Data Shows Black Students in Public Fool Systems are Less Likely to be Offered Early Algebra, which Limits the Odds they will get Advanced Courses and Higher-Paying Jobs

From [HERE] Schools are less likely to offer Latino and Black students early algebra classes, effectively shutting these students off from advanced courses and higher-paying jobs, according to research released Tuesday.

Algebra has traditionally been offered to teens starting in ninth grade, but a growing body of research shows that students who take the class in eighth grade are more likely to succeed in high school math, pursue STEM majors in college and earn more money as adults.

Nationwide, 3 in 5 schools offer students the option to take early algebra, according to research from NWEA, a national testing group. Schools in rural areas, high-poverty schools and campuses with a large Black or Latino student body were less likely to offer the class.

“Algebra in eighth grade is not just another math class,” said Daniel Long, one of the report’s researchers. “This is closing off access to advanced math pathways for many students.”

Even if a school does offer algebra to eighth-graders, access is often determined by a child’s race or ethnicity, Long added. More than half of Asian eighth-graders took the course when their school offered it, compared with 22 percent of Latino students and 17 percent of Black students, data shows.

Those gaps, Long said, persisted even among top-achieving students. Among high-performing pupils, about 60 percent of Black students are placed into algebra in eighth grade, compared with 84 percent of Asian students and 68 percent of White and Latino students.

“Placement, not ability, seems to be the driver,” Long said. Researchers examined 162,000 children in 22 states.

Most schools use test scores, teacher recommendations and parent requests to determine who gets to take eighth-grade algebra. But those methods can be biased, said Allison Socol, vice president of P-12 policy, practice and research at EdTrust, a national education nonprofit that has also found disparities in who gets to take challenging classes.

“Because of implicit biases, racial biases, and mindsets about who is and who isn’t a math person, Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds — even when they demonstrate that they are ready and they are very clear that they are eager for those courses — are still shut out,” Socol said. “Across the U.S., in every state, students of color and students from low-income backgrounds are often shut out of rigorous courses.”

Teachers tend to underestimate children of color, even when they perform similarly to White students, a New York University researcher found. Wealthier parents tend to advocate more than less affluent families, according to research from Rand. [MORE]