{"id":985245,"date":"2026-08-06T20:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/985245\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T20:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:16:15","slug":"philadelphia-school-district-aims-to-bring-eighth-grade-algebra-to-every-school-by-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/985245\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia school district aims to bring eighth grade algebra to every school by 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter<\/a> to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia school officials say they want all eighth graders to have the opportunity to take an algebra course before high school, but they\u2019re still roughly 50 schools and a school year away from reaching that goal.<\/p>\n

Until everyone has access, the district\u2019s math offerings remain inequitable, education advocates and city councilmembers said at a City Hall hearing on Thursday. And councilmembers said they want schools to offer the course to all students regardless of where they live or their test scores, although not everyone is necessarily on board with that idea. <\/p>\n

Philly school leaders announced Thursday they intend to offer algebra at all 126 district schools that enroll eighth graders by the 2027-28 school year \u2014 for those students who are prepared for the extra rigor. That determination will be made based on students\u2019 Star test scores.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly want to offer it to students who are ready for it,\u201d Brenda Elliott, the district\u2019s deputy superintendent of academics, told Chalkbeat before Thursday\u2019s hearing. <\/p>\n

Amid a heated national debate about when to offer access to the advanced math course, in Philly, patchy algebra availability for eighth graders can mean deserving students are locked out of the most competitive public high school. In addition, some see algebra as a gateway course to more advanced classes like calculus and career opportunities in science and technical fields. But experts caution not all eighth graders have a solid grasp on the basic concepts that algebra builds on. And granting universal access hasn\u2019t translated to success for some districts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We’re here to help.<\/p>\n

Every day, Chalkbeat Philadelphia reporters are answering your questions, following the money, and digging into what’s happening in the city’s public schools. Keep up with our free newsletter, delivered every Wednesday and Friday morning.<\/p>\n

City Councilmember and Education Chair Isaiah Thomas called Philly\u2019s current approach \u201cdiscriminatory.\u201d And Councilmember Nina Ahmad said at the hearing that by not offering algebra to all eighth graders, \u201cwe\u2019re really truly not letting our children have a quality education\u201d at selective admissions schools, \u201cwhich changes their trajectory in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2023 Chalkbeat analysis determined<\/a> that the lower the median household income in a Philly school\u2019s surrounding neighborhood, the less likely that algebra is offered to eighth graders by that school. And because the course is a prerequisite for admission at Julia R. Masterman \u2014 the district\u2019s most selective public high school \u2014 hundreds of students every year are effectively excluded from even applying there. <\/p>\n

Thomas said his own children were among those excluded because they could not take algebra before high school.<\/p>\n

About 400 district eighth graders passed the Pennsylvania state math test in 2025 and \u201ccould have succeeded in algebra, but didn\u2019t have the opportunity because their school simply did not offer it,\u201d Symbol Lai from Children First, a Philly nonprofit, said Thursday. <\/p>\n

Lai suggested the district implement a universal screening process so \u201cstudents\u2019 readiness for algebra isn\u2019t left up to chance.\u201d <\/p>\n

Philly is not the only city school district<\/a> grappling with the algebra problem. In 2014, San Francisco pulled algebra courses from middle schools in an attempt to improve students\u2019 foundational math skills and reduce racial disparities in math achievement. After largely failing to accomplish that, the San Francisco school board voted in March to reinstate the class<\/a> as an elective available for all eighth graders. <\/p>\n

In the 2025-26 school year, a total of 65 Philly schools offered algebra, an increase of 15 from two years before. The majority, 40 schools, offered it through a dedicated class in the building, and the remainder offered it through the district\u2019s hybrid in-person, virtual learning program called Cross School Learning.<\/p>\n

For the upcoming school year, Elliott said 42 district schools will offer algebra as a dedicated class or section and 33 schools will participate in Cross School Learning. That will bring the total number of schools offering algebra in some form to 75 schools. <\/p>\n

That still leaves 51 district schools serving eighth grade students without access to algebra, according to district figures. <\/p>\n

The district also offers a course called Algebra 1a for ninth graders who may need what Elliott called a \u201cbooster\u201d class. The first-semester course allows students \u201cto address gaps and build up their math proficiency,\u201d and begin the grade-level Algebra 1 class in the second semester. <\/p>\n

The course launched at 12 schools in the 2025-26 school year because Elliott said too many district students were failing Algebra 1 in ninth grade, signaling they weren\u2019t properly equipped for the level of math rigor. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen kids fail a class, particularly in that first year of ninth grade, it can be deflating,\u201d Elliott told Chalkbeat.<\/p>\n

Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":985246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,395248,40980,1448,2830,1311,18823,395249,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-985245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-brenda-elliott","tag-chalkbeat","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philly","tag-the-philadelphia-school-districts-deputy-superintendent-of-academics","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}