America has a math problem, but it is not only that too many students are struggling, an oft-heard lament. The problem is also that too few students who may be ready for more challenging math are not given the chance to take it.
The recently released government assessment of how U.S. students are performing academically over time reveals the breadth of the problem. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is part of the Department of Education, has found that just 23 percent of the nation’s 13-year-olds reported being enrolled in Algebra I.
Why it matters is that Algebra I helps build a foundation for academic and, later on, workplace success. It provides the intellectual underpinning for geometry, Algebra II, pre-calculus, statistics, calculus, computer science and other coursework essential for college, technical training and careers in an economy built around data and quantitative reasoning.
The Gates Foundation notes that students who pass Algebra 1 by ninth-grade “are twice as likely to graduate high school and more likely to enroll and graduate with a bachelor’s degree and go on to well-paid careers.”
In short, success in Algebra 1 “is a strong predictor of academic and economic achievement,” says the National Math Improvement Project.
The issue is not whether all middle school students should be rushed into Algebra I. They should not. Rather, the issue is whether students who have already demonstrated readiness should have to depend on parent advocacy, teacher recommendation, school culture or luck to get the opportunity.
Advanced math placement can vary from district to district and even school to school. A student may qualify on a state test but still miss the course because no one recommends it, because a parent does not know to ask, or because teachers underestimate the student’s potential. These systems may not be intentionally unfair, but they are predictably inconsistent.
That inconsistency creates an “excellence gap” — the distance between the number of students who are ready for advanced coursework and those actually placed in it.
Virginia illustrates the problem. Statewide testing data show that in 2024, more than 53,000 seventh graders were eligible for Algebra 1 based on their performance on the grade-level test they took. In 2025, only 32,000 eighth-grade students were enrolled in it.
Nationally, we do not know the full extent of the “excellence gap” because most states do not publicly report enrollment data for Algebra 1. For those who do, inconsistencies across school systems make it difficult or impossible to determine how many students could be enrolled versus those who are.
Some states are moving in the right direction. North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Kentucky and Indiana have adopted or advanced automatic-enrollment approaches that place students into higher-level coursework when they meet academic benchmarks.
North Carolina’s experience is instructive. After its policy took effect with automatic enrollment, officials estimated that as many as 8,000 students in grades six and above were placed in advanced math courses they otherwise would have missed, including about 2,100 rising eighth-graders who moved into an algebra-based course typically taken in the ninth grade.
Placement alone will not solve the nation’s math challenges. Students need strong elementary math instruction, high-quality instructional materials, well-prepared teachers, tutoring when required and monitoring once they enter accelerated courses. A student should never be dropped into a harder class and left to sink or swim.
However, if a student has shown readiness for advanced math, the default should be enrollment in advanced math.
The National Math Improvement Project puts the stakes plainly — when school districts improve math readiness, access to advanced math and supports, they can “transform Algebra I from a gatekeeper into a gateway — unleashing a world of opportunity.”
That must be a goal of every school in the nation.
Jim Cowen is the executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success, an Alexandria, Va., nonprofit. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
