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

by Angela Nicole Torres, Ho Hai Nguyen, Elizabeth Crawford Hull Barnes, Laura Wentworth Streeter

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781071913789
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	05/03/2023
Series:	Corwin Mathematics Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Angela Torres, M.Ed., is a Professional Learning Coordinator for the UC San Diego Mathematics Project. Previously, Angela served as a Math Content Specialist in San Francisco Unified School District where she supported secondary math teachers through professional development, coaching, and curriculum support for almost a decade. Angela deeply believes in the brilliance of all students, and works hard to support teachers in seeing this brilliance, including our Black, Latinx other students who belong to groups that have been traditionally underserved in our education system. She enjoys learning in community with teachers and has learned a tremendous amount in supporting high school teachers in San Francisco, managing the Complex Instruction program in SFUSD and through currently consulting with a team of educators supporting the Complex Instruction program in other districts. She has also presented the SFUSD math team’s work at the national and state mathematics conferences. As a member of the California State Mathematics state board, she has joined a team working to support the movement towards equity for all students in California. Angela has a Masters degree in Education from San Francisco State University, is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher, and is always looking to bring what she has learned to the work she does with teachers. Angela has publications including, CMC’s ComMuniCator, “Working Towards Equity through Core Values,” and two co-authored pieces with Lizzy Hull Barnes, a Case Study in Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics, “Work to End Tracking and Offer Four Years of Meaningful Math Instruction” and a chapter in Success Stories for Catalyzing Change in School Mathematics, “Being Bold: San Francisco’s Detracking Story as a Path to Equity.”

Ho Nguyen, M.Ed., is the Program Administrator of Mathematics and Computer Science 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 was instrumental in beginning the Complex Instruction program in SFUSD, joining secondary mathematics teachers into an equity centered community. He has a Master’s in Urban Education and Leadership from the University of California, Berkeley. 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.

Lizzy Hull Barnes, M.Ed, is the Supervisor of Mathematics and Computer Science at San Francisco Unified School District. She has taught math to preschool through adults in schools in Louisiana and around the Bay Area and has supported fellow teachers and coaches in San Francisco. She believes the Common Core has provided educators a window to reframe the question, "What does it mean to be good at math?" and through her work aims to recapture mathematics as a multidimensional discipline for her district’s students.  Hull Barnes has presented SFUSD’s work in multiple venues including the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the Council of Great City Schools, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the California Math Council (CMC), and the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM). She has published articles in EdSource and NCTM’s Catalyzing Change. She has also supported Stanford workshops with Professor Hilda Borko to think through the core attributes of a research practitioner partnership, considering both relationship and research design. She has collaborated with fellow math educators in multiple spaces, including intersegmental work designed with the Dana Center at UT Austin and the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences (CBMS). Hull Barnes received her Masters degree in Education, with an emphasis on Early Childhood, from Mills College in Oakland, and her Administrative credential from the Leadership Support Program (LSP) at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education.

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. She is also a Lecturer at Stanford University in two courses - Introduction to Research-Practice Partnerships and Advanced Partnership Research. Wentworth has served on the founding steering committee for the National Network of Education Research Practice Partnerships (NNERPP), and in 2020 received the Alumni Excellence in Education Early Career Award from Stanford University Graduate School of Education. In partnership with NNERPP members. Laura led the development and spread of the concept of brokering across RPPs by publishing the RPP Brokers Handbook. She has a Masters in instruction and curriculum from the University of Colorado, a Masters in the social sciences of education and a PhD in administration and policy analysis in education 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, Teachers College Press and Educational Policy.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Chapter 1: Your Guidebook to Detracking Math
Part 1: Developing a Policy for Detracked Math Courses
Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Policy Context
Chapter 3: Designing a Detracked Math Course Policy
Chapter 4: Gaining Support for a Detracked Math Course Policy
Part 2: Implementing a Policy of Detracked Math Courses
Chapter 5: Math Curriculum to Support Heterogeneous Classrooms
Chapter 6: Professional Development to Support Heterogeneous Classrooms
Chapter 7: Coaching Teachers to Support Heterogeneous Classrooms
Part 3: Maintaining Detracked Math Course Practice
Chapter 8: Crafting School Schedules That Support Heterogeneous Classrooms
Chapter 9: Considering Research Throughout Your Math Detracking Journey
Chapter 10: Monitoring and Maintaining a Detracked Math Policy

Editorial Reviews

A Guide to Detracking Math Courses recognizes the urgent need to rehumanize the math classroom and make mathematics equitable for all, serving as a compelling and comprehensive guide to help educators and administrators achieve these goals. This timely must-read inspires you to develop, implement, and maintain a system that creates opportunities for learning for all.

Hanford, CA - Nancy Nagatani

A Guide to Detracking Math Courses is a well-executed guide for educators who genuinely want mathematics education reform. The detracking strategies in this book will challenge your sensibilities by stretching your comfort level with collaboration, deepening your relationships with all stakeholders, and changing the trajectory of the lives of students in a tangible way for the betterment of our entire society.

Inglewood, CA - Christina Lincoln-Moore

Detracking a school district’s mathematics offerings means successfully working collaboratively through issues of policy, curriculum, professional
development, and more. This book highlights the issues involved, unpacks their complexities, points to resources, and helps readers adapt the ideas to their own district context. It will be an invaluable resource for schools and districts that want to detrack their mathematics courses, in the service of equitable and ambitious instruction.

University of California, Berkeley - Alan H. Schoenfeld

A Guide to Detracking Math Courses reveals the power of a shared commitment to the success of each and every student in detracked schools. More important, it offers a pragmatic and optimistic roadmap to challenging the narrative that students benefit from being sorted into courses based on past mathematics achievement. Our traditionally underserved students need advocates and changemakers; they are deserving of meaningful problem-solving opportunities that build conceptual understanding and prepare them to excel in advanced mathematics. Readers have multiple opportunities to reflect on their own presumptions about who can succeed in mathematics and what it means to be successful. It is a must-read for teachers, administrators, and community members who want and need to see the affordances of detracking.

Jacksonville, FL - Terrie M. Galanti

Detracking is desegregation. This is the best thing we can do for all math students. There should be no gatekeepers and no barriers to students learning as much mathematics as they want to.

Oakland, CA - Rori Abernethy

One of the most insidious practices in education today is the way students are denied access to high-quality mathematics instruction through the practice of tracking. This groundbreaking book not only provides concrete examples of how to make college preparatory mathematics available to all students but also shares strategies to ensure that students are successful once enrolled.

Los Angeles, CA - Kyndall Brown

This is a book we’ve been waiting for! Beginning with the premise that all students are mathematically brilliant, and all teachers have strengths in
teaching and learning, the book captures the essence of one team’s journey to attain a detracked mathematics program. The authors provide questions to consider, reflective activities, lessons learned, and so much more to assist educators in creating equitable mathematics experiences for their students.

New Britain, CT - Shelly M. Jones