When New Jersey added algebra I to graduation requirements, which districts actually offered it in eighth grade and which didn’t? A new study in the Harvard Educational Review by Dr. Vandeen Campbell and colleagues Dr. Elisabeth Kim (Lehman College, CUNY) and Dr. Darnell Leatherwood (University of Michigan) finds the answer isn’t only about test scores or school size. It’s about race.
Using a QuantCrit framework which pairs quantitative analysis with a critical lens on race and racism in social systems the researchers examined five years of New Jersey district data (2013–2018) to identify what predicts whether a district offers algebra I in eighth grade.
The findings are striking. Districts with higher Black–White segregation were more likely to offer algebra I in eighth grade. Districts with higher Latine–White segregation were less likely. These opposing patterns held up even after accounting for the factors most often cited to explain gaps in course access like prior student achievement, teacher-student ratios, and administrator staffing. It suggests districts aren’t simply underprepared or under-resourced. They are making different decisions based on who their students are.
Though gaps in access remain across the board and further research is needed to understand the findings fully, the researchers discussed how the study may be surfacing two often-overlooked phenomena: 1) Historically, some Black-isolated settings have been sites of enormous effort based in high expectations and in this context segregated schools can be sources of advantage when well-resourced. 2) For Latine students, segregation often coincides with multilingual learner program pressures that often reduce access to advanced courses.
The research calls for race-conscious policy, intentional equity audits of course access, and a harder look at how district structures reproduce unequal opportunity even when no one intends them to.
Read the article here: https://www.harvardeducationalreview.org/content/96/1/65