The made headlines in 2014 when it eliminated the curriculum for eighth graders in an effort to bolster struggling kids鈥� performance by allowing them more time on foundational classes 鈥� and to address inequities in which students got fast-tracked for advanced high school math.

Board members did not respond to emails seeking comment, but the superintendent, Maria Su, in a statement on the district鈥檚 website said she welcomes the change. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to offer Algebra I to our eighth grade students as part of our goal to help more students succeed in math, working to increase the number of students meeting grade-level standards from 42% in 2022 to 65% by 2027,鈥� she said. 

Critics say eliminating 8th-grade algebra robbed capable students of that early, first step in a math sequence that allowed them to take calculus their senior year 鈥� a prerequisite for some top colleges and, arguably, for careers in lucrative STEM fields. 

A backed up these claims, showing participation in Advanced Placement math initially fell 15% while 鈥渓arge ethnoracial gaps in advanced math course-taking remained.鈥� 

Residents in 2024 supported a ballot initiative to bring back the course and it became available to some students through a pilot program: The district served 3,827 8th graders in 2024-25 and 1,030 of them took Algebra I that school year, according to state data cited by researchers.

Rex Ridgeway, along with several others, to restore the course in 2023. He told 社区黑料 this week the change was overdue. He said it will prevent students like his granddaughter, Joselyn Marroquin, who was deprived of the course in her middle school years, from having to take it elsewhere. 

鈥淒uring this period of time, students, like my granddaughter, had to either take a summer algebra accredited course or double up in the 9th grade and take both Algebra I and geometry in order to be on track to take calculus in the 12th grade,鈥� he said. 

A retired stockbroker, Ridgeway tutored his granddaughter from first to ninth grade, filling in what he considered deficiencies in the district鈥檚 math, English and science instruction. Marroquin is now a freshman at San Jose State University, her grandfather said, majoring in business administration, corporate accounting and finance 鈥� and minoring in economics.

The Board of Education narrowly approved the algebra measure Wednesday night in a 4-3 vote. According to the school district, Algebra I will be offered in eighth grade as an expanded math course at 19 of its middle and K-8 schools. 

Students who meet the academic criteria will be automatically enrolled in both Math 8 and Algebra I 鈥� but can opt out of Algebra I if they choose. 

Those who don鈥檛 test into the course can still enroll in it as an elective and students鈥� whose test scores reflect strong ability in the subject can take only Algebra I.

Thomas S. Dee, a professor at Stanford鈥檚 Graduate School of Education and an author of the earlier , said he celebrates the board鈥檚 move: He and co-author Elizabeth Huffaker, as part of a second study currently in the works, found that 8th graders who took Algebra I along with Common Core Math 8 as part of the pilot program experienced substantial learning gains. 

Dee said, too, he supports the automatic enrollment of already proficient students, saying the tactic should 鈥渆nsure that those gains will be broadly realized among all the students ready to take algebra 鈥� regardless of their other circumstances and background.鈥�

But Dee鈥檚 enthusiasm is tempered: He said his research reveals the need for the district to improve math curriculum for students prior to 8th grade so they are better prepared for algebra. 

鈥淏roadening algebra access without addressing the uneven patterns in algebra readiness will increase achievement gaps,鈥� he said. 

And, allowing parents of students taking Algebra I to opt out of Common Core Math 8 will deprive them of a chance to advance, he said.

鈥淥ur results indicate that families that make this choice will leave truly substantial learning gains on the table and increase their child’s risk of having to retake algebra in 9th grade,鈥� Dee said. 鈥淚 viewed the board’s insistence on this issue partly as a reflection of a legacy of distrust that was created through the community’s experience with earlier generations of district leadership.鈥�

Huffaker, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Florida, said automatic enrollment 鈥渘udges students who are likely to succeed in algebra into the course鈥� and notes that the district鈥檚 plan will also increase math instructional time at most campuses. 

But she, too, has concerns about families opting out of one of the two simultaneous courses. 

鈥淲e completely understand why a family might value an additional elective that allows their child to take art, for instance,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut the learning gains from the expanded math option are really worth taking seriously, especially because they extend even to the most high-achieving students. There wasn’t really a cap on who benefited.鈥�

Melodie Baker, executive director at ImpactSTATs Inc., and a Women in AI Fellow at , said the real question isn’t when students take algebra, but whether the pathway makes sense at all. 

鈥淎 sequence designed as a pipeline to calculus was built for a different era,鈥� she said. 鈥淢eanwhile, students need data fluency, computational thinking and applied math for an AI-driven economy.鈥�

Automatic enrollment policies are valuable, she added. 

鈥淏ut expanding access to an outdated curriculum only gets us partway there,鈥� she said. 鈥淭rue progress means rethinking what we teach, not just who gets access. Math should be a foundation for the future, not a relic that sorts students into winners and losers.鈥�

The Center on Reinventing Public Education鈥檚 latest notes the number of teacher preparation program graduates ready to teach math fell by 36% from 2012 to 2020, dovetailing with a decline in student achievement. While the study released today did not prove causality, the link, researchers say, seems clear.聽

鈥淗igh-quality teachers matter,鈥� CRPE director Robin Lake said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the most powerful in-school factor in kids鈥� learning experience and it鈥檚 something people are not talking about enough.鈥� 

At the same time, a topic that has been widely discussed 鈥� the debate over whether explicit direct instruction trumps a more student-centered learning approach 鈥� has left some educators unsure of how to teach the subject, researchers found.

鈥淭he math wars are as old as education itself,鈥� said CRPE senior fellow Alexander Kurz. 鈥淭hat debate is alive and well through the science of math. As an educator, you are caught in the crossfire.鈥� 

The result: Nearly 4 in 10 eighth graders failed to achieve even the most basic level of math proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, such as calculating the area of a circle or multiplying fractions, the study notes. The most recent NAEP scores, released just last week, showed the nation鈥檚 12th graders doing worse in math than any senior class of the past generation.

While those scores were the first to come out for seniors since COVID, the study鈥檚 authors say the problem long predates the pandemic. They note that math performance in U.S. public schools has been declining for more than a decade and achievement gaps are at historic highs.

Girls, low-income kids, Black and Hispanic students, children with disabilities and multilingual learners are struggling most, CRPE reports. Citing NAEP data, the report notes that since 1990, the gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring students has grown 18% wider among eighth graders and more than 8.5% wider among fourth graders.

In addition to the teacher shortage and instructional quagmire, CRPE cites a number of other factors it believes contribute to abysmal student performance pre- and post- pandemic, including that many states’ test scores are inflated, obscuring results, 鈥渆specially for different student groups.鈥�

The report, the fourth of its kind, found that in , for example, students鈥� average math grade point average jumped 0.34 points from 2019 to 2021, triple the increase of the prior eight years. 

In , the report notes, math proficiency dropped 11 points on state exams while A and B grades on local courses declined by only 3 points. 

鈥淎 national study from 2021 to 2023 found that 57% of grades didn鈥檛 align with student knowledge as measured by tests, and two-thirds of those misaligned grades were inflated, most often for underserved groups,鈥� the CRPE report reads. 鈥淎CT data show rising GPAs, especially in math, despite falling test scores. By 2021, even students scoring in the 25th percentile were graduating with B averages or better.鈥�

The study found, too, schools are overly rigid, tracking students and hindering their success in the subject.

鈥淢iddle school math-tracking acts as math predestination, putting some students on a track to take Algebra I in eighth grade or earlier,鈥� the report reads. 鈥淟ess-advantaged students are less likely to be placed in advanced math courses, even when they demonstrate readiness.鈥�

Joel Rose, co-founder and chief executive officer of New Classrooms, a nonprofit that focuses on student-centered learning, called the report spot on, adding schools don鈥檛 account for children learning at different speeds. 

鈥淭here is really only one track, the grade-level track,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you stay on it and never fall behind, you do fine. The problem is most kids fall behind for one reason or another and there are not any viable paths for them to catch back up.鈥�

It鈥檚 because of this, he said, that math education is turning into 鈥渙ur nation’s social sorting machine.鈥� Students who don鈥檛 catch on to the subject will find a whole series of career pathways closed off to them, he said. 

But all of these problems are solvable, CRPE contends, noting that states like and school districts like New Jersey鈥檚 and , have made replicable gains. 

Alabama is the only state where fourth graders scored higher in the subject than they did in 2019, prior to the pandemic. 

Karen Anderson, director of the state education department鈥檚 Office of Mathematics Improvement, said Alabama has worked hard to align classroom lessons with state standards and to use evidence-based practices and high-quality instructional materials to help all students 鈥� no matter their zip code or performance level.

鈥淲e want to make sure we are using instructional strategies that actually provide results,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淲e also want to make sure we know what students know 鈥� and what they don鈥檛 know. And, when we see students who need help, we provide assistance immediately.鈥�

CRPE recommends schools stop poo-pooing direct instruction 鈥� in which teachers demonstrate or explain procedures and concepts. Likewise, it concluded teachers need clear guidance on how to balance conceptual understanding with procedural fluency 鈥� in addition to real-time data to identify gaps and better structure their lessons.

Melodie Baker, founder and executive director of , which aims to use research to empower communities of color, has worked in mathematics for decades. She said robust teacher preparation at the elementary school level is critical for student success.

鈥淭he lack of emphasis on math in elementary is a big issue,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or example, teacher prep programs spend far more time on early literacy than math.鈥�

But they are of equal importance, Baker said.  

CRPE concluded states should consider better pay, team-teaching models and math specialists as a means to address the math teacher shortage. 

In terms of improving the student experience, it advises schools to adopt 鈥渇lexible pathways with multiple on-ramps, automatic acceleration, and no lower-track dead ends.鈥�

Based on their conversations with students, CRPE concluded that schools need to better serve children who require more time to understand math concepts.

鈥淥ne thing I don’t like is when I ask a teacher a question because I don’t understand it, and then they make me feel like I’m a bother and I really shouldn’t ask more questions,鈥� an 11th grader from Connecticut told CRPE researchers in 2022. 鈥淎nd that prevents me from learning. And I hated that because I actually want to know.鈥� 

The student鈥檚 claims correspond with what CRPE found: Schools are regularly missing opportunities to address academic problems head-on. 

And while the federal Every Student Succeeds Act explicitly requires states to develop a concise and easily understandable online report card, most don鈥檛 meet the standard. CRPE found just 18 break down math achievement and growth data by student subgroups 鈥渋n a way that we thought was clear and understandable.鈥�

Only Illinois, the report notes, earned the highest rating in this category by providing comprehensive math performance and opportunity data that CRPE thought most parents would be able to use and understand.

More than 70% of Black female respondents in general math classes had 鈥渁 negative math identity鈥� compared to 14% of Black boys. And 86% of Black girls in general math did not see the connection between their desired careers and mastery of advanced mathematics 鈥� even when they wished to enter STEM fields. That is compared to 67% of Black boys. 

鈥淲hat students believe about math 鈥� and their ability to learn math, to be good at math 鈥� is really important, both in the moment and in the long term,鈥� said Ashli-Ann Douglas, a research associate at , a San-Francisco based national nonprofit. 鈥淎nd those beliefs are related to the quality of math instruction that they receive.鈥� 

Douglas was the lead researcher on the report when she was a graduate student at Vanderbilt University. The 251 students in her study 鈥� 83% were in the 11th grade and 17% had been retained at some point and were in 10th grade 鈥� participated in fall 2019. One child had skipped a grade and was a high school senior. 

More than 80% of respondents were Black: 78% lived in a home with an annual household income of less than $50,000 while more than a quarter lived in a home with a household income of less than $20,000.

Pamela Seda, president of the , which works to empower Black children by boosting their access and success in mathematics, said there are two stereotypes at work here: that Black people are not gifted in mathematics and that girls in general struggle with the subject. 

鈥淲hen you put those stereotypes together it compounds the negative effects,鈥� she said.

Shelly M. Jones, a mathematics education professor at Central Connecticut State University and member of the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics board of directors, said math curriculum is often not culturally relevant. 

Jones, in teaching graduate students, highlights the work of trailblazer , an expert in ethnomathematics, the study of how math is used in different cultures. 

One of s papers examined the math behind African-American hairstyles. It was, Jones said, a transformative lesson: One of her Black female students told her 骋颈濒尘别谤鈥檚 work made her feel recognized in the topic for the first time.

鈥淏lack girls don’t see themselves in mathematics,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭he things that they like, they don鈥檛 see in math.鈥�

Douglas, the researcher, found that 99% of respondents considered basic math 鈥� number and operations skills 鈥� to be useful while only 58% said the same of higher level math, including algebra and statistics. The study, published earlier this month in the American Educational Research Journal, helps explain why the nation is missing out on the talents of many underserved students, she said.

鈥淭his is one of the ways we lose out on the genius of young people,鈥� Douglas said. 鈥淢ath is a gatekeeper in a lot of ways: When students do not have the math skills they need to access different careers, that is a barrier. And when they don鈥檛 have the beliefs about the utility of math, the value of math, they are less likely to persist and advocate for improved quality of instruction.鈥�

Douglas鈥檚 paper also revealed that 29% of Black boys said their teachers鈥� recognition or acknowledgment of their performance in class was an indicator of their math proficiency. 

None of the Black girls said they received such positive feedback. 

Black students also did not believe their teachers were adequately prepared to teach the subject, regardless of their credentials, the study notes. And Black girls were more likely to cite their own poor understanding of math as a sign that they were not good at the subject. 

Students鈥� personal testimony was powerfully revealing, researchers said. 

鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 know how to teach in a way that people understand,鈥� said one student in a focus group. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 know how to teach right.鈥� 

The result was devastating.

鈥淚鈥檓 failing now,鈥� the student said. 鈥淚 never failed last year. I鈥檓 failing this year.鈥�

Researchers noted that several students described that same teacher as 鈥渘ice,鈥� indicating the issue was not about personality, but effectiveness. 

Douglas said her findings emphasize the need for more inclusive and equitable math teaching methods to help marginalized students 鈥� particularly Black girls. 

Even with the required credentials to work in the field, teachers need ongoing coaching to help them work with students and relay the importance of the subject in their lives, she said. 

She and others from her research team spent a few hours leading a districtwide training shortly after the study was conducted, providing hands-on lessons for educators in the summer of 2021. In addition, 10 educators, including teachers and their advisors, subsequently completed a semester-long coaching program led by Douglas and her team. 

Douglas鈥檚 report is part of a larger longitudinal study of math knowledge development that started when the students were in preschool: The children were recruited in 2006 from 57 pre-kindergarten classes at 20 public schools and four Head Start sites and were followed through high school. 

Kelley L. Durkin, research assistant professor in the department of teaching and learning at Vanderbilt, and Bethany Rittle-Johnson, a professor of psychology and human development at the university, oversaw the last phase of the project, which wrapped up in 2022.

Rittle-Johnson said she was surprised when some students said their math teachers refused to help them or shamed them for not paying attention. 

鈥淎ll the students in our focus groups valued their education, but they did not all receive the quality of math instruction and support that every student deserves,鈥� she said. 鈥淚nequitable access to resources for both students and teachers have serious consequences for students鈥� learning opportunities, and it is not fair nor just.鈥�

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Overdeck Foundation provide financial support to WestEd and 社区黑料.

Teachers say Struggly, available for at-home or classroom use, is a game changer for K-8 students discouraged by math or having a hard time with traditional tasks because of language barriers or learning disabilities. In game-like tasks aligned with common core standards, students manipulate shapes, animals, and algebraic formulas to build foundational understanding. 

The platform鈥檚 potential reach is hard to overstate as educators urgently search for ways to address the : On average, only one in four kids are proficient in 8th grade math; the number hovering between 9-14% for Black, Native and Latino children.

In approximately 340 schools across 28 states and 21 countries, Struggly has become the go-to supplemental learning platform for some educators whose students had difficulty socializing or collaborating after missing in-person learning in early childhood during the pandemic. School sites range from gifted programs and large to smaller private schools serving students with special needs and juvenile detention centers. 

, 鈥減ut the student in the driver’s seat, don’t make them reliant on any sort of literacy, but also don’t make them rely on an adult to tell them what to do,鈥� said Tanya LaMar, CEO and cofounder, adding its unusual design was intended to 鈥渁llow all students to have access to math regardless of language, socioeconomic status or any kind of diversity markers.鈥� 

Many educators have found the platform via conferences across the U.S. At SXSW EDU, the platform won this year鈥檚 Community Choice Award for the , celebrating digital innovations helping to bridge learning gaps. 

Levels designed to become more challenging as students go on can be solved multiple ways, encouraging learners to talk to each other about their strategies and challenge common misconceptions that math is more about memorization than reason or logic. The video game-like design, with no time restrictions, also keeps students calm and engaged longer, teachers say. 

After using Struggly for one month 鈥� 20 minutes, three times a week 鈥� 63% improved scores on state tests and 68% felt more engaged in their math classes, according to independent research from WestEd. Teachers have also noticed fewer outbursts and negative self talk, more confidence and less .

One district survey revealed students were more likely to agree with statements like, 鈥渋f I work really hard, I can become very good at math鈥� and to disagree with 鈥減eople can’t change how good they are at math.鈥�

Struggly was originally imagined by designer Alina Schlaier, whose daughter came home from first grade one day saying, 鈥淚 hate math.鈥� Schlaier found Stanford math expert Jo Boaler鈥檚 resources online, but knowing that it wasn’t sustainable for her to prep each lesson for her daughter, the designer reached out to Boaler with the idea of forming a company that would blend their skills. 

Boaler鈥檚 former PhD student Tanya LaMar joined the effort, bringing an educator鈥檚 lens to its creation, once a Los Angeles Unified teacher. There, she had faced compounding challenges: teaching math while teaching kids to see math beyond the narrow way they鈥檇 been taught it must look 鈥� facts, procedures to be memorized.

鈥淢eanwhile, neuroscience research tells us that there’s no such thing as math brain 鈥� I felt like I was up against a lot trying to convince my students they could be math people, when struggling in math is seen as a sign that something’s wrong,鈥� LaMar said. 鈥淪o Struggly is about supporting students to embrace struggle as an integral part of the learning process.鈥�

Such a shift has been transformational for educators like Gregg Bonti, a math group teacher at Mary McDowell, a quaker school in Brooklyn serving students with language-based learning disabilities.

Typically, his 4th and 5th graders arrive with some 鈥渞esistance to learning and school.鈥� At the start of the year, as soon as something felt challenging, many would shut down or push back on tasks, or start to talk to themselves disparagingly. Many also struggle with impulse control, but the games鈥� design has helped them 鈥渟low down鈥� and 鈥渟trategize.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 really rare and challenging for us to find websites that meet students where they鈥檙e at with their language skills,鈥� Bonti said. Removing language from the tasks and letting them dive in has 鈥渘eutralized鈥� the playing field for his students, who come to class with a range of reading abilities. 

Since introducing Struggly in December, he鈥檚 finding students are more eager to persevere in math tasks and ask each other questions like 鈥渨hat if we tried this?鈥� It鈥檚 also helped their teachers distinguish between their conceptual misunderstandings of math versus difficulties with language. 

Across the country in California鈥檚 central valley, one rural educator has been finding similar impacts. 

At Semitropic, a small school of predominantly Latino, multilingual students living in poverty, 3rd grade teacher Jennifer Fields was looking for platforms that would encourage and engage 鈥� they felt burnt out by Prodigy, but she needed something standards based. 

The first day she introduced it, one student went home and played on their own for three hours. It鈥檚 become so desired she can use it as a motivation for them to finish their other in-class work. 

Conceptually, it鈥檚 helped them grasp onto geometry concepts like manipulation and transformation easier than in traditional workbooks. They鈥檙e learning how to better communicate math concepts verbally, something she worried about seeing the difference in this group of children who had the equivalent of Zoom kindergarten. 

鈥淭hat in itself has been my biggest success for the year is the fact that now they will work in cooperative groups with each other 鈥� they’re being more verbal and realizing it’s OK to talk about, 鈥榦h man, I didn’t get it.鈥� They go find that person and they immediately go to try to help them out instead of just having them just sit there, freak out, suffer and get mad,鈥� she said.  

And because the platform is so visually and sonically engaging, teachers are finding it鈥檚 helping students learn independence and staying on-task. That has enabled Shelly Anderson, a 4th grade teacher in Salt Lake City, to be able to conduct small groups with students who need more specialized support; the others are able to work on Struggly independently, helping each other, as she provides more individualized attention. 

One student, who had a tendency to swear and give up, sometimes leaving the classroom, is now self-regulating his anger and frustration better. He no longer says he 鈥渃an鈥檛 do this鈥� or that 鈥淚鈥檓 dumb at math,鈥� even during usual instruction.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just refreshing to have something for the kids to do where they can untether from the teacher more,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淭hey can start to get some of their own confidence and build their identity as math learners rather than just thinking, 鈥榳ell, either I have a math brain or I don’t.鈥� Everybody has the ability to seek out patterns, look at problems and look at logic.鈥�

Disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation sponsored SXSW EDU’s Launch Startup competition and provides support to 社区黑料. 

Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor David C. Banks unveiled the initiative, 鈥�,鈥� earlier this week, saying they hoped to build off the success of 鈥淣YC Reads.鈥� 

Starting in the fall, 93 middle schools and 420 high schools will use the , open-source Illustrative Mathematics curriculum, which is . Schools in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle also use the curriculum.

Like many school systems across the country, New York City, the nation鈥檚 largest, has long struggled with the subject. in 2023, but the figure is stubbornly low and is even worse for some student groups: of the city鈥檚 Black and Latino children are not performing at grade level in the subject. 

“Schools all over the city, even on math, were just kind of doing their own thing 鈥� people just creating their own curriculum,鈥� Banks said during a televised press conference. 鈥淭hat’s no way to run a system.” 

I鈥檓 proud to be following the groundbreaking rollout of 鈥楴YC Reads鈥� with 鈥楴YC Solves,鈥� reimagining math education and ensuring students and educators have access to high-quality instructional materials and support.

鈥� Chancellor David C. Banks (@DOEChancellor)

The chancellor did not blame teachers, administrators or students for their struggle, saying they just needed a better framework. Marielys Divanne, executive director of Educators for Excellence-New York, said her group has been pushing for change for years: More than 1,000 of her 16,000 members signed a petition urging the city to act on the issue.

鈥淥ur educators feel that NYC Solves is a much-needed step forward in making progress in addressing our crisis in math instruction,鈥� Divanne said, adding that the previous, school-by-school approach left 鈥渢housands of students with low quality instructional materials and uneven support for educators.鈥� 

In addition to the mathematics initiative, Adams also announced the creation of the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning, which aims to support multilingual learners and students with disabilities. The division will have a $750 million budget 鈥� and roughly 1,300 staff members.

Maria Klawe, president of Math for America, a non-profit organization founded 20 years ago to keep outstanding math teachers in the classroom, lauded the city鈥檚 choice of Illustrative Mathematics, calling it a very strong curriculum. She had already reviewed some of the materials and praised its approach in taking math from the theoretical to the practical.

鈥淭he whole idea is trying to help students understand that a mathematical concept, even if it鈥檚 abstract in nature, is actually something that you encounter in your daily life,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have a sense that what you鈥檙e learning is 鈥� something that you can actually use.鈥�

William McCallum, Illustrative Mathematics鈥檚 CEO and co-founder, was a lead writer of the Common Core State Standards in math. He said, through a spokesperson, that IM鈥檚 work 鈥渉as evolved far beyond its original focus on illustrating the standards.鈥�

The Common Core had a bumpy roll-out, was maligned by some parents and . The math portion became a , though it has won favor in academic circles.

McCallum strongly recommends teacher training for those who seek to implement Illustrative Mathematics. 

鈥淭he curriculum supports a problem-based instructional model that is a shift for many teachers, and they have the most success when they have the support they need to make that shift,鈥� he said. 鈥淚M and its partners offer professional learning for those districts that want it.鈥�

Klawe also credited Department of Education officials for making the curriculum the standard for schools. She said it allows teachers to work together across the city to share best practices. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 also very helpful for students who move from one school to another,鈥� she added. 

New York City officials say each curriculum has been reviewed and recommended by , a nationally recognized nonprofit organization. The curriculum also has undergone a formal review by a committee of New York City Public school educators including those with expertise in mathematics, special education and multilingual learners 鈥� in addition to district-based mathematics specialists. 

Minus charter schools, there were close to in the NYC school system as of fall 2023. Nearly 73% of students were economically disadvantaged. 

Like Klawe, , executive director of The Education Trust鈥揘ew York, favors the uniform curriculum, though she notes it might not be the preference for all. 

鈥淒ifferent schools have different feelings about that,鈥� she noted. She added that the approach does, however, relieve teachers from the arduous task of having to develop their own curriculum, allowing them to instead focus on implementation.

But teacher Meredith Klein, who worked for more than a decade at before switching to West Brooklyn Community High School, which serves under-credited students, said the new curriculum might not satisfy all kids鈥� needs. 

鈥淚’ve always worked with a really specialized population of students and the curriculum is usually not designed with them in mind,鈥� she said.

Klein has spent the past year implementing Illustrative Mathematics as part of the pilot program and said she struggled to adapt the materials for her students. While the city initially pushed for strict adherence to a pre-set learning schedule, the coach who visited with her to help with the rollout soon recognized the need for adaptation. 

鈥淭he curriculum is written like a story and you need to teach the full curriculum without any alterations for a full year,鈥� she said, but that鈥檚 not the educational experience of so many of the students she鈥檚 served. 鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 any guidance about how to break it up 鈥� how to retrofit it to our existing system. Not all students are the same.鈥� 

Outcomes are starkly different for those who have that opportunity. High-achieving Black, Latino and lower-income students who do gain access to advanced math classes in high school have better academic outcomes across multiple measures: stronger high school graduation rates, higher GPAs and greater college admission and persistence rates. They were also more likely to attend a highly selective college and earn more STEM credits there, a pathway to landing lucrative jobs in those fields.

Just Equations and The Education Trust released their report Thursday. Together, they analyzed eight years of data following 23,000 ninth graders from 900 private and public schools throughout the country, information collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. The study group was tracked through high school and college starting in 2009. 

Both Ed Trust and Just Equations advocate for educational equality with a focus on children who have been traditionally underserved. Earlier research cited in the report shows Black, Latino and impoverished students, regardless of their capabilities, are less likely to be assigned AP math courses, enroll in STEM majors or attend top-tier colleges than their wealthier, white or Asian peers.

鈥淭his study challenges the notion that access to advanced math courses is purely the byproduct of talent and academic achievement,鈥� said Melodie Baker, national policy director at Just Equations. 鈥淥ur analysis confirmed that all too often, factors such as race, wealth and privilege 鈥� rather than students’ aptitude and proficiency 鈥� can be hidden prerequisites for access to courses that lead to STEM and college opportunity.鈥�

While 46% of high-achieving Asian students, 19% of white students, and 29% of students from high socio-economic backgrounds took college-level AP/International Baccalaureate calculus by the end of high school, just 10% of Black, 15% of Latino and 11% of lower-income high-achievers did the same. 

Race and income disparities in high school graduation rates appear to level off for this high-achieving, underrepresented group when they take advanced math courses: 99% of Asian and white students, 98% of Black students, and 96% of Latino and lower-income students graduated in four years. Four-year high school graduation rates declined among all high-achievers who did not take advanced math classes and gaps opened up along racial and socioeconomic lines, although the drop in graduation rates was starkest for Asian students and least-felt by affluent students.

鈥淲e know that it is so important for students to feel engaged and that their learning experiences are relevant,鈥� said Ivy Smith Morgan, EdTrust鈥檚 director for P12 research and data analytics. 鈥淲hat this conjures for me is the anecdotes about students who are so smart but stop paying attention in class because they are not challenged. They are not getting the opportunities that align with their ability.鈥�

Smith Morgan noted U.S. students’ performance in mathematics as compared to their peers internationally has been highly scrutinized for years, with last week’s release of the latest PISA scores showing unprecedented 13-point declines for American students and an average 15-point loss globally. The U.S., still reeling from COVID learning loss, along with other countries, now ranks 26th in its math scores. Smith Morgan said a failure to mine students’ talents will have dire economic implications. 

鈥淲hat we are talking about is losing a future workforce with the skills, training and technical knowledge we need to fill all of the STEM jobs that will exist 鈥� not the ones we have right now, but the ones we have not even thought of yet,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are shooting ourselves in the foot.鈥� 

The study notes the disparity in opportunity starts well before students enter high school: Just 24% of Black students, 34% of Latino students, and 25% of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds took Algebra I or higher in eighth grade, compared with 39% of white children, 64% of their Asian peers and 57% of students from higher income backgrounds. 

鈥淎nyone who is paying attention knows that our mathematics education systems are deeply inequitable,鈥� said David Kung, director of strategic partnerships at The Charles A. Dana Center in Austin. 鈥淏lack, brown and poor students get shafted when it comes to access, teaching and advising.鈥�

The Dana Center, which seeks to ensure all students have access to excellent math and science education, has been working with several states across the nation as part of its to revamp mathematics curriculum, making equity and student interest a top priority.  

鈥淭his report is another reminder that whenever there are decisions to be made 鈥�  to take algebra in 8th grade, to enroll in an advanced math class, to apply to college, to choose a STEM path 鈥� equity gaps open,鈥� Kung said. 鈥淲e must reform our systems so those critical transitions are smoother, especially for students from groups we have historically under-supported.”

The new study found, too, that high-achieving underserved students who took more challenging high school mathematics coursework often had math teachers who established clear goals and school counselors who set high standards. Such positive influences may have aided in their success. 

Researchers say 74% of Black and 81% of Latino high-achieving students who were enrolled in advanced high school mathematics courses went on to follow a standard process of getting into and staying enrolled at college after high school. 

Not so for those who did not: Only 58% of Black students and 53% of Latino high-achieving students who did not take these classes had that same outcome. Results were similar for students from lower-income backgrounds: 77% of those who took advanced math courses experienced standard college enrollment and persistence versus 53% who did not take more challenging courses.  

The study showed Black and Latino high-achieving students who took advanced math courses in high school had better first-year college GPAs: roughly 0.5 points higher. Lower income students had a 0.6-point gain. 

EdTrust and Just Equations recommends Congress support and incentivize state and district leaders to greatly expand access to challenging coursework in all topics, including math. 

They said, too, that the government should increase funding for whole-child support services that would allow districts to hire an appropriate number of well-trained restorative justice coordinators, school counselors, psychologists and nurses. 

States and districts should also boost professional development efforts and coaching with the goal of reducing bias and incorporating anti-racist mindsets. 

They can also automatically enroll students in higher-level math courses, like the Dallas school system, which moved from an opt-in model to an opt-out policy in the 2019-20 school year. The followed that example: Gov. Abbott, earlier this year, signed that requires the automatic enrollment of children in advanced math based on their test scores, not on a recommendation. 

The Commit Partnership, a Dallas-based nonprofit focused on education, applauded the move. Chelsea Jeffery, its chief regional impact officer, said she looks forward to other districts doing the same, not only changing their policies but providing students with the support necessary to graduate high school ready for college and the workforce. 

鈥淲e celebrate Dallas ISD for their innovative approach to this critical subject area and to policymakers for passing legislation that will benefit our students and community,鈥� she said. 

The study classified a student as high-achieving if they passed 鈥� with an A, B, or C 鈥� Algebra I or higher in middle school. Others who made the cut scored in the highest one-fifth on a math assessment given to students in ninth grade. 

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to Just Equations, The Education Trust, The Charles A. Dana Center and 社区黑料.

But then COVID struck. 

Thomas had trouble learning the subject online: She mastered some of the material two years behind schedule.  

鈥淚 always did really well in math 鈥� until I entered high school,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause of COVID, I had to learn so many things on my own, especially in my ninth-grade year.鈥�

Despite this challenge, Thomas remained a focused and determined student: She鈥檚 already earned an associate degree from Ivy Tech Community College and hopes to attend a top-ranked school next fall, possibly Columbia University, to which she applied early decision.

Thomas鈥檚 struggle with mathematics mirrors that of students throughout the nation: Test results released in June charting long-term trends show 13-year-olds have suffered tremendous losses. The NAEP scores unveiled in October 2022 revealed a five-point decrease in math for fourth graders and an eight-point plummet for eighth graders, the largest drops ever recorded.

Disparities along racial lines were significantly worsened by the pandemic and the alarming outcomes for Black students on state exams in Indiana, where Thomas lives, prompted the state鈥檚 NAACP last year to release an plan to address long-standing inequities. 

Last year, in Indianapolis, Thomas鈥檚 city, passed both the math and English sections of the state鈥檚 tests. Recent state assessments show a majority of children in Indiana cannot meet minimum math standards: Just 41% of students in grades 3-8 scored proficient or better in the math portion of the state鈥檚 ILEARN exam. 

In Indiana and across the country, educators and advocates are searching for ways to make the subject more relevant and engaging 鈥� and less a source of failure. 

Some are working to address persistent obstacles for low-income children and students of color by re-evaluating their requirements and offerings. To that end, many are providing students with additional pathways 鈥� not just one road leading to calculus, a course whose value is being questioned, even for those students who seek a career in STEM.  

Thomas is among BELIEVE鈥檚 300 students, most of them children of color: 51% of the charter high school鈥檚 student body is Black while 41% are Latino. Nearly all qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year. 

Thomas is currently enrolled in Advanced Placement Statistics, excelling in a class she believes will one day help her to better her local community. 

She鈥檚 glad her school offers numerous rigorous mathematics courses and plans to continue with the subject in college where she seeks to study journalism, education and law. Thomas is one of seven children: Hers is the first generation to attend college. 

社区黑料: Do you think it鈥檚 possible to skip your freshman year of college after earning so many college credits in high school?

Jania Thomas: I’m hoping that I could move into my sophomore year. It just depends on the college that I get accepted to and how many of my credits transfer over.

Tell me how you鈥檝e done in math through the years.

Before high school, math was, for sure, my favorite subject because it was something that I quickly latched on to and that I could understand. It’s not like the sciences or reading because it鈥檚 all stats. You just have to understand the steps. I always did really well in math 鈥� until I entered high school.

And what happened then?

Because of COVID, I had to learn so many things on my own, especially in my ninth-grade year. That鈥檚 when the letters came into it: sign, cosign, tangents and triangles. I really struggled, especially my freshman year and into my sophomore year.

Did that improve when school resumed?

I was better in the classroom environment. I started to get it because I had more one-on-one time with my teachers. I had to learn things that I thought I knew from my ninth-grade year in my sophomore and junior year.

How have you done since?

When I took my college algebra class at Ivy Tech, I really enjoyed it. It was more focused on degrees, measurements and numbers.

Many students in previous generations were told to take calculus to qualify for top-tier schools. Did you ever hear that?

I鈥檓 really glad to have the opportunity to choose the math classes I want: I have more autonomy over the courses I can take. I鈥檝e spoken with my counselor, and she鈥檚 never said that.

What role do you think math will play in your professional life?

I don’t know what specific field I want to go into, but I like dealing with finances.

I want to fight against inequality within the American system. I know I’m going to have to understand a lot of concepts pertaining to money, which is all math.

But you want to pursue the subject for other reasons, right?

I want to be someone you could come to if you’re struggling. I want to start a tutoring program. I鈥檝e tutored before and I want to be able to help students in all subjects. If I stopped learning math now, I wouldn鈥檛 grow (in that area.) I would rather have a growth mindset than one that’s stagnant.

How far do you plan to go educationally?

I want to get at least one doctorate. I’ve always told myself I will be in school for the rest of my life because I enjoy being in the classroom environment. I’ll just be getting degree after degree after degree, not trying to reach a limit, but just trying to attain the most information that I can so that I can apply it to the real world and teach it to other people.

Are you concerned about paying for school?

That’s one thing that’s given me a lot of anxiety in my senior year. My school is focused a lot on trying to help us fill out scholarships. I’m just going to fill out as many scholarships as I can my senior year and while I’m in college.

The percentage of charter school students in Washington state scoring proficient in math went up nearly 15 points in the latest round of state tests compared to those administered in the 2020-21 school year, a marked sign of improvement in a subject whose pandemic-era scores nosedived.

The gains were heralded by the Washington State Charter Schools Association and follows the state’s September release of the latest . The association has 18 charter school members serving some 5,000 students: A majority hail from low-income families and are children of color. 

“In terms of math recovery, we saw schools really double down on practices like differentiation,” said Rekha Bhatt, the association’s co-president of innovative schools, referring to the practice of designing and delivering lessons to students at their ability level.

Bhatt also cited targeted intervention for those needing help and a reliance on data-driven instruction. The students themselves, association spokesperson Maggie Meyers said, take ownership of their work: They are made aware of their academic standing and encouraged to improve. 

While less than half of all charter school students scored proficient in math, 39.1% reached that benchmark on the 2023 spring tests compared to the 24.2% who did in the fall of 2021. Statewide, students also showed improvement in math but not as dramatically, with the share scoring proficient going up 8.7 percentage points between 2020-21 and 2022-23, from 30.4% to 39.1.%.

Statewide, all students were climbing out of an in math scores between 2018-19, the last year before the pandemic struck, when roughly 49% tested proficient and 2020-21, the first time the tests were given following school closures and the forced switch to remote learning, when the number fell to 30.4%.

There have been alarming and widely reported declines in math scores on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress test results and, at the state level, some others have not yet shown the post-pandemic improvement that Washington has.

California reported in its 2022 Smarter Balanced math scores statewide from 2018-19 鈥� the last year it required the test 鈥� with 33.38% of students scoring proficient or better. For Black students in California, the percentage meeting or exceeding the standards in math in 2021-22 was slightly

Charter schools in Washington state serve a more diverse population than the state鈥檚 traditional public schools: 62% of their students are Black, Indigenous or other students of color compared to . And 56% of charter students come from low-income households versus .

Charter schools in Washington state also have far more teachers of color 鈥� vs. roughly 鈥� which has proven important in boosting outcomes, Meyers, the spokesperson, said. 

鈥淓惫别苍 having one teacher that reflects a student’s cultural and racial identity can make a big difference,鈥� she said.

Washington state administers the Smarter Balanced tests annually in grades 3 through 8 and in grade 10. The most recent results showed better-than-statewide improvements for charter school students in English as well. Just 46% reached proficiency in 2020-21 versus 52.4% in 2022-23. Some 50.7% of students statewide were labeled proficient in English in 2022-23 鈥� a smaller, 3 percentage-point jump from the 47.7% who were in 2020-21. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited about the gains we鈥檝e observed over the past two years,鈥� said the charter association鈥檚 Bhatt.

Statewide, there was an between the of students who tested proficient in English in 2018-19 and the 47.7% who did in 2020-21, less precipitous than the nearly 20-point slide in math proficiency during those years. A recently released compilation shows the same trendline playing out across the country, with math scores bouncing back from a deeper recess in more places than English scores, which fell off less sharply but have been slower to recover.

A National Alliance for Public Charter Schools spokesperson was not able to say whether charter school students nationally outpaced their traditional public school peers in improving their most recent state test scores. But, she said, charter schools’ mixture of accountability and flexibility 鈥� including expanded school days and social and emotional learning support 鈥� played a big role in mitigating the pandemic’s challenges for their.

Washington state voters first approved opening charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, in 2012. A long legal battle ensued over the constitutionality of their financing, which was resolved in favor of charter schools in 2018. With the exception of Summit and Impact public schools, most of the state鈥檚 charters are not part of large networks but are operated by smaller, independent school leaders. 

State law has not allowed charter schools to grow beyond the number that existed in April 2021. Charter advocates are pushing for a policy change that would permit more schools to open, Meyers said.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to the Washington State Charter Schools Association and 社区黑料.

Some have modified graduation requirements or retooled stalwart courses 鈥� particularly Algebra II 鈥� to include data science, statistics and probability, topics of great interest to a wide swath of students headed to college or the workforce. 

No longer are they steering everyone toward calculus, a course that is not universally available 鈥� nor pertinent to all students鈥� academic and professional lives. 

And high schools are not making these critical decisions in isolation: Many are working with college administrators 鈥� post-secondary math is also being reconsidered 鈥� to better align their coursework.聽

Many member states also pledge to train high school teachers to help make the switch.

鈥淓veryone agrees that different college students need different math 鈥� quantitative literacy for humanities, stats for most social sciences, calculus for STEM and economics,鈥� said David Kung, the Center鈥檚 policy director. 鈥淓veryone also agrees that all K-12 students should be in the same math through at least algebra. The big question is where and how to branch [after that], with different students getting different math 鈥� and how to do that equitably.”

The , which seeks to ensure all children 鈥� particularly the underserved 鈥� have equitable access to high-quality mathematics and science instruction, began operating out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1991. It has helped shape math for students in that state and has also worked with dozens of districts outside Texas, its efforts funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The revamping of mathematics comes at a critical time: Math proficiency tanked nationwide during and after COVID, prompting educators to seize the opportunity to overhaul the subject with the hope of improving student engagement and outcomes. 

Josh Recio, the Center鈥檚 course program specialist, said change of this magnitude takes time: It often requires agreement from several entities, including mathematics teachers鈥� organizations, the legislature, and parent and community groups. Then, every district in the state has to change its graduation requirements, while also incorporating new course material.

鈥淓ach step of this process takes coordinated actions that are not easy to achieve,鈥� Recio said. 鈥淎nd yet, states are persevering because they can see the benefit to students.鈥�

The Center requires those participating in its to make a three-year commitment: Washington and Georgia are on their second cycle. 

Utah started working with the Center around that same time, though it wasn鈥檛 officially a member state when the program began. Still, the partnership proved fruitful: In its first three years, the state accomplished three essential goals 鈥� and has already seen remarkable academic gains. 

First, it brought K-12 educators and state college leaders together to identify three entry-level college math courses: statistics, quantitative reasoning and college algebra. 

鈥淚t really helped to solidify that progression of math content that gets taught all the way through from high school to early college,鈥� said Lindsey Henderson, secondary mathematics specialist with the Utah State Board of Education. 

Then, it made sure to offer these classes to high school students so they could earn college credit for them prior to graduation. 

Finally, Henderson said, the state changed its mathematics offerings so that not all students would be pushed toward calculus: Through pamphlets and online literature, Utah encourages families and students to pick classes aligned with their goals. 

鈥淚f you want to be a STEM major or work in business, you should consider college algebra,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e interested in humanities or performing and language arts, you should take quantitative reasoning. If you鈥檙e interested in nursing or psychology, you should take statistics.鈥� 

Like many other participating states, Washington also reworked Algebra II: It identified the elements of the subject it believes all students need and added data science, quantitative reasoning and mathematical modeling, said Arlene Crum, director of mathematics for the state education department. The new course was piloted in the 2022-23 school year.

鈥淲e have multiple graduation pathways within Washington where we support and value students heading in many different directions, not only to a four-year university, but many to two-year colleges, the military or into industry,鈥� Crum said. 鈥淪o, Algebra II should not just be a course that prepares students for the calculus pathway, but it should help students in their thinking for wherever they鈥檙e going.鈥�

Washington also reworked its eight-year-old 鈥渢ransition to college鈥� math class, often taken in the 12th grade, bolstering the course鈥檚 social-emotional learning elements while also emphasizing statistics. 

Oregon also has changed its high school math standards with the goal of increasing student engagement and participation while improving outcomes for all. 

It now requires two years of foundational algebra, geometry, and data/statistics and a third year that allows students to choose courses from a variety of options, including quantitative reasoning, data science or advanced mathematics. Students can continue into a fourth year through advanced courses in these pathways, including calculus.

“Increasing the number and percentage of students who excel in math and meet high school mathematics graduation requirements is critical to ensuring future post-secondary success 鈥� and keeping career options open to students in a variety of CTE and STEM-based fields,鈥� said Oregon Department of Education spokesman Peter J. Rudy. “This is important for all students, most especially for students who are farthest away from mathematics learning opportunities that bring math to life.”

Henderson, of Utah, said these changes have helped more students meet and exceed state mathematics requirements: Just 28% of students completed four years of high school mathematics in 2012 compared to 87% in 2020, after the new initiatives were implemented. 

And, she said, children with disabilities are faring much better in the subject: While only 43% were earning grade-level mathematics credit in 9^th grade in 2012, the figure shot up to 85% in 2020. 

鈥淭he pandemic has forced us to recognize that student interest in mathematics is really important,鈥� Henderson said. 鈥淚t helps us to reach really great outcomes. We want to show kids that math is useful. It鈥檚 not just a set of procedures that can only be used by a few.鈥�

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to 社区黑料.

Flush with federal dollars, new and robust offerings have been open to a wide swath of students starting in the summer of 2021 and will continue in many districts this year. But the trend could stop as that pandemic relief money runs out.

Some districts, including , have summer programs, inviting only those students identified as struggling, while others can鈥檛 even reach all the children on that list 鈥� at least not during the summer. 

Baltimore City Public Schools saw some of the most staggering losses in mathematics at the fourth-grade level 鈥� on the 2022 NAEP exams compared to those in 2019 鈥� tying it with Cleveland for worst-in-the-nation.

Baltimore’s and Cleveland’s decline in fourth-grade math scores was nearly double the average eight-point drop among the 26 big city districts that took the tests and dwarfed the average five-point drop of fourth graders nationally. 

Eighth graders in both cities also saw their math test scores plummet: They dropped nine points in Baltimore and eight points in Cleveland. These losses are on par with the rest of the nation: The major cities鈥� average and the national average for eighth grade math both declined by eight points. 

The 76,000-student Baltimore district has been working for years to remediate those who have fallen behind. It offers extensive summer programming for children at every grade level 鈥� more than 22,000 seats from pre-K through 12th grade for summer 2023 programming, up by 2,000 from the year before, district administrators said. But only 15,000 children participated last year, meaning thousands of seats were left open. 

And even with the additional slots, the number might not match the need as it relates to this subject: Just on recent state exams. At 23 Baltimore schools, not a single student tested proficient in math.

Administrators said their district鈥檚 summer program was developed, in part, in response to recent NAEP scores. But they know some children who might have benefited from the program will be left out because of budgetary restrictions. 

鈥淥f course, we would love to be able to offer every student an opportunity to engage in learning during the summer,鈥� said Laurie-Lynn Sutton-Platt, director of summer and extended learning.

The upcoming program can鈥檛 be a catch-all, but it can help, district administrators said. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a start,鈥� said Kerry Steinbrenner, Baltimore鈥檚 director of mathematics. 鈥淪ummer is an ideal opportunity for students to continue to develop their math skills and we don鈥檛 want to miss that 鈥� We want to try to impact as many kids as we can during that time.鈥� 

Cleveland Metropolitan School District, which serves , is also working to undo damage done by the pandemic. Some 4,200 students are enrolled in its five-week summer learning program with more added to the list every day. The district hopes the figure will reach the height it did last year at 6,500. 

But it can鈥檛 guarantee participation. 

鈥淲e are working to reach all of the students we can during the summer, but it is dependent upon students and families electing to enroll,鈥� said chief communications officer Roseann Canfora. 鈥淲e cannot require them to do so.鈥�

Although driven by poor reading, not math scores, some third graders in Tennessee are summer programming this year if they performed poorly on that portion of the state exam and are at risk of being held back.

In the long term, average for fourth and eighth graders on the NAEP between the early 1970s and 2012. Between 2012 and 2020, just before the pandemic struck, they largely flattened while achievement gaps between high and low scorers 鈥� a persistent equity issue with NAEP 鈥� widened. And then the unprecedented drop in the 2022 scores brought COVID鈥檚 impact into full relief. 

How long it will take children to recover from that 鈥� or what it will take for more students to reach grade-level proficiency in math 鈥� are big questions, but recent research has shown the sharp decline in math proficiency could have lifelong negative consequences. 

Talia Milgrom-Elcott, executive director and founder of Beyond100K, a national network focused on preparing and retaining 150,000 excellent STEM teachers in 10 years, believes wealthier children have long made up what was lost. 

But others will never reach that goal, she said. 

鈥淲hat鈥檚 different isn鈥檛 the kids: It鈥檚 their experience during the pandemic and the support they鈥檝e received since,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e could have corralled all our resources to accelerate the mental, emotional and academic recovery of all kids 鈥� and if we would have, we鈥檇 likely have created the next great generation 鈥� but we haven鈥檛. At least not yet.鈥�

The federal government gave schools $190 billion in COVID aid with $3 billion available for summer learning. Experts say the type and quality of the summer programming counts, while some researchers assert that even that unprecedented overall sum is not enough to reverse the level of learning loss. 

Melodie Baker, national policy director at , an organization that promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success, said students need engaging and meaningful content that helps them make sense of the material and retain what they鈥檝e learned. This is true whether it鈥檚 delivered during the school year or the summer, she said. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 also important to recognize the role of teacher diversity as a long-term strategy for improving student engagement and learning outcomes,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淎 diverse teaching staff can provide students with a range of perspectives and experiences that can enhance their understanding of the material and make it more relevant to their lives.鈥�

Some 110,000 of New York City’s roughly 1 million students will participate in summer learning this year, a spokeswoman told 社区黑料. NYC students slid nine points on the fourth-grade NAEP mathematics tests and four points on the eighth-grade exams. 

One program, , will focus on grade-level instructional priorities for grades K-8, helping students build math foundations, fluency and conceptual understanding to support learning recovery, acceleration and enrichment, she said. It includes assessments meant to identify weaknesses and help teachers narrow learning gaps ahead of the upcoming school year. Other programs include project-based learning and financial literacy.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, where fourth graders saw their math scores drop 13 points and eighth graders 11 on the 2022 NAEP exams, plans to grow its summertime math offerings for middle schoolers heading into ninth grade.

Mark Bosco, the district鈥檚 senior administrator for expanded learning and partnerships, said the four week-long program is expected to swell from 400 to 1,000 participants this summer. 

“This is designed for students who find math abstract,鈥� Bosco said. 

Pre- and post-assessments reveal improvement: Children who stayed for the 16-day duration who could not answer a single pre-algebra question correctly at the start of the program could successfully answer five or six questions out of 20 at the end, Bosco said. 

He described the summer program as hands-on and project-based. In one instance, he said, reflecting on last year鈥檚 program, students were made to go through the steps of finding and financing a car, learning about credit applications, compounding interest and loans. 

鈥淚t really got them thinking about how math can be so important in everyday life,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he kids are applying concepts in pretty advanced ways.鈥�

Chicago Public Schools is encouraging schools to implement math camps this summer for rising third and fourth graders in addition to programs for students in middle and high school, a spokesman said. Fourth graders in the district saw a 10-point decrease on math NAEP scores. The loss was worse for eighth graders, who suffered a 12-point decline. 

More than 73,000 of Chicago Public Schools鈥� engaged in at least one summer program last year. Math enrichment at the district includes the Summer of Algebra and Math Camp programs. A group of elementary schools also will host a Computer Science/Engineering Camp for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. 

Despite the success of some programs, funding remains a concern: Canfora, of the Cleveland schools, said federal COVID relief funds likely will not be available for summer 2024. Her district is building next summer into this fiscal year’s general fund budget, which will be submitted to the school board this month. 

Aaron Philip Dworkin, chief executive officer of the , said districts should always work to establish and strengthen relationships with outside partners to build better programs and to secure funding so they are not as reliant on federal dollars. 

鈥淲hat do you do when the money runs out?鈥� he asked. 鈥淲e will figure it out. Everyone will contribute what they can and we will make it work.鈥� 

Many capable Hispanic, Black and English learner students did not elect to join these classes on their own or were passed over by their instructors. And their parents were often unaware they could make the request. 

Dallas ISD, which serves some 142,000 children, took note of the disparity and in 2017 formed a racial equity advisory council 鈥� some of whose members had children in the district 鈥� with the goal of improving opportunity for all. 

It decided to move from an opt-in model to an opt-out policy in the 2019-20 school year. Since then, all students who score well on state exams are now automatically enrolled in advanced mathematics, reading, science and social studies 鈥� or some combination of the four. Under the current model, students cannot opt out without written parent permission. The move has dramatically increased participation among traditionally marginalized children.

The initiative is particularly consequential in mathematics. It places far more students on track to take eighth-grade algebra, a prerequisite for more advanced coursework in high school. Prior to the shift, only 20% of Dallas ISD 8th graders were enrolled in Algebra I compared to 60% today. 

鈥淲e talked about some cold hard facts and part of that was to 鈥� increase enrollment in the good stuff and ensure students are going to be successful once we get them in there,鈥� said Shannon Trejo, Dallas ISD鈥檚 chief academic officer. 鈥淎dvanced coursework in high school is a pipeline: You have to get in in middle school. The question was, 鈥楬ow do we ensure students who are prepared are enrolling?鈥欌��

And the policy has not led to a decrease in student scores as some speculated: Last year鈥檚 8^th-grade Algebra I students had similar pass rates as those in years prior, the district said, with 95% of Hispanic students passing the test and 76% meeting grade-level proficiency; 91% of Black students passing and 65% meeting grade level and 95% of English learner students passing the state exam and 74% meeting grade level. 

Drexell Owusu, chief impact officer at , which connects donors with charitable organizations among other endeavors, said he appreciates the district鈥檚 decision to raise the bar for students who鈥檝e shown they are capable of more challenging work. 

鈥淎s a parent to three Dallas ISD students, I hold my own children to this standard, knowing that the challenge of advanced coursework is how they will reach higher heights as learners and people,鈥� said Owusu, a member of the district鈥檚 advisory council. 鈥淎s a business and community advocate, I鈥檓 thrilled with the increase in success rates for honors courses knowing that this will lead to great jobs and increased living-wage attainment for these students in the future.鈥�

Dallas’s decision to open up its honors classes comes as educators and advocates across the country are reckoning with racial inequities in advanced courses and questioning whether current curricula serve today’s students. Some are urging decision makers to include access at every turn of a child鈥檚 academic career and to consider more modern and relevant coursework. 

This is particularly true of calculus, long considered a benchmark of high school success and often perceived as a prerequisite of college admissions 鈥� at least for wealthier students who have access to the course, which can be hard to find in Black, Hispanic and impoverished communities.

Like many school districts across the country, Dallas saw its math scores falter in recent years, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the 鈥淣ation鈥檚 Report Card.鈥� Eighth-grade math scores dropped by eight points nationally since the test was last administered in 2019, while fourth-grade scores dropped by five points 鈥� the largest decreases ever recorded.

The results were less alarming for in Dallas, who saw their scores fall from 265 to 261 and Black students in that grade who saw their marks dip from 252 to 249. The city鈥檚 fourth-grade math were about as dire, with Hispanic students in that grade seeing a six-point drop, from from 236 to 230, while Black students slid from 222 down to 218. 

Hispanics make up 71% of Dallas鈥檚 student body, Black students account for 20% and English language learners, who the district refers to as emergent bilinguals, make up 49%, according to Dallas ISD鈥檚 White students account for 5.5% of total enrollment.

Students of color had been dramatically underrepresented in the district鈥檚 advanced programming. Just 33% of Hispanic sixth graders, 17% of Black sixth graders and 31% of English learners in that grade were enrolled in 6^th-grade honors math classes in the school year. Conversely, 51% of white sixth graders took advanced math that year. 

By the 2022-23 school year, 59% of Hispanic sixth graders, 43% of Black sixth graders and 59% of that grade鈥檚 English learners were enrolled in 6^th-grade honors math classes. The percentage of white sixth graders in advanced math also grew substantially, to 82%.

In past years, Dallas ISD school board Trustee Ben Mackey said some students weren鈥檛 selected for such programs because teachers believed they misbehaved in class. 

鈥淢aybe that kid was acting up because they were not challenged,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ithin two years of this policy, 94% of eligible students are taking these classes. It makes such a drastic difference in terms of whether the student will be college ready and career ready. We need to give every single person a chance to be successful in life, so when they leave us, they are not three steps behind.鈥�

Juany Valdespino-Gaytan, the district鈥檚 executive director of engagement services, said the new model helps capture talented students who might not have known about the honors path. 

鈥淭he whole premise is that we are really trying to increase access to all students,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he policy change was our first effort toward that goal, making these courses available to any student and automatically requiring them to opt out. It puts students in a space where they are advocated for based on their performance.鈥�

Trejo, the district鈥檚 chief academic officer, said Dallas ISD is tracking outcomes year over year, with a focus on whether students continue on an advanced pathway in high school. 

鈥淚 want our kids to graduate and be able to choose among different colleges and among different careers because they have been so well prepared in mathematics that people want them,鈥� Trejo said. 

Currently being studied in a randomized trial at five high schools in and around Oklahoma City and bringing individualized help to 183 students since 2021, the rolled out at a critical moment.

Roughly according to the latest NAEP results, or the Nation鈥檚 Report Card 鈥� the . Oklahoma鈥檚 students scored 10 points below average, outperformed by 43 states. The state has also to fill vacancies.

Researchers high dosage tutoring as a powerful intervention for struggling learners. Beyond academic growth, it has the potential to boost feelings of belonging. A in particular can help students graduate high school, persist through college and earn more later in life. 

Yet many K-12 schools struggle to establish quality in-house tutoring, given the strain on finances and staff. High quality programs are costly, between ongoing training, reasonable compensation and research.

Now in its second year, the program at the University of Oklahoma has honed in on a local solution, looking to expand partnerships between universities and their surrounding K-12 schools.

鈥淚t’s going to be an everyday thing until we can catch up as many kids as we can and eliminate the issue altogether in the state,鈥� said program director and veteran educator Cristina Moershel. 

Each tutor is paired with two students for a full 50-minute period, three days a week. They鈥檙e compensated $10,000 each year, split between scholarships and stipends.

Marcus Ake, a second year tutor studying meteorology, math and German, starts some periods off the page. He asks students, look around the room, what math do you see? From right angles on white boards to parabolas in desk chairs, 鈥淚 just want to show everyone else that math is all around.鈥�

Of the 9th grade students served by OU tutors, 42% more than doubled the average expected growth on the NWEA Map math test in just one semester. On average, students gained 3.41 points, over a point beyond the average 2.24. Scores for students at one school grew 8 points, about four times the average.

The jump is a big deal. Students are those most likely to not show huge gains, closing out 8th grade scoring in the 15-25th percentile. But if they continue at this rate, they will reach the 50th by the end of 9th grade. 

鈥淭hey’re basically beating projections for students who are at the 50th percentile by a full point,鈥� said Daniel Hamlin, professor and lead researcher for the project at the University of Oklahoma. 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually really substantial.鈥� 

Getting creative

Contrary to tutoring programs that support with homework help or replicate a lead teachers鈥� lessons, OU tutors fill foundational gaps in math that vary student to student. There鈥檚 no script: Tutors stop and start wherever students need, pulling a page from mastery instruction.

For many, the starting place is multiplying and dividing fractions, exponents and cubed roots. Others need a refresher on integers and adding like terms before they add variables to the mix. 

Tutors make games and songs for algorithms like the Pythagorean theorem, cut and color code paper to bring life back into what used to feel like confusing, irrational rules like the switch-flip method for dividing fractions.

It鈥檚 the individualized attention many wealthy families pay for. But for the hundreds of students now involved, many of whom are first generation or low-income Americans, the support wouldn鈥檛 be possible without it being free and during the school day. 

The Stephenson family, who , wanted to target instruction to the kids who most needed support and would not be able to afford it otherwise. Their interest piqued after reading research out of the University of Chicago and Saga Education, which shaped the foundations for OU鈥檚 program. 

Recruiting college students to tutor and mentor may also give students faster access to adults that look like them or relate to their life experiences. In the last two years, OU tutors represented 17 countries. This fall semester, 7% identified as Native American or American Indian, 15% as Asian, 15% as Black and 17% as Latino. 

And exposure to college students means exposure to college pathways. Most of the 158 tutors are working toward STEM, economics, or healthcare-related degrees, often able to share with students how they continue to use math everyday, or answer questions about what college actually looks like. 

For first semester tutor and computer engineering student Anurag Rajkumar Dor茅, the reality check includes breaking down the stigma or shame many kids feel about math. 

鈥淚 remember the first couple sessions. They wouldn’t even talk because they were afraid of getting the wrong answer. But I told them, 鈥業 don’t care if you have the wrong answer as long as you have the right reason,鈥欌�� Dor茅 said. 

鈥淎t the end of the day, math is more about understanding what’s happening than just memorizing steps鈥hen you apply math to the real world, you’re not going to have a list of answers.鈥�

First-time OU tutors go through a three day bootcamp at the start of the semester, learning a mix of pedagogical strategies while refreshing key math concepts. They attend weekly training for one to two hours, planning lessons and getting feedback from each other and veteran educators.  

Those involved say the high-quality training is a key ingredient for the model鈥檚 success. 

Dor茅 sometimes messes up on purpose, so his two students see it as normal and practice explaining a different approach. He knows they hesitate with fractions, so naturally he gives bigger and bigger ones. Most recently, 180 over 360 times 35 over 35. The examples drive home the importance of simplifying first 鈥� math and many of life鈥檚 problems. 

The Initiative is one of three jobs he balances, but he never thinks about giving it up. Some days he feels he鈥檚 taught them more about confidence than math.

鈥淚’m able to pay rent because of this program,鈥� Dore said. 鈥淚 can do all this and I can still help the community.鈥�

Growing pains 

What started at two high schools has now grown to five 鈥� two rural, two midsize urban, and one large urban, all with their share of logistical hurdles and lessons learned. 

While the university picks up much of the financial and staffing hurdles, the model leans on high schools to get everyone on the same page so there鈥檚 no stigma or misinformation spread. Some parents were apprehensive, for instance, when their child qualified for tutoring.

鈥淚t may be that their child in eighth grade had an A in eighth grade math, but then they’re testing in the 20th percentile. Parents may say, 鈥榃ell, my child is doing just fine,鈥� 鈥� explained lead researcher Hamlin. 鈥淭here’s a lot of communication that needs to be done with parents and schools and it has to be on an ongoing basis.鈥�

The excitement tutors like Marcus Ake feel on day one is not always shared by students, either. One in particular was chronically absent, sometimes walking the halls. 

鈥淭he very first thing they said to me was 鈥榣ook, I know I’m bad at math. I don’t need you to tell me that,鈥� 鈥� he said. 

Ake stressed the truth: 鈥淚鈥檓 not here for that鈥� I’m literally here to hang out and do some math at the same time. This is low stress.鈥� By the end of the semester, the student showed up every day, and asked if Ake would be there next semester.

Oklahoma has established an , but administrators told 社区黑料 a main draw of this partnership was the fact that it supports students within the school day. 

鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to be really challenged to get kids to skip football practice, or not have their part time job or go home to take a nap,鈥� said Chris Brewster, Superintendent for Santa Fe South schools.

Their high school, he said, was lucky 鈥� already offering a foundational math class for students who needed another dose. Accordingly, they didn鈥檛 have to hire an outside teacher of record or do any scheduling gymnastics to get kids enrolled.

Some school sites approached for the partnership declined, citing those very barriers. They couldn鈥檛 spare a teacher to supervise the period or didn鈥檛 want to take away student electives.

鈥淭hese are very costly interventions. I can’t imagine at this point, if I had to bear that cost,鈥� Brewster added. 

OU is gearing up for the long haul, to establish a center that will serve as a hub for high-dosage tutoring in the state. Talks with other universities have begun, including a March symposium to share training and funding resources, like local foundations, banks and national organizations.

On the research end, the University will look into how the program has affected discipline, attendance, tardiness rates and student GPAs, to publish early findings later this spring. Next year, they鈥檒l study how effective a 3:1 student to tutor pairing can be.

Students say the tutoring is, 鈥済iving them confidence in math that they didn’t have before and that the relationship with their tutors is meaningful鈥� something that makes them happy about being at school,鈥� Hamlin added.

Other tutoring offerings often pair students with many instructors, and if virtual, can make it difficult for students to build trust and comfort. 

For Ake, who supports two students with completely opposite learning styles, the common denominator is a human one. They talk school drama, weekend plans, birthdays, track meets or whatever students bring up offhand during the period.  

鈥淪howing an interest in their lives has gone a long way,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can show them that I’m not just some stranger but I am someone who cares about them as well.鈥�

Whenever 鈥淕ina,鈥� a fifth grader at a suburban public school on the East Coast, did her math homework, she never had to worry about whether she could get help from her mom.

鈥淚 help her a lot with homework,鈥� Gina鈥檚 mother, a married, mid-level manager for a health care company, explained to us during an interview for a study we did about versus those who do not.

鈥淚 try to maybe re-explain things, like, things she might not understand,鈥� Gina鈥檚 mom continued. 鈥淟ike, if she鈥檚 struggling, I try to teach her a different way. I understand that Gina is a very visual child but also needs to hear things, too. I know that when I鈥檓 reading it, and I鈥檓 writing it, and I鈥檓 saying it to her, she comprehends it better.鈥�

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One of us is a who looks at how . The other is a who examines based on their work.

We were curious about how teachers reward students who complete their homework and penalize and criticize those who don鈥檛 鈥� and whether there was any link between those things and family income.

By analyzing student report cards and interviewing teachers, students and parents, we found that teachers gave good grades for homework effort and other rewards to students from middle-class families like Gina, who happen to have college-educated parents who take an active role in helping their children complete their homework.

But when it comes to students such as 鈥淛esse,鈥� who attends the same school as Gina and is the child of a poor, single mother of two, we found that teachers had a more bleak outlook.

The names 鈥淛esse鈥� and 鈥淕ina鈥� are pseudonyms to protect the children鈥檚 identities. Jesse can鈥檛 count on his mom to help with his homework because she struggled in school herself.

鈥淚 had many difficulties in school,鈥� Jesse鈥檚 mom told us for the same study. 鈥淚 had behavior issues, attention-deficit. And so after seventh grade, they sent me to an alternative high school, which I thought was the worst thing in the world. We literally did, like, first and second grade work. So my education was horrible.鈥�

Jesse鈥檚 mother admitted she still can鈥檛 figure out division to this day.

鈥淸My son will] ask me a question, and I鈥檒l go look at it and it鈥檚 like algebra, in fifth grade. And I鈥檓 like: 鈥榃hat鈥檚 this?鈥欌�� Jesse鈥檚 mom said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 really hard. Sometimes you just feel stupid. Because he鈥檚 in fifth grade. And I鈥檓 like, I should be able to help my son with his homework in fifth grade.鈥�

Unlike Gina鈥檚 parents, who are married and own their own home in a middle-class neighborhood, Jesse鈥檚 mom isn鈥檛 married and rents a place in a mobile home community. She had Jesse when she was a teenager and was raising Jesse and his brother mostly on her own, though with some help from her parents. Her son is eligible for free lunch.

An issue of equity

As a matter of fairness, we think teachers should take these kinds of economic and social disparities into account in how they teach and grade students. But what we found in the schools we observed is that they usually don鈥檛, and instead they seemed to accept inequality as destiny. Consider, for instance, what a fourth grade teacher 鈥� one of 22 teachers we interviewed and observed during the study 鈥� told us about students and homework.

鈥淚 feel like there鈥檚 a pocket here 鈥� a lower income pocket,鈥� one teacher said. 鈥淎nd that trickles down to less support at home, homework not being done, stuff not being returned and signed. It should be almost 50-50 between home and school. If they don鈥檛 have the support at home, there鈥檚 only so far I can take them. If they鈥檙e not going to go home and do their homework, there鈥檚 just not much I can do.鈥�

While educators recognize the different levels of resources that students have at home, they continue to assign homework that is too difficult for students to complete independently, and reward students who complete the homework anyway.

Consider, for example, how one seventh grade teacher described his approach to homework: 鈥淚 post the answers to the homework for every course online. The kids do the homework, and they鈥檙e supposed to check it and figure out if they need extra help. The kids who do that, there is an amazing correlation between that and positive grades. The kids who don鈥檛 do that are bombing.

“I need to drill that to parents that they need to check homework with their student, get it checked to see if it鈥檚 right or wrong and then ask me questions. I don鈥檛 want to use class time to go over homework.鈥�

The problem is that the benefits of homework are not uniformly distributed. Rather, research shows that students from high-income families make bigger achievement gains through homework than students from low-income families.

This relationship has been found in both and , and it suggests that homework may contribute to disparities in students鈥� performance in school.

Tougher struggles

On top of uneven academic benefits, research also reveals that making sense of the math homework assigned in U.S schools is often more difficult for parents who have , parents who . It is also difficult for parents who .

Meanwhile, students from more-privileged families are disproportionately more likely to have a or a available after school to help with homework, as well as parents who . And they are also more likely to have parents who on their behalf.

False ideas about merit

In the schools we observed, teachers interpreted homework inequalities through what social scientists call . The myth suggests that all students in the U.S. have the same opportunities to succeed in school and that any differences in students鈥� outcomes are the result of different levels of effort. Teachers in our study said things that are in line with this belief.

For instance, one third grade teacher told us: 鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with some really struggling kids. There are parents that I鈥檝e never even met. They don鈥檛 come to conferences. There鈥檚 been no communication whatsoever. 鈥� I鈥檒l write notes home or emails; they never respond. There are kids who never do their homework, and clearly the parents are OK with that.

“When you don鈥檛 have that support from home, what can you do? They can鈥檛 study by themselves. So if they don鈥檛 have parents that are going to help them out with that, then that鈥檚 tough on them, and it shows.鈥�

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

New research released last month has offered persuasive new evidence of the potential of summer learning opportunities, particularly in STEM subjects. One, a meta-analysis compiling the findings of dozens of prior studies over the last two years, shows consistent gains in math achievement resulting from student enrollment in summer coursework. Another showed participants in a summer STEM program enjoying significant later-life benefits, including greater success in college and higher earnings. 

The papers emerged just as national leaders made a concerted push to broaden access to summer instruction. In July, to spend more of their federal relief funds on tutoring, afterschool activities, and summer enrichment. Next, the Department of Education the Engage Every Student Initiative, a public-private partnership designed to guide local communities toward evidence-based programming. The administration to highlight the work of schools that have expanded their summer offerings.

The campaign demonstrates the promise that many experts see in summer learning 鈥� and the enormous academic challenges facing the nation鈥檚 schools after three school years disrupted by COVID-19. Along with extended school days and a stiff dose of high-quality tutoring, researchers and policymakers alike are turning to the traditionally vacant summer months as an untapped resource in the battle against academic erosion. 

Kathleen Lynch, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut and coauthor of the meta-analysis, said the existing research shows not only that summer learning is an effective means of bolstering academic growth, but also a worthy recipient of finite COVID recovery dollars.

鈥淪ummer programs provide an opportunity for children to catch up on material they may have missed, or to enrich their learning on new topics aligned with their interests,鈥� Lynch wrote in an email. 鈥淚 would recommend an effort to replicate successful models over the next few years, as schools and districts continue to combat learning setbacks that children experienced due to the pandemic.鈥�  

Lynch and her co-authors cast a wide net to gather relevant findings from existing research dating between 1998 and 2020, ultimately selecting 37 studies of summer math initiatives that included control groups against whom program effects could be assessed. Programs could be conducted in a school, a community site, or private homes, and while some of the experiments were exclusively math-focused, others provided instruction in other subjects as well.

Participation in the programs significantly lifted children鈥檚 math performance. The average effect size of .1 standard deviations (a common measure showing the difference in any group from the statistical mean) in improved standardized test scores compares favorably to other touted learning interventions, such as teacher merit pay and school choice. And the benefits were similar in scope regardless of whether a given program served primarily low-income or high-income children. 

That distinction is critical given the intense diversity of summer learning experiences. Many are operated by school districts on a remedial basis, recruiting (or requiring the participation of) students who struggled academically during the year. Historically, these forms of summer school with poor attendance and low engagement from participants.

By contrast, Lynch noted, 鈥渃ontemporary summer programs increasingly focus on enrichment, hands-on activities, and learning via projects and inquiry.鈥� Such programs, offered electively, are more likely to attract high-achieving pupils from relatively advantaged families.

focused on a particular initiative that attempted to split the difference by signing up high-achieving students from racial or ethnic backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in STEM fields. The program, offered by an elite technical university located in the Northeast, draws a disproportionately nonwhite field of rising high school seniors with top test scores and an average GPA of 3.86. 

Researchers from Columbia Teachers College, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the consulting company Mathematica assessed the effects of three separate varieties of the program: two summer residential periods (one week and six weeks, respectively) on campus, complete with direct coursework in STEM subjects as well as workshops and visits to STEM-focused workplaces, as well as a six-month engagement that was primarily offered to participants online. 

In all, participants from the 2014, 2015, and 2016 cohorts of experiment gained impressive life advantages in the years to come. Across all three summer offerings, students were more likely than members of a demographically similar control group to enroll in college, as well as persist and finish with a degree. Perhaps most importantly, since the program鈥檚 top priority was to diversify the STEM pipeline, participants offered seats in the six-week residential experience were 33 percent more likely to graduate in four years with a STEM degree. 

Sarah Cohodes, an associate professor of economics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and a co-author of the study, said that the experiment provides evidence of a somewhat rarefied type of summer learning opportunity, tailored to students who were likely to enjoy its full benefits. That makes it a limited, though suggestive, window into what can be expected from summer school generally.

鈥淒oes it look like what we’re thinking about when we’re thinking about remediating learning loss? No, it doesn’t,鈥� Cohodes said. 鈥淏ut I think you can see this as an existence proof that, yes, carefully designed programs targeted at the right level for students can make a huge difference for their life trajectories, and it is possible to create summer opportunities that change the lives of students.鈥� 

Intriguingly, the study鈥檚 findings in terms of college outcomes aren鈥檛 clearly attributable to a particular facet of the college program; for instance, graduation rates after five years with a STEM degree were not significantly different in the one-week experience versus the six-week experience. This suggests that the benefits might be attributable to the simple influence of gathering students from traditionally underrepresented groups together on a prestigious campus, Cohodes argued.

鈥淚t’s not clear that the learning that made a difference here was standard, ‘I know more physics than I knew before’-type learning,鈥� she observed. 鈥淎 lot of it seemed to be around knowledge of the college application process, knowledge of what was out there, peer effects and social networks.鈥�

The development of non-cognitive skills and traits was an explicit point of focus in Lynch鈥檚 compilation of summer learning studies. Across a range of 37 non-cognitive outcomes (including mindsets and attitudes, social skills, and academic behaviors like school attendance), summer math programs were associated with positive movement in 27; the average effect size for those outcomes was roughly equivalent to the programs鈥� effects on math test scores and course grades, with notable reductions to school-year absenteeism.

鈥淭he number of studies that measured noncognitive impacts is relatively small, but the evidence we found suggested that there鈥檚 unlikely to be a tradeoff between learning and noncognitive outcomes from attending summer programs,鈥� Lynch said.

One example singled out in the meta-analysis was the Horizons National Summer Enrichment Program, an intensive summer intervention serving thousands of low-income pre-K鈥�8 students across dozens of affiliates in 20 states. A commissioned by the organization found that its enrollees were less likely to be chronically absent or repeat a grade. A Horizons affiliate in New Haven, Connecticut, on the first lady鈥檚 July tour of summer learning and enrichment programs.

As policymakers at the state and federal levels search for tools to restore the academic growth forfeited during the pandemic, they will have access to thousands of existing summer schools, camps, and enrichment activities targeted toward K-12 students of different ages and achievement levels. National Summer Learning Association CEO Aaron Dworkin, who accompanied First Lady Biden on her visit to Horizons, said in an interview that this panoply of approaches 鈥� wedded to ample government support 鈥� could make a significant impact in the next few years.

“We have a lot of people who are doing what they think is best, but we can support and train them and invest in them so that they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. A lot of people have tried already and learned the hard way. What’s different is that we have a lot of training, data, intermediaries, and infrastructure to support all kinds of people who are trying to be helpful right now.”