Research shows that access to eighth-grade Algebra I can shape students’ path to advanced math, while Los Angeles families continue to face persistent gaps in math achievement and opportunity.
A new wave of research on math education is confirming what Los Angeles families and educators have long suspected: Latino students across the district are being systematically shut out of advanced math, and the gap starts years before students ever reach a calculus classroom.
The Numbers in Los Angeles Are Stark
In Los Angeles County, only 27 percent of Latino students were proficient in math, compared to 57 percent of white students, a gap of 30 percentage points. Within LA Unified specifically, Latino students posted almost no growth on recent state tests and remained below the district’s overall average, with just 24 percent reaching proficiency in math. In English language arts, the pattern repeated: 39 percent of Latino students met or exceeded state standards, compared to 68 percent of white students.
Those numbers don’t happen in a vacuum. They trace back to a single, early gatekeeper: access to eighth-grade Algebra I.
Why One Middle School Class Determines So Much
Algebra I is widely considered the gateway course to advanced math. Students who take it in eighth grade or earlier are set on a path toward calculus, physics, and AP-level math by the time they graduate. Students who don’t reach Algebra I until ninth grade or later typically can’t reach those higher-level courses before graduation unless they take summer school, closing off a pathway that many top colleges use as a proxy for readiness.
Nationally, only 60 percent of schools serving eighth graders even offer Algebra I, and just 24 percent of all eighth graders are enrolled in it. Latino and Black students are less likely to have access to the course in middle school at all, especially when they attend segregated schools. Despite making up 25 percent of the overall eighth-grade population nationally, Latino students represent only 18 percent of students enrolled in eighth-grade Algebra I.
The consequences cascade forward. Federal data found that high schools with majority Black or Latino enrollment were less likely to offer math and science classes at every level except Algebra I, particularly at the advanced end. Only 38 percent of predominantly minority schools offered calculus at all, compared to 50 percent of high schools overall. Just over half offered physics, compared to 60 percent nationally.
It’s Not Just About Access, It’s About Bias
What makes this especially frustrating, according to researchers, is that the gap persists even among students who are clearly ready for advanced coursework. Allison Socol, vice president of P-12 policy, practice, and research at EdTrust, explained the pattern bluntly: “Because of implicit biases, racial biases, and mindsets about who is and who isn’t a math person, Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds, even when they demonstrate that they are ready and they are very clear that they are eager for those courses, are still shut out.”
Research from Just Equations backs this up with hard data. High-achieving Latino, Black, and low-income students who take and pass Algebra I in eighth grade still end up enrolling in advanced math courses at lower rates than their peers, even with the same qualifying grades. Melodie Baker, national policy director at Just Equations, said the findings reveal that “systemic bias can suppress even the highest-achieving underrepresented students.”
The Human Cost, Seen Up Close in LA Unified
The abstract statistics translate into real disruption for LA families. Liliana Madrid, a Spanish-speaking parent in LAUSD, described struggling to support her daughters Alexa Godoy and Itzel through math and science classes as pandemic-era learning losses compounded existing gaps. “They’re dealing with anxiety and their own personal problems that won’t allow them to better prepare for tests,” Madrid said. Advocates point to a combination of factors- language barriers for parents navigating the system, pandemic disruption, and long-standing structural gaps in course access- as compounding to produce steeper declines for Latino and female students specifically in LAUSD’s more recent test scores.
What’s at Stake Long Term
The stakes go well beyond a single test score. Students who get access to advanced math coursework in high school see better outcomes meaningfully: higher grades, higher graduation rates, and higher college enrollment rates than peers who never get that access, according to EdTrust research. Advanced math access has become one of the clearest predictors of whether a student pursues a STEM major and, ultimately, a STEM career.
Researchers recommend concrete fixes rather than treating the problem as unsolvable, including expanding tutoring and skill-building support for students before they reach the algebra gatekeeping point, ensuring middle schools serving large Latino populations actually offer Algebra I as a standard option rather than a limited-seat class, and training teachers and counselors to set high expectations for Latino students rather than defaulting to lower academic tracks.
