While educators and policymakers debate whether 8th graders can be readied to learn algebra, Sigrid B. Frawley sits in front of her kindergartners with a magic bag. She puts three tokens in the bag ...

Throughout the pandemic, data from testing has shown that students are struggling in math, making less progress than they might have in other years. Teachers, too, have said that routines core to ...

High school math, and algebra, in particular, is in crisis. Although some students thrive on the pathway to calculus, most do not. Algebra I is the single most failed course in American high schools.

Top students can benefit greatly by being offered the subject early. But many districts offer few Black and Latino eighth graders a chance to study it. By Troy Closson From suburbs in the Northeast to ...