A Guide to Detracking Math Courses: The Journey to Realize Equity and Access in K-12 Mathematics Education

Create a pathway to equity by detracking mathematics

The tracked mathematics system has been operating in US schools for decades. However, research demonstrates negative effects on subgroups of students by keeping them in a single math track, thereby denying them access to rigorous coursework needed for college and career readiness. The journey to change this involves confronting some long-standing beliefs and structures in education.

When supported with the right structures, instructional shifts, coalition building, and educator training and support, the detracking of mathematics courses can be a primary pathway to equity. The ultimate goal is to increase more students' access to and achievement in higher levels of mathematics learning-especially for students who are historically marginalized. Based on the stories and lessons learned from the San Francisco Unified School District educators who have talked the talk and walked the walk, this book provides a model for all those involved in taking on detracking efforts from policymakers and school administrators, to math coaches and teachers.

By sharing stories of real-world examples, lessons learned, and prompts to provoke discussion about your own context, the book walks you through:

• Designing and gaining support for a policy of detracked math courses
• Implementing the policy through practical shifts in scheduling, curriculum, professional development, and coaching
• Supporting and improving the policy through continuous research, monitoring, and maintenance.

This book offers the big ideas that help you in your own unique journey to advance equity in your school or district's mathematics education and also provides practical information to help students in a detracked system thrive.

Author: Angela Nicole Torres, Ho Hai Nguyen, Elizabeth Crawford Hull Barnes
Publisher: Corwin Publishers
Published: 05/19/2023
Pages: 248
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781071880746

About the Author
The authors of this book have been the ones in the trenches leading SFUSD through its de-tracking journey, documenting and reporting the research outcomes, and sharing their success story nationally. Lizzy Hull Barnes, M.Ed, is the Supervisor Mathematics and Computer Science at San Francisco Unified School District. She has taught math to preschool through 5th-graders in schools around the Bay Area and has supported the learning of adults in Louisiana and fellow teachers and coaches in San Francisco. Hull Barnes has presented her work from SFUSD at multiple conferences including Council of Great City Schools, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, California Math Council, and the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. She has published articles in EdSource and Catalyzing Change published by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Ho Nguyen, M.Ed., is the Program Administrator for the math and computer science department at San Francisco Unified School District. For over two decades, Ho has worked to support math instruction in San Francisco, first as a high school math teacher, then as a content specialist at the high school level, and now as a central office administrator. In the SFUSD math department, Nguyen supports math teachers at the secondary level through professional development and instructional coaching in addition to policy development and support. Nguyen has presented his work in SFUSD at multiple conferences including the Council of Great City Schools, California Math Council - North, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. Angela Torres, M.Ed., is a Professional Learning Coordinator for the UC San Diego Mathematics Project. Previously, for almost a decade, Torres served as a Math Content Specialist in San Francisco Unified School District where she supported secondary math teachers through professional development and coaching. She has recently been a lecturer at Stanford University for secondary teacher candidates, including seminars on Race, Class & Identity in schools and Assessment for Learning and Equity. She has presented work from the SFUSD math team at multiple conferences including the California Math Council, the Council of Great City Schools, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, and TODOS: Mathematics for All. Torres has articles published in the California Math Council's ComMuniCator, Working Towards Equity through Core Values, and a co-authored piece for a Case Study in Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics, Work to End Tracking and Offer Four Years of Meaningful Math Instruction. Laura Wentworth, PhD, is the Director of Research Practice Partnerships at California Education Partners. For over a decade, Laura has worked to unite research, policy and practice by directing the Stanford University and San Francisco Unified School District partnership. She supported the development of the Stanford-Sequoia K-12 Research Collaborative and the Oakland Unified School District and UC Berkeley Partnership. Wentworth has served on the founding steering committee for the National Network of Education Research Practice Partnerships, and in 2020 received the Alumni Excellence in Education Early Career Award from Stanford University Graduate School of Education. Wentworth has articles and chapters published in and by Phi Delta Kappan, Teachers College Record, Educational Research, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Jossey Bass, and Teachers College Press.


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