serve lower income and underrepresented minority students.

As explained by Stanford University Math Professor, and Director of Undergraduate Math Studies, Brian Conrad:

A solid grounding in math from high school—which traditionally has included two years of algebra, a year of geometry, and then, for more advanced students, other coursework leading up to calculus [and beyond]—is a prerequisite for a four-year college degree in data science, computer science, economics, and other quantitative fields. Such a degree is, in turn, the price of entry for jobs not only in the sciences and Silicon Valley, but also in a number of seemingly distant fields....

The students who are most reliant upon public schools are the most harmed when districts embrace policies based on superficial appeals to equity or false promises about future job opportunities. When only the children of families with resources beyond the public schools are gaining preparation for the lucrative degrees and securing jobs of the future, public education is failing in a primary duty.

Accountability systems, advanced coursework and civil rights

The 2015 U.S. Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) governs state accountability systems and provides an advanced coursework factor as one of the few optional accountability factor examples. Notably, Virginia Democratic Representative Bobby Scott was one of four coauthors of ESSA, and every member of the Virginia Congressional delegation voted for ESSA except then-Republican Representative Dave Brat.

Accountability factors for advanced coursework are not meant to shame schools for failing to offer such classes, but to provide carrots to offer these crucial civil rights opportunities. And if a school is not able or willing to offer such classes, accountability systems elevate such a civil rights issue to a community-level discussion (instead of closed-door and/or coded language conversations by school administrators and school boards).

New middle school advanced coursework acceleration factor

As described by national accountability expert Chad Aldeman:

As part of its redesigned school performance and support framework, last month, Virginia adopted a new math acceleration indicator which will nudge schools to enroll more middle school students in advanced math courses....

It starts by looking at student performance. Which students are ready to succeed in advanced math courses? The ones who already do well on math tests.

This “ready students” measure uses a unique denominator to recognize students with the potential to succeed in advanced high school mathematics in grade eight. “Ready students” will include any middle school student in grades 6–8 who is already taking a high school-level math class, plus any grade eight student who scored advanced on the grade seven math test in the prior year. In this way, it only expects schools to accelerate students who have clearly demonstrated that they are ready for advanced math coursework....

To maximize their points on this new indicator, Virginia middle schools will have to make sure that students who are performing well—regardless of their race or income or gender—have access to advanced math opportunities.

Virginia’s 2021 proposal to eliminate algebra in middle school based on anti-acceleration ideology

As I previously covered, the Virginia Department of Education proposed the paradoxically-named Virginia Math Pathways Initiative (VMPI) in 2021 that would have, among other things, eliminated honors math courses and “drastically [reduced] the need for” or “eliminate[d]” math acceleration of Virginia public school students, thereby keeping them in the same math class until the eleventh grade (i.e., reducing pathways). VMPI’s detracking proposal was based on the ideas of the controversial Stanford Education Professor Jo Boaler and the “Algebra for None” program of San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

After major public pushback, Virginia “clarified” school districts would still be able to offer acceleration and honors classes (such clarification did not detail if that included Algebra I in seventh grade). Based on several factors, including evidence that certain Democratic voters switched to Glenn Youngkin to oppose VMPI (a prelude to the crushing 2024 algebra referendum vote in San Francisco), Youngkin killed VMPI upon taking office in early 2022.

A SFUSD parent group found in 2021 that SFUSD and Boaler significantly misrepresented SFUSD’s preliminary data on its “Algebra for None” program. In March 2023, a study by professors from Stanford University confirmed that SFUSD’s preliminary data had been misrepresented, and its program actually resulted in fewer students taking higher-level math in high school.

Incentivizing Virginia schools to offer algebra in seventh grade to counter anti-acceleration ideology

Algebra in seventh grade for kids who are ready is beneficial to not only provide them with the proper challenge, but also for broader access to opportunities. For instance, a Virginia child who takes seventh grade algebra is on a path to possibly earn fifteen credit hours in math at Virginia Tech or other public universities by high school graduation at nearly no financial cost. Still, only 59 percent of Virginia school districts had a seventh grader taking a state algebra or higher standardized exam, whereas 96 percent of Virginia middle schools had at least one eighth grader passing such an exam in the 2022–23 school year.

Anti-acceleration ideology advocates often cite Stanford Education Professor Boaler for why school districts should eliminate algebra in seventh grade. Boaler claims that many students who take algebra in seventh grade or earlier drop out of math by twelfth grade. But she in fact cites only her own opinion and the opinion of an ideologically aligned math professor. (Note: Boaler faced widespread public scrutiny for the use of countless false and misleading citations in the 2023 California Math Framework.)

Moreover, the largest organization of Virginia K–12 math leaders, the Virginia Council for Math Supervision (who vociferously supported VMPI), made anti-acceleration ideological claims similar to Boaler with similarly misleading citations in its letter opposing the pro-acceleration provisions in the 2023 Virginia Math Standards of Learning. For example, the paper cited actually supports appropriate acceleration while illogically claiming that the failure of accelerating every child into algebra by eighth grade (even if not ready) is the reason to not support seventh grade algebra for kids who are ready.

Conversely, civil rights leader Moses advocated against “put[ting] constraints or limits on what any group of children might learn” in math. And Stanford Math Professor Brian Conrad told me he’s seen the positive results firsthand when public schools do not limit such opportunities:

A student leader in the National Society of Black Engineers had access to Algebra 1 in seventh grade, and she attributed this early access to future opportunities such as more advanced internships during college and better preparation for her admission to top Ph.D. programs in engineering. That is real equity in public education for math.

In fact, Arlington Public Schools (APS) found that almost all APS kids who took algebra in seventh grade took math through twelfth grade. Furthermore, a secondary math supervisor for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) did a longitudinal study (presumably of FCPS) and found that kids who took algebra in seventh grade (a) took more high school math classes than those who took algebra in eighth grade, and (b) took math in the twelfth grade at a higher rate than those who took algebra in eighth grade.

Nonetheless, this FCPS supervisor, a leader of VMPI and citing Boaler, used a Boaler-esque double standard to disregard such positive results. For instance, those who took algebra in seventh grade were defined to have achieved at a lesser level in math for taking AP Calculus AB or AP Statistics versus those who took algebra in eighth grade for taking the same classes. And contrary to the results of her study, the same FCPS supervisor said in an FCPS video in March 2024 that kids accessing algebra before eighth grade often drop out of math by tenth or eleventh grade. Notably, the rate of FCPS seventh graders taking algebra for the 2023–24 school year was almost half of the rate of seventh graders in Loudoun County Public Schools.

And despite the lack of evidence, recently Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) quietly eliminated its pathway for algebra in seventh grade. Meanwhile, ACPS ironically claims the new accountability system should be delayed for additional testing (a three-year development and implementation period is supposedly “rushed”).

Democratic ACPS parent Willow Darsie stated:

The accountability framework is a lifeline for parents yearning for transparency and struggling with opaque and misguided decisions like ACPS’s abrupt elimination of its long-standing accelerated math pathway. It is not too late for ACPS to reintroduce and even expand algebra for seventh graders, and I am hopeful the middle school math incentive can help all Virginia districts see the merits of offering students varied math options while spotlighting the vital role public schools play in building onramps to challenging and rewarding careers in STEM.

Editor’s note: This was first published by Bacon's Rebellion.

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Note: The following elements of the newsletter were compiled by Brandon Wright, Advance’s editor.

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QUOTE OF NOTE

“We acknowledge that tracked classes have problems, but as far as we can tell, multilevel classes are worse. Classes may appear more diverse with all students mixed in one room, but no data have been presented to suggest these classes are actually helping Black, Latino, or low-income students. Instead, we have seen firsthand that the students who need the most support are those least served by multilevel.”

—Ryan Normandin, “In Newton, we tried an experiment in educational equity. It has failed.” Boston Globe, December 2, 2024

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RESEARCH REVIEW

“Global Trends in Excellence Gaps From 1995 to 2019,” by Jonathan A. Plucker, Leslie Rutkowski, and David Rutkowski, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, December 3, 2024

“Excellence gaps are differences in advanced education outcomes among student groups. This study replicates and extends an earlier study on the prevalence and magnitude of excellence gaps based on student sex and immigrant status using Grade 8 TIMSS data. Data were included for the 12 countries that have participated in each TIMSS administration from 1995 to 2019. The analyses provide evidence that overall rates of advanced performance in both math and science appear generally flat, with some intercountry variability. Regarding excellence gaps, sex gaps in science and immigrant gaps in mathematics trend to zero across countries with low intercountry variability. Sex gaps in mathematics are more mixed, both across the entire sample and among the 12 consistently participating countries. Immigrant gaps in science trend to zero but with more intercountry variability. Interventions that address policy, programming, and instruction can provide opportunities for students with advanced learning needs within school systems that often prioritize minimum competency.”

“Navigating With Experience: Twice-Exceptional Educators Guiding and Teaching Twice-Exceptional Students,” by Michael S. Matthews and Jennifer L. McKinney, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, December 3, 2024

“Scholars have devoted increased attention in recent years to students identified as twice-exceptional (2e), those who have a concurrent federally recognized disability while also identified as gifted. However, there has been little if any study of how the lived experiences of teachers who themselves are identified as 2e inform their practices with 2e learners in the classroom. In the current qualitative study, five educators who self-identified as twice-exceptional shared how their lived experience as a 2e learner informed their lesson planning, teaching practice, and their interactions with students and colleagues. Findings suggest these teachers drew upon their own experiences as a person with dual exceptionalities to design lessons focused on mastery learning and engage multiple learning modalities, to modify instructional practices for all learners in ways that addressed the needs of 2e learners without singling them out as different, and to create learning environments where all students thrive.”

“Investigating gifted students’ higher-order thinking skills in a differentiated learning environment: A case study,” by Soon Yen Foo, Gifted Education International, November 30, 2024

“...This study aims to investigate how higher-order thinking skills (HOTs) can be developed in gifted students through their participation in an interdisciplinary project within a differentiated learning environment… The study involved 21 students, aged 15 and 16, enrolled in a high school in Northern Malaysia offering the Advanced Smart Education Program. Data was collected from interdisciplinary project discussions in Google Docs and analysed qualitatively using the content analysis method. The depth of students’ thinking levels was evaluated using the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. The findings show that the interdisciplinary project, implemented in a differentiated learning environment, was less effective in promoting students’ HOTs, as most students tended to offer superficial responses. The study discussed the challenges of designing and implementing an interdisciplinary project in a differentiated learning environment. It also outlined the implications for school and classroom practices of such a project. Additionally, the study provided recommendations or solutions to address the problems identified based on the findings.”

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WRITING WORTH READING

“NYC high school application deadline pushed back after technology glitch” —New York Daily News, Cayla Bamberger, December 4, 2024

“Standardization of digital AP Exams causes objection and concern” —FHC Today [St. Charles, Missouri], Colin Nichols, December 4, 2024

“In Newton, we tried an experiment in educational equity. It has failed.” —Boston Globe, Ryan Normandin, December 2, 2024

“At Paterson’s [New Jersey] School 28 gifted program, once-scorned ‘know-it-all’ students thrive” —Paterson Press [New Jersey], Joe Malinconico, December 2, 2024

“Pennridge [Pennsylvania] students selected by NASA to help with zero-gravity research” —The Reporter, Media News Group, December 2, 2024

“Career education gets a boost with College Board pilot program” —High Ed Dive, Briana Mendez-Padilla, December 2, 2024

“Supporting America's smartest kids: A Quick Q&A with … political scientist Charles Murray” —Faster, Please!, James Pethokoukis, November 19, 2024

“Do I send my kid to a private high school? I toured one in S.F. to see if it was worth it” —San Francisco Chronicle, Gerald Hsu, November 13, 2024