Many school districts offer students the opportunity to take advanced courses in middle school. A new study by Carrie Miller and Meredith Phillips at the University of California, Los Angeles examined the long-term effects of this practice, finding that seventh graders who completed an advanced math course were more likely to enroll in advanced high school coursework and attend a four-year college.
The researchers studied the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), a district serving predominantly Latino and low-income students, focusing on students who entered seventh grade from 2015–16 to 2018–19. They analyzed longitudinal student data, including middle school standardized test scores, high school course-taking, and college enrollment. They compared students with similar prior academic performance and family background who either took advanced seventh-grade math or remained in the standard course.
Students in advanced seventh-grade math scored significantly higher on middle school math standardized tests, an effect that held across all student subgroups, though they earned somewhat lower math course grades. To understand what drove both of these effects, the researchers examined classmates’ prior achievement and teachers’ experience and credentials. They found that being surrounded by high-achieving peers accounted for nearly two-thirds of the test score gain and nearly all the grade dip. Even when the same teacher taught both the advanced and standard sections, students in the advanced section scored higher on standardized tests and received lower grades, suggesting that teachers grade, and likely teach, differently depending on who is in the room.
The effects extended well beyond middle school. Students who had taken advanced seventh-grade math were about 10 percentage points more likely to take calculus or a higher-level math course in high school. This early opportunity translated into greater college access, with students up to six percentage points more likely to enroll in a four-year college after high school.
Access to advanced middle school math is a form of academic tracking, which has long drawn criticism for widening educational inequities, particularly for low-income students and students of color. But in LAUSD, most of the students taking the advanced course were Latino and low-income. While some districts have tried to close achievement gaps among student groups by eliminating middle school tracking entirely, the authors note that doing so can inadvertently undermine long-term outcomes for already underrepresented students.
Instead, Miller and Phillips recommend expanding access by requiring every school to offer advanced seventh-grade math, creating enough sections to meet demand, and lowering strict test score and grade thresholds so nearly eligible students can enroll with targeted academic support. Doing so, they conclude, could allow a broader, more diverse group of students to benefit from challenging learning environments.