March is a time for hope. It’s a time for revival. It’s a time for March Mathness.
What’s that, you say? Well, it’s the time of the year when we look for promising ways state leaders, district officials, teachers, parents and families can come together to advance math education for their students. Here are my picks for the leading candidates:
The Automatic Bid
After running to last year’s title, automatic enrollment policies should still be at the top of any policymaker’s list. Due to their sheer simplicity and ability to scale, any school, district, or state leader could (and should!) use enrollment policies that automatically identify kids who show they are ready to succeed in advanced math opportunities. They’re also a great fit for the current moment, with little to no cost, growing evidence that they can help boost opportunities for under-served student groups, and enjoy strong bipartisan support. The latest Virginia bill, for example, was sponsored by a Democrat, passed a split Senate by a margin of 84-11, and was eventually signed by a Republican governor.
The Favorite
For anyone who paid attention to this year’s NAEP results, Alabama should be at the top of their watchlist. It was the only state where 4th graders did better in math in 2024 than their peers did in 2019.
So how did Alabama do it? I’d point to the Alabama Numeracy Act, which ran to the finals in our tournament last year. It’s a comprehensive bill that provides math coaches in every elementary school K-5, high-quality instructional materials, and, ultimately, interventions for any school where students continue to lag behind in math.
The Cinderella Story
Sticking with Alabama, the Summer Adventures in Learning (SAIL) program continues to impress. This program has been running strong since 2010, and last year its philanthropic partners provided $901,000 in funding to 38 programs in 68 locations across 20 Alabama counties. Out of the 2,300 students who participated last summer, 97% qualified for free- and reduced-price lunch. SAIL is also dedicated to measuring its impact, and its participants last year made the equivalent of 2.5 months of progress in math and one month in reading.
The Dark Horse
I call outcomes-based contracting as the “dark horse,” because you can’t see them or identify them upfront. The way they work is that they pay tutoring companies some portion of money upon signing, but the providers only earn continued payments if they’re able to keep students engaged and persistently attending tutoring sessions throughout the year.
Last year we highlighted Ector County, Texas for structuring their contracts this way, but the practice has since expanded to Orange County, Florida and the Uplift Education chain of charter schools, and the Southern Education Foundation is partnering with six more districts to spread the model further.
Math scores nationally are still behind where they were pre-pandemic, so there’s still lots of room for more states and districts to adopt these ideas or to pursue their own. Let the Mathness begin!
