Black and Latino students are much less likely to have early access to Algebra 1 than their white and Asian peers—even when they’re in the same schools, and have similarly high math scores, according to a new analysis from the testing group NWEA.
Algebra 1 is a key gatekeeper course to high school math. Taking it in 8th grade or before sets students on a path to take more advanced courses by the time they graduate, including Calculus, a class many top colleges prize. Students who don’t take Algebra 1 until 9th grade or later typically can’t reach these higher-level math courses before graduation unless they take summer school.
But data on student course-taking patterns has long shown that opportunities to take Algebra 1 before high school aren’t evenly distributed.
The report, which examines data from 162,000 8th graders across 22 states during the 2023-24 school year, provides one of the broadest and most recent demonstrations of that inequity.
“Algebra isn’t available for many students,” closing off access to advanced math pathways, said Daniel Long, a senior research scientist at NWEA and the lead author on the brief.
Gaps exist between schools, and within them
NWEA analyzed data from schools in which students take its interim assessments and use an automated rostering system, giving the company access to real-time data about students’ coursetaking patterns.
On average, 58% of schools across the states in NWEA’s sample offered Algebra 1 in 8th grade. But those numbers differ substantially by school demographics.
The biggest gap is along income lines. Among schools where more than three-quarters of students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, only 46% offer 8th grade Algebra 1. But 80% of schools where fewer than a quarter of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch offer the course.
Algebra 1 availability also breaks down by student race and geographic location, though not to as great a degree. Forty-five percent of majority-Black or Latino schools offer the course by 8th grade, compared with 61% of majority-white or Asian schools. In rural middle schools 52 percent have middle school Algebra 1, compared with 57% of urban and 64% of suburban schools.
Then these gaps are compounded by disparities in Algebra 1 access within schools. Even among students who are similarly high-achieving, some students are more likely to enroll than others.
Among schools where Algebra 1 was offered, NWEA examined the group of 5th graders who scored in the top 20% of math achievement. In this group, 84% of Asian students and 68% of white and Latino students took Algebra 1 in 8th grade. Only 60% of Black students took the class.
Subjective placement processes could deepen inequities
In part, these discrepancies may result from placement processes that rely on teacher recommendations and parent advocacy, rather than a test-based cutoff. “When there are subjective assessments or placements, some of these unconscious biases play out; some research suggests that,” Long said.
The new findings from NWEA could be “a real motivator to really consider automatic enrollment policies,” said Elizabeth Huffaker, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Florida, who has studied Algebra 1 policies. Huffaker was not involved with the research.
The report recommends that states adopt policies requiring schools to screen all students for Algebra 1 readiness and automatically enroll eligible students for the class. In that approach students have to opt out if they don’t want to take Algebra 1 in 8th grade, rather than opt in if they do.
It’s a move that several states, including Texas and North Carolina, have made in recent years.
In North Carolina, research has shown that the policy increased Black and Latino 8th graders’ participation in Algebra 1 in at least one large district. Reports from Texas show similar gains.
Even with an automatic enrollment policy, schools may need to take further steps to ensure students get equitable access to the class. One study in Dallas, for example, found that eligible students who moved from one district to another during middle school could fall through the cracks. Still, an opt-out policy addresses some of the biggest roadblocks, said Long.
“The data on the value of early enrollment for students who are prepared has really, really strong benefits,” he said. “There are very feasible ways, among currently high-achieving students, to address barriers that exist in placement.”
