Last month I wrote about how American public education is entering a new era, and that demands needs a new playbook. For the next few years, policymakers should look for no- or low-cost reforms, that have a strong evidence base, and which are relatively simple to implement.
Today I’m going to highlight automatic enrollment policies. They check all three of the boxes.
First, automatic enrollment policies have very little upfront costs. All 8th graders have to take a math class, but which one should they take? Essentially, automatic enrollment policies ask schools and districts to use data they already have to identify students who are ready for more of a challenge. It’s a shift from an opt-in to an opt-out mindset. Instead of making students nominate themselves, schools use the objective data at their disposal to find students who are ready to be successful in those courses. That’s it. It’s a simple idea.
Second, this modest policy change can have a direct effect on students. After North Carolina adopted its version of an automatic enrollment policy, it increased the number of high-scoring students who got access to accelerated courses, and it narrowed equity gaps across racial and ethnic lines. Texas has a more expansive version, opening access to advanced courses to students who score in the top 40% on the state’s 5th grade math test. Early results showed similar gains in access for students who didn’t even know the accelerated pathways existed.
Those proof points helped automatic enrollment policies win last year’s March Mathness tournament spotlighting the most promising ideas for improving student outcomes in math. Automatic enrollment policies have gone on to further wins this spring. Virginia passed a version earlier this year with wide bipartisan support and is awaiting the governor’s signature. The Indiana House approved its own version 90-0 earlier this spring.
What are the downsides or risks of automatic enrollment policies? The biggest one is that they don’t directly improve early grade math scores. It might help students to have a clear benchmark to shoot for to qualify for advanced math courses, but the target alone may not be enough to disrupt existing patterns. There are also technical challenges about where precisely to set the cut score, but ExcelInEd’s model policy has some important elements around providing student support, tracking data, and allowing for parents to opt out if they want.
In other words, automatic enrollment policies are a perfect fit for the current environment. They cost little to no money but have large upside in ensuring more students have access to accelerated math opportunities.
To learn more about automatic enrollment policies, including resources, champions, and print-outs, start with this page on EduProgress.org.
