Students go over their answers together during a summer geometry course at San Francisco’s Galileo High in 2023.
Amaya Edwards/S.F. Chronicle
San Francisco school officials have released a long-awaited plan on how they will reintroduce Algebra 1 in eighth grade, saying it will be available as an elective while proficient students can choose to skip over the regular pre-algebra math class.
The Thursday announcement comes after months of public speculation and scrutiny over the divisive issue. Despite overwhelming support for teaching algebra in middle school, there has been controversy over the best way to do so. Under the proposal, eighth-grade students who are proficient in math will be automatically enrolled in Math 8, and in Algebra 1 as an elective.
However, they could opt-out of either one, allowing them to take one math class of their choosing rather than doubling up, as many parents had feared would be the case.
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Students who do not demonstrate proficiency will still be required to take Math 8, a pre-algebra course that builds on sixth and seventh grade math. However, they could also enroll in Algebra 1 as an elective if they want to, according to the district.
The district did not immediately provide details of the academic threshold at which kids can opt out of Math 8. Those students would also have to engage in “informed consent” counseling in order to skip a required course, according to the district.
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Officials added the opt-out option amid intense scrutiny over the elective proposal, which was part of three possible scenarios suggested in January and would have required all students to take Math 8 alongside Algebra 1. It’s not clear that the compromise will be enough to quiet critics who have been reacting on social media and urging the district to change course in the days leading to this proposal.
The plan marks the culmination of a decade-long push to bring Algebra 1 back into San Francisco middle schools, which involved a ballot measure, petitions and a lawsuit. District officials will present their implementation plan and research findings from a two-year pilot program at the Board of Education’s March 24 meeting.
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Superintendent Maria Su said in a statement Thursday that math is the “foundation of strong, rigorous education,” and that the proposal ensures all eighth-grade students can access Algebra 1, plus “the support they need to succeed.”
Maria Su, superintendent of SFUSD shown in February, said the plan to reintroduce Algebra 1 to eighth grade is about ensuring every student thrives in math.
Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle
“This isn’t just about access to Algebra,” Su said. “It’s about helping every student build confidence, achieve proficiency, and thrive in math. We are taking an important step toward making SFUSD a world-class school district where every student is prepared to excel.”
While the majority of schools will operate under this model, the district plans to continue piloting a different option at Herbert Hoover Middle School and Alice Fong Yu Alternative School. Students there will take “compression” courses that combine Math 6, 7, 8 and Algebra 1 over their middle school years.
The district released the plan on the heels of some pushback from parents and politicians, who said they did not want students to be forced to take two math classes and give up an elective.
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The moderate political group Grow SF and Sen. Scott Wiener spoke out this week against the initial plan that had been floated by the district.
“Kids shouldn’t be required to take two math classes, which will simply force them to give up an elective,” Wiener wrote on X. “The district should avoid this barrier & let 8th graders choose to take algebra as their sole math class.”
We’ve fought for more than a decade to bring back 8th grade algebra for kids who are ready & interested. We’re finally on the verge, but the school district’s new proposal creates a significant barrier — requiring kids who want to take algebra in 8th grade to also take regular… https://t.co/p3tPmdFY05
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) March 19, 2026
But Mayor Daniel Lurie reacted with support for the plan released Thursday, saying in a statement that he commends the district “for putting forward a common-sense proposal.”
“For San Francisco to be a world-class city, we need a world-class public school system — and bringing algebra back to middle school is an important step in that direction,” Lurie said.
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In a letter sent to the Board of Education on Thursday, middle school principals and members of the United Administrators of San Francisco expressed support for offering Math 8 and Algebra 1 concurrently in eighth grade.
Principals said they heard board members were hesitating after hearing from “particular parents,” but urged the board to adopt the proposal.
“This approach aligns with what we see every day when we visit and observe in our classrooms: students thrive when they are challenged and supported simultaneously, not when they are rushed through content,” the educators wrote.
The principals said they did not support opting out of Math 8 because it is not supported by research and “will create untenable stress on middle school master schedules, leading to patterns of student tracking and significantly larger class sizes in elective sections.”
In a family survey conducted in early March, roughly 43% of nearly 900 responses supported the model in which Algebra 1 is taught as an elective in addition to Math 8, according to the district. But the survey found a prominent concern for families was losing access to other electives, such as music, art and languages.
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Roughly 18% supported replacing Math 8 with Algebra 1 and 10% preferred compressing four years of math, including Algebra 1, into middle school.
The district conducted a two-year pilot program in which schools tried various ways of re-introducing Algebra 1 into eighth grade during the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years.
Thomas Dee, an education professor at Stanford University, conducted an independent analysis to measure the academic outcomes from each piloted model.
Dee said he found that students who took Algebra 1 as an elective — on top of the Math 8 course — saw substantial learning gains, roughly equivalent to almost an additional year of learning. Those gains were sustained into ninth grade, too, Dee said.
Meanwhile, there was no gain or loss in student performance for those who skipped Math 8 and took only Algebra 1 in eighth grade, Dee said.
More than 19% of students who skipped Math 8 had to repeat Algebra 1 in high school, compared to 9% of students who took Math 8 and Algebra 1 in eighth grade, Dee said.
Roughly 1 in 3 students enrolled in Algebra 1 as an elective during the pilot, Dee said, underscoring the “considerable latent demand for this academic content among the families in SFUSD.”
“I think there’s some cause for celebration and joy in the results we’re seeing here,” he said.
Aptos Middle School is among six schools that piloted the Algebra 1 as an elective model over the past two school years.
During a recent information session for families, Aptos’ Principal Dimitric Roseboro said 120 students signed up for the Algebra 1 elective each year — almost double what he initially anticipated.
Roseboro said the pilot was “positive and productive,” because the required Math 8 course lays a necessary foundation by introducing skills and concepts that are expanded upon in Algebra 1.
“You are getting all the necessary concepts, the necessary skills in pre-Algebra … that allows students to feel more comfortable in Algebra and helps them be more successful,” Roseboro said. “It didn’t make Algebra so daunting because they were receiving a double dose of math.”
At A.P. Giannini Middle School, meanwhile, students skipped Math 8 and took only Algebra 1 during the pilot program. Both teachers and students reported feeling nervous and noticing some gaps in instruction, said Principal Tai-Sun Schoeman.
Schoeman said he believes Math 8 “is really a critical pillar in conceptual knowledge.”