Latino, Black enrollment in advanced math shot up after this simple change

The Phoenix School of Discovery is an alternative school designed for students with learning and social challenges, with roughly half of students on an individualized education plan, or IEP. The school prioritizes hands-on learning, has multiple teachers in each classroom, and offers accommodations like sensory-friendly lighting and a space for “quiet lunch” for students who find the traditional cafeteria over-stimulating.

The Union Public School District is making efforts to encourage and support more students from underrepresented backgrounds to take advanced math courses. Instead of sticking with the traditional one-time placement test that determines a student’s math trajectory from sixth grade onward, Union schools offer in-school tutoring and longer class periods to support students who show promise in advanced math.

After Brooklyn's District 15 replaced selective admissions with a lottery system, economic segregation in sixth grade decreased by 55 percent and racial segregation decreased by 38 percent compared with the previous year. Though challenges remain in creating truly inclusive school cultures, parents and educators say community attitudes are shifting around what makes for a "good" or desirable school.

Closing the achievement gap requires raising the expectations not only of students, but also of leadership and institutions. In Pike County, Alabama, the school district has improved its learning outcomes by investing more in students and leadership, thanks to a crucial one-penny sales tax in favor of the schools. In addition to taking better care of teachers, the district monitors data at the student—not subgroup—level, and offers curricula with community college credits. The district has also launched an Advanced Academics and Accelerated Learning program.

Despite a deplorably small budget and an ominous lack of support from the government, the Union Public Schools district of Tulsa, Ok is achieving the incredible. Though many of the students are minorities and hail from low-income families, Union boasts exceptional graduation rates and a remarkable STEM-focused curriculum. Their success stems from a comprehensive focus on each individual child within the classroom and beyond, creating a hub for the greater community that includes resources like child care for teen mothers and a student-run garden.

The number of American teens who excel at advanced math has surged, as new programs cater directly to the uppermost echelon of math students, training them for international competitions.

To curb academic backsliding as students returned to the classroom following the COVID-19 pandemic, Boone County Schools tried various initiatives, such as encouraging teachers to keep students on track by not trying to catch them up on everything they missed during remote learning. This ensures students are learning the material relevant to their grade level, and has yielded significant improvements in academic performance.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an approach to student behavior that focuses on how well students embody five standards — respect, responsibility, readiness, safety and pride — and awards points based on their behaviors that can be redeemed for rewards. PBIS offers an alternative to the “zero tolerance” student behavior policies that have been known to hurt academic achievement, particularly among students of color. Studies show that schools with a PBIS approach saw classroom removals decrease by 58% and out-of-school suspensions decreased by about half.

In an effort to eliminate suspensions that disproportionately affect Black and brown students, Dallas Independent School District created on-campus reset centers where staff mediate conflicts between students and help them reflect on their behavior. Disciplinary action has declined since the centers were implemented, and the percentage of students being repeatedly disciplined fell from 28 percent to 13 percent.

Part 4 of the "Equity or Bust: Are Ontario's Public Schools a Model for Pennsylvania" Series: Ontario is widely lauded for its education system. But, like Pennsylvania, evidence in Toronto suggests that Ontario has struggled to close achievement gaps between historically underserved minorities and their peers. Many believe universal pre-K will prove to be the decisive factor in bridging that gap.