Research shows that students who pass Algebra I by ninth grade are more likely to graduate high school, attend college, and earn higher salaries when they enter the workforce. Since math skills build on each other over successive grade levels, passing Algebra I is predicated on mastery of a lot of prior content, not least of which is eighth-grade-level material. But recent NAEP data indicate that this is not an area where U.S. students currently shine very brightly. What can be done to get students back on track for this vital inflection point in their education? A new report looks at the effectiveness of a curricular support effort to boost students to the algebra starting line.
A team of researchers from TNTP examined three years of data (2021–2024) from more than 2,200 students across the country who used an online learning platform called Teach to One Roadmaps (Roadmaps) developed by New Classrooms. (A disclaimer included in the report implies a connection between the TNTP and New Classrooms organizations related to this project, but the nature of it is unclear.) We are given minimal data on the students in the study but are told specifically that this is not a nationally-representative sample. All were enrolled in an official Algebra I class, with most (66 percent) in ninth grade at the time. The remainder took the class as tenth graders. Their unidentified schools tended to serve higher-than-average proportions of low-income students (as measured by free and reduced-price lunch status and levels of Title I funding) and to have more Black and Hispanic students (23 percent and 50 percent, respectively, on average) than white students (11 percent). While all students were enrolled in Algebra I, their readiness for algebra concepts varied widely based on a beginning-of-year diagnostic assessment within the Roadmaps program. TNTP’s analysis also includes Roadmaps students’ scores on their states’ end-of-year math test per grade level.
The key to Roadmaps, launched in fall 2020, is a rigorous adherence to what is termed the “algebra ladder.” That is, a hierarchy of math skills that reach all the way back to elementary school grade levels and build upon each other sequentially. Mastering skill “A” means one has the prerequisite knowledge to begin learning skill “B.” Years of student achievement data bears out the readiness designation. Each state’s math standards differ, but New Classrooms’ proprietary “algebra ladder” is based on their research into commonalities between many different hierarchies. Details are included in the TNTP report. With a brief initial assessment, the Roadmaps program determines which of the approximately 100 foundational skills[1] a student has mastered and which remain incomplete. Students then receive instruction on the missing skills via text, videos, and practice problems. Short formal assessments follow, with more-nuanced instruction and practice based on the results, until mastery is reached and students can move on to the next missing skill. Formal details on how the Roadmaps work integrates with ongoing classroom instruction in Algebra I are lacking in this report, and that seems important; but more on this in a moment.
First, the findings. Roadmaps assessment results (including both unsuccessful and successful attempts) show that algebra proficiency improves when students master missing algebra-related concepts and skills, especially those from prior grades. Just 7 percent of students who knew fewer than one-third of all the skills from their current and prior grade levels met the passing scores on their state’s math test. By contrast, once students knew around four-fifths of all skills, test passage rates went up to 75 percent or more. Even better, there are some specific early skills that appear to help students build to algebra success more readily than others. That is, mastering every skill is ideal, but if time is short, learning the “key predecessor skills” is a viable alternative highly correlated with test passage success. Finally, students can obtain mastery of specific Algebra I skills (those correlated with the foundational skills they already know) even if they don’t yet know other foundational skills correlated with different Algebra I skills. In fact, students working on the most advanced concept and skill that Roadmaps indicates they’re ready for—even with other knowledge gaps from earlier grade levels—made up ground the fastest compared to peers who started at the bottom and took the ladder one rung at a time.
It sounds like magic, or perhaps lightning in a bottle. More rigorous research will likely be the determining factor of true success (although this analysis is already an extension of a previous study conducted by a different organization with similar findings). But it’s also possible that Roadmaps has unlocked the “science of algebra” (if I may be so bold to coin this phrase), akin to the science of reading which is already shaking up old, bad literacy instruction habits in states across the country to the enormous benefit of students.
We get some glimpses into classroom implementation here (and in related web pages), but there are still too many unanswered questions raised by the report to allow for anything more than speculation at this remove. The program requires a high-quality shared curriculum across all math classes in all grades and extended or double blocks (80-90 minutes) of Algebra I daily. Can schools do that? Money is also likely a factor, both per pupil annual costs and professional development training for teachers who play a primary role in guiding student work through the program.
TNTP’s recommendations reach from the schoolhouse to the statehouse, all geared toward growing student access to Roadmaps. But even with a perfectly smooth policy environment at the highest levels, the changes required in schools and classrooms read like a big deal. However, as with science of reading, it seems that if students were able to reach grade level mastery earlier, less time would be needed for catch-up in later grades. In fact, if Roadmaps is given the time and implementation it needs to work its magic—and if it is indeed as magical as it sounds—more students could be ready for Algebra I sooner than ninth grade, thus getting more students on the path to even more advanced math like calculus and/or statistics in high school. An intriguing but incomplete analysis.
SOURCE: “Unlocking Algebra: What the Data Tells us About Helping Students Catch Up,” TNTP (May 2025).
[1] Teach to One Roadmaps’ total algebra ladder comprises approximately 150 skills: 100 foundational and fifty specific to Algebra I mastery. This is important to note since students are learning both types of skills at the same time in the Roadmaps program.
