How Texas plans to make access to advanced math more equitable
Tha Cung remembers looking at his sixth-grade class schedule and noticing something he hadn’t expected: an advanced math class.
“I didn’t even know ‘honor’ existed,” he says.
Why we wrote this
What is the best way to ensure that all students have access to high-level classes? In Texas, a new strategy focuses on automatically registering top scorers. This story is part of The Math Problem, the latest project from the newsrooms Collaboration in the field of education reporting.
Tha was small when his family immigrated to the United States from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Much of his time in Dallas schools was spent taking courses designed for children learning English. In fifth grade, his standardized test scores showed that he was a strong math student. Thanks to his district’s policy, he was automatically placed in the advanced course.
A version of that approach will soon be adopted across Texas as part of an effort to remove systemic barriers that can stand between bright students, especially those from Black and Hispanic backgrounds, and rigorous coursework. A bipartisan bill passed by the Texas Legislature earlier this year could offer lessons for other states. It sounds simple: Instead of having to sign up for advanced math, families are given the choice to opt out.
For Tha, this opportunity meant progress. Now he is in eighth grade and taking Algebra I. He thinks this will give him an edge in the future.
“My mother told me I could be anything,” he says. “So I chose to be an engineer.”
When Tha Cung looked at his sixth grade class schedule, he noticed the math block. He was placed in an advanced class.
“I didn’t even know ‘honor’ existed,” he says.
Tha was small when his family immigrated to the United States from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and spent much of his time in Dallas schools taking courses designed for children learning English. By fifth grade, his standardized test scores showed that he was a strong math student—one who should be challenged with honors classes in high school.
Why we wrote this
What is the best way to ensure that all students have access to high-level classes? In Texas, a new strategy focuses on automatically registering top scorers. This story is part of The Math Problem, the latest project from the newsrooms Collaboration in the field of education reporting.
Under Dallas ISD policy, Tha’s parents did not have to enroll him in advanced math. A teacher or supervisor did not have to recommend him either. At many schools, these are the hoops a student must jump through to participate in honors classes. But Tha was automatically placed in the advanced course because of his scores on the Texas STAAR test.
A version of this approach will soon be replicated statewide as part of an effort to remove systemic barriers that can stand between smart students and rigorous coursework. It sounds simple: Instead of having to sign up for advanced math, families are given the choice to opt out.
During its regular session, the Texas Legislature passed a bipartisan bill where any student who performed in the top 40% on a fifth-grade math test is automatically enrolled in advanced sixth-grade math.
“We’re putting in place a structure that uses an objective measure to ensure that students who already show they are capable are put on that advanced math track,” said Jennifer Saenz, director of policy at the E3 Alliance, an education cooperative based in Austin. that advocated for the new Texas law.
Lessons for the rest of the US
How the approach is rolled out in Texas could provide lessons for other states.
Leaders across the country are faced with the need to prepare a new, diverse generation of workers in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. And post-COVID-19, it has been particularly difficult for students to recover from widespread learning loss in math. Eighth graders in Texas in 2022 scored about in line with the national average on the test called the Nation’s Report Card. similar dip since 2019.
Before the pandemic, research from the E3 Alliance found that Black and Hispanic students in Texas were routinely left out of upper grades — even if they had high test scores. The group hopes the new state law will create pathways for students who have been historically excluded.
Enrolling in advanced math in sixth grade paves the way for a student to take Algebra I in eighth grade. This opens up the possibility of subjects such as arithmetic or statistics at secondary school. And that can then lay a stronger foundation for a STEM major in college and a well-paying career after graduation.
Supporters of the opt-out policy say that in addition to being an equity issue, it is also a personnel issue.
“Especially in today’s rapidly changing and technology-driven economy, math is more important than ever – for individual students and for the larger Texas workforce to stay competitive,” said Jonathan Feinstein, state director at The Education Trust, a national nonprofit organization that promotes equality.
On a recent morning at Sam Tasby Middle School in Vickery Meadow, principal Nesha Maston observed dozens of students in room 304 calculating the area of parallelograms and trapeziums.
In that class was Alexis Grant, an 11-year-old who believes her year in sixth-grade math will pave the way to achieving one of her goals: attending Harvard.
“I knew it would be a challenge,” Alexis says of her math class. “We push each other to get the work done.”
Many of her Tasby classmates – including Tha – are immigrants. Families who send their children to school collectively speak more than a dozen languages, and the vast majority are low-income.
When Principal Maston looks at those honors classes, she sees that the population of her school is reflected.
More diverse classrooms
Ms. Maston’s observations are supported by Dallas ISD data. Not only are many more students enrolling in advanced math, but classrooms are also more diverse.
In 2018, before the opt-out policy, about 3,500 sixth graders enrolled in honors math classes. About 17% of black students in that class, and a third of Hispanic students, were in those classes, compared to half of white students.
Last year, more than 5,100 sixth-form students achieved mathematics honors. And now, 43% of black students in high school are taking math classes, while nearly 6 in 10 Hispanic students are. The percentage of white sixth graders in honors math has also increased, to about 82%.
Meanwhile, the number of Dallas ISD eighth-grade students enrolled in Algebra I nearly doubled between 2018 and last year.
Texas is home to more than 1,000 school districts, meaning there are vastly different ways for students to get into advanced courses. The decisions were often subjective.
Teacher recommendations play a major role in some districts. But those decisions can be influenced by implicit biases about what an “honors student” looks or behaves, education advocates say.
In other places, parents must request advanced classes for their children, but then students whose parents may not be aware of the option may be left out. It may also be that students do not want to participate because they do not consider themselves very good at mathematics or because they do not want the extra workload.
Some districts in Central Texas also already have opt-out policies, with the help of the E3 Alliance. At those schools, many more black and Hispanic students completed Algebra I by eighth grade, as did a huge jump among children learning English.
In the Hays School District, curriculum officer Derek McDaniel has watched as the number of sixth-graders in advanced math has exploded over the past five years.
As more districts move in this direction under the new law, Mr. McDaniel is urging school administrators to prioritize communicating with parents. It is critical to explain to families why their child is being placed in honors math, he says, adding that parents need to know the benefit of this more challenging course load.
Communication with teachers is also critical, Mr. McDaniel says. Some honors teachers are used to a certain student profile. They expect limited behavioral problems and that students always complete their homework assignments on time.
With an opt-out policy, he said, some students will be new to the advanced program and have not yet developed uniform study skills in the lower grades.
“The easy solution is to give up,” says Mr. McDaniel. “We stay with the child.”
Texas’ unique strategy
A handful of other states have embraced opt-out or automatic enrollment policies.
In North Carolina, for example, a News & Observer/Charlotte Observer from 2017 research found that students from low-income families were placed in higher courses at lower rates than their affluent peers who showed the same level of achievement.
Lawmakers later passed an “automatic enrollment” law. According to a 2022 state report92% of North Carolina middle and high school students who scored at the highest level on their end-of-grade math test were placed in an advanced math course.
Texas’ strategy is unique because of its focus on sixth grade math as a gateway to more advanced courses.
The Texas Education Agency acknowledges that the change could be a burden and has given administrators until the 2024 school year to comply with the law.
Among the potential challenges: Schools may need to strengthen their pipeline of advanced math teachers. Administrators may also need to make more time for tutoring or organize summer camps to teach more students key math skills.
Shannon Trejo, Dallas ISD’s chief academic officer, says some students may become vague about different mathematical ideas in middle school. Or perhaps they have some gaps in their understanding of fundamental concepts due to the disruption caused by COVID-19.
“We need to be ready to close those small gaps and not leave students saying, ‘I don’t think I want to do this anymore,’” she says.
It may be years before today’s Dallas students earn high-paying jobs in science, technology, engineering or math fields.
Tha was placed in the sixth-grade math class two years ago. Now he is in eighth grade and taking Algebra I. He thinks this will give him an edge in the future.
“My mother told me I could be anything,” he says. “So I chose to be an engineer.”
This piece is part of The Math Problem, an ongoing series documenting challenges and highlighting progress, fof the Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of eight newsrooms: AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, Idaho Education News, The Post and Courier in South Carolina and The Seattle Times . To read more of the partnership’s work, visit its website.