The district under the leadership of Richard Carranza and his irresponsible Board of Education was starstruck by Dr. Jo Boaler’s math philosophy. They believed people would be more successful if they waited until ninth grade to take Algebra I.
Never mind that this makes no sense at all. The people who could afford to bypass this delay would. Who is left? The people who can’t pay to play and rely on the district to provide them with the same access as their resourced peers.
What went on was the antithesis of equity and SFUSD set back focal populations for years. To this day people sneeringly point to SFUSD when those who are rightfully concerned about the opportunity gaps try to address the problems.
The real story is lost and with it the accountability.
From press releases to presentations SFUSD wrote a story where they were the heroes. They told the credulous public that Algebra repeat rates had dropped from 40% to 8%. And as icing on the cake, more students were taking advanced classes than ever before. None of this was true.