Eighth graders will have the option to take Algebra 1 next year following a yearslong push by parents and teachers to reintroduce the class after it was pulled from the San Francisco Unified School District’s middle school curriculum in 2014. 

At nearly midnight on Tuesday night, the San Francisco school board voted unanimously to approve the plan to offer the class as an elective to all eighth graders who wish to take it, in addition to the standard math class, Math 8. Students who meet the academic requirements may opt out of Math 8 altogether — and head straight to Algebra 1. 

The class was pulled in an attempt to reform middle school mathematics to promote equity and reduce racial disparities in math. But instead, a 2023 Stanford study found it had the opposite effect: Participation in AP math in high school dropped by 15 percent, and wide racial gaps in math test scores remained. 

Outrage ensued. A non-binding proposition was brought to the Board of Supervisors last year pushing the district to reinstate the class, and was signed by 10 of 11 supervisors, a petition circled through parent groups, garnering hundreds of signatures, and one parent group even lodged a lawsuit against the district in 2023. In 2024, nearly 82 percent of voters approved a nonbinding measure to restore algebra. 

For over a decade, SFUSD has been one of just a handful of  Bay Area school districts that do not offer Algebra 1 in middle school. Over the past three years, the district has promised to reinstate the course. The rollout, parents have criticized, has been slow. 

The district posed several problems that could get in the way of students and solving the quadratic equation: Namely, that eighth grade teachers haven’t taught algebra in years, that introducing complicated math problems too quickly could lead to a high re-take levels once students enter high school, and that taking Math 8 and Algebra 1 at the same time, as the district initially proposed, would force students to drop an elective if they wanted to take Algebra 1. 

In February 2024, the school board agreed to launch a two-year pilot program at 10 schools across the district to test various ways to reintroduce Algebra 1 to middle school students. On Tuesday night, one of the three professors who authored the 2023 Stanford study, Thomas Dee, shared their findings. 

At one school, the K-8 Rooftop School, SFUSD tested a “compression” model, fast-tracking math curriculum in eighth grade to include algebra concepts in Math 8. In three other schools, A.P. Giannini, Roosevelt Middle School and Alice Fong Yu Alternative School, all students were automatically enrolled in Algebra 1 instead of Math 8 — and in six other middle schools, Algebra 1 was instead offered as an elective, in addition to the required Math 8. 

Schools that offered Algebra 1 as an optional elective, the professors found, had by far the best results. 

While over 19 percent of students who were automatically enrolled in Algebra 1 in eighth grade retook the course in ninth grade, only 9 percent of students who took the course as an elective were forced to retake the course the next year. The study also found that attendance, as well as test scores in ninth grade, improved significantly. 

“For the past two years at my school, about half of our eighth graders have taken both Math 8 and Algebra 1,” said eighth grade math teacher Paul Gallagher, speaking at public comment. “I had doubts going in, but what I’ve seen matches Stanford’s research,” he said. “Students make significant gains when they have more time, more support, and a stronger foundation.” 

However, Gallagher cautioned against students skipping the eighth grade core math class, Math 8, and going straight to Algebra 1. “Skipping Math 8 is not acceleration,” he said. “It’s missing the foundation.”