Solving for X: Constructing Algebra and Algebra Policy During a Time of Change

• In Event: 3153 - Tracking, Curricular Structure, and Inequality

Abstract

How do district administrators reconstruct algebra and algebra policy during a time of curriculum change? The math course pathway is fairly static in the US, and the year students take algebra has an outsized influence on how far they can progress in math in high school. While more privileged students take algebra earlier and earlier to maintain an advantage, low-SES students and students of color tend to take algebra later, preventing them from excelling as far in math as their peers. Despite this, there is very little research that analyzes the conditions under which districts change the mathematics course pathway or reduce the significance of algebra timing. In this paper, we use ethnographic data from 372 hours of meetings within one large, urban school district in the middle of math curriculum overhaul due to a switch to Common Core. This data allows us to explore how policy debates occur in real time, during an “unsettled” moment of curriculum change. In so doing, we are able to identify the constraints on district leaders’ choices, which, in turn, helps us to better understand how it comes to be that district leaders make significant change to the math course pathway. In sum, we find that district administrators shift their conceptions of algebra, and that this allowed for a novel algebra policy that eliminated middle school tracking.

Authors

• Emily Handsman, Northwestern University

• Caitlin Farrell, National Center for Research in Policy and Practice