The school wanted to place her not in algebra but in pre-algebra in eighth grade. “I told the school that the recommendation was ridiculous,” the father told me.

Many communities have tried putting more eighth graders into algebra classes, but that has sometimes left unprepared students worse off. “Simply giving them an eighth grade algebra course is not a ...

Updated at 7:16 a.m. Aug. 3. Cambridge Public Schools will phase Algebra 1 back into eighth grade math courses over the next few years. The district has faced a wave of pushback from parents and ...

Matters came to a head in the spring of 2023 when the district told families that middle school math staff would not “be recommending that any scholars place out of algebra 1″ in ninth grade.