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

＂Acceleration and tracking are not the same thing. Tracking sorts students into qualitatively different pathways, where some are and some are not on track to go to a four year institution - where the ＂smart kids＂ get treated as those to preference and accelerate and the ＂average kids＂ or ＂low kids＂ are left to lag, or to fend and fight based on their own community’s and family’s resilience and understanding of institutional education. We as authors believe that the literature of tracking and acceleration are conflated. Tracking does harm, and acceleration can provide access if the classes are kept as heterogeneous as possible. Educators, journalists, researchers, parents, and activist groups need to stop conflating these terms, and treating them as synonymous＂--

The authors of this book have been the ones in the trenches leading SFUSD through its de-tracking journey, documenting and reporting the research outcomes, and sharing their success story nationally.

Lizzy Hull Barnes, M.Ed, is the Supervisor Mathematics and Computer Science at San Francisco Unified School District. She has taught math to preschool through 5th-graders in schools around the Bay Area and has supported the learning of adults in Louisiana and fellow teachers and coaches in San Francisco. Hull Barnes has presented her work from SFUSD at multiple conferences including Council of Great City Schools, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, California Math Council, and the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. She has published articles in EdSource and Catalyzing Change published byNational Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Ho Nguyen, M.Ed., is the Program Administrator for the math and computer science department 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 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.

Angela Torres, M.Ed., is a Professional Learning Coordinator for the UC San Diego Mathematics Project. Previously, for almost a decade, Torres served as a Math Content Specialist in San Francisco Unified School District where she supported secondary math teachers through professional development and coaching. She has recently been a lecturer at Stanford University for secondary teacher candidates, including seminars on Race, Class & Identity in schools and Assessment for Learning and Equity. She has presented work from the SFUSD math team at multiple conferences including the California Math Council, the Council of Great City Schools, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, and TODOS: Mathematics for All. Torres has articles published in the California Math Council’s ComMuniCator, Working Towards Equity through Core Values, and a co-authored piece for a Case Study in Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics, Work to End Tracking and Offer Four Years of Meaningful Math Instruction.

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. Wentworth has served on the founding steering committee for the National Network of Education Research Practice Partnerships, and in 2020 received the Alumni Excellence in Education Early Career Award 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, and Teachers College Press.