National Policy Director Melodie Baker was quoted by The 74 in an article on the San Francisco Unified School District’s reinstatement of eighth-grade algebra. Baker advocated an updated approach that ensures equity for underserved students.
The San Francisco Unified School District, which pulled algebra from its middle schools 10 years ago in the name of equity, will bring the course back next fall, ending a controversial experiment that some say squandered the opportunity for advanced learners to excel in mathematics—and did little to close the achievement gap.
Baker said the district can’t simply return to an earlier, failed approach.
“So the prior tracking policy didn’t lead to equitable outcomes,” she said. “Detracking didn’t lead to equitable outcomes either. So it makes sense that they’re not sticking with it, but they’ll need to find new ways to implement eighth-grade algebra that ensure better outcomes for Black and Latinx students. Not just revert to what they were doing before.”
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