Школам Филадельфии потребуется еще год, чтобы обеспечить всем восьмиклассникам доступ к алгебре

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with news on the city’s public school system. Philadelphia school officials say they want all eighth graders to have the opportunity to take an algebra course before high school, but they’re still roughly 50 schools and a school year away from reaching that goal. Until everyone has access, the district’s 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. 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 — for those students who are prepared for the extra rigor. That determination will be made based on students’ Star test scores. “We certainly want to offer it to students who are ready for it,” Brenda Elliott, the district’s deputy superintendent of academics, told Chalkbeat before Thursday’s hearing. 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’t translated to success for some districts. City Councilmember and Education Chair Isaiah Thomas called Philly’s current approach “discriminatory.” And Councilmember Nina Ahmad said at the hearing that by not offering algebra to all eighth graders, “we’re really truly not letting our children have a quality education” at selective admissions schools, “which changes their trajectory in life.” A 2023 Chalkbeat analysis determined that the lower the median household income in a Philly school’s 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 — the district’s most selective public high school — hundreds of students every year are effectively excluded from even applying there. Thomas said his own children were among those excluded because they could not take algebra before high school. About 400 district eighth graders passed the Pennsylvania state math test in 2025 and “could have succeeded in algebra, but didn’t have the opportunity because their school simply did not offer it,” Symbol Lai from Children First, a Philly nonprofit, said Thursday. Lai suggested the district implement a universal screening process so “students’ readiness for algebra isn’t left up to chance.” Philly is not the only city school district grappling with the algebra problem. In 2014, San Francisco pulled algebra courses from middle schools in an attempt to improve students’ 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 as an elective available for all eighth graders. 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’s hybrid in-person, virtual learning program called Cross School Learning. 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. That still leaves 51 district schools serving eighth grade students without access to algebra, according to district figures. The district also offers a course called Algebra 1a for ninth graders who may need what Elliott called a “booster” class. The first-semester course allows students “to address gaps and build up their math proficiency,” and begin the grade-level Algebra 1 class in the second semester. 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’t properly equipped for the level of math rigor. “When kids fail a class, particularly in that first year of ninth grade, it can be deflating,” Elliott told Chalkbeat. Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at [email protected].