by Alvin Buyinza

A new study is sounding the alarm: Even when Black students are at the top of their class, they’re still being shut out of Algebra 1 — the early gateway to every advanced math, college, and STEM opportunity that comes after it.

A study by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) analyzed data from 162,000 eighth-graders across 22 states and found significant racial disparities in access to Algebra 1.

Only 58% of schools in the sample even offered Algebra 1 by the eighth grade. That percentage dropped to 46% in high-poverty schools and 52% for rural schools. In schools with a large share of Black and Latino students, access gets even more limited: just 45% of them offered the course at all.

Even when Algebra 1 is available, Black students are still far less likely to

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