RLS helps force San Francisco Unified School District to follow the law by discontinuing its use of math policies which created barriers for students from disadvantaged communities to access advanced math, stifled gifted students, and sabotaged college admission prospects for all.
“Ensuring fair and unbiased access to education is fundamental. This agreement removes a barrier arbitrarily placed against SFUSD students’ academic achievements,” stated Olivia K. Leary, attorney at Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver (RLS).
San Francisco, CA – May 29, 2025 – The San Francisco United School District (SFUSD) Board of Education has agreed to discontinue the use of its Mathematics Validation Test (MVT) and commit to full compliance with the California Math Placement Act. The District has also agreed to reinstate Algebra I for its 8th grade students, allowing students the opportunity to complete the math curriculum required for college. This decision follows a petition brought by multiple District students, the Friends of Lowell, and the Asian American Legal Foundation.
For several years, students and parents have criticized SFUSD for using a nearly-impossible-to-pass “Math Validation Test” (MVT) as the sole gateway for students to access more advanced math courses when entering high school, regardless of prior performance and academic achievements. Further, the MVT set an almost impossible passing standard for students by testing them on concepts far more advanced and unrelated to the subject they were attempting to test out of. In practice, the MVT failed almost every student who took it, ensuring that almost no student could advance in math more quickly than the pace imposed by the District. The result was that the only students who could gain access to advanced courses, like calculus, were those with the financial means to take classes outside of the District’s curriculum. Ironically, although the MVT was supposedly created to promote “equity,” in the end it disadvantaged the very groups it sought to protect.
The petitioners, a group of parents and interested nonprofits, successfully achieved a resolution with SFUSD mandating the District implement a math placement system that utilizes multiple unbiased means to determine 9th grade math course assignments. It also requires the District to establish a system to allow students to appeal placement, as required by state law, and reinstates the offering of Algebra I for 8th grade students.
“It is important that our students’ education not be used as pawns in some supervisor’s political agenda. With this agreement, SFUSD is required to comply with the provisions of the Act and allow all students to fairly demonstrate their proficiency and progress through the math curriculum most appropriate for their academic achievement,” said Christine Linnenbach, President of Friends of Lowell Foundation.
“This agreement essentially requires the District to follow the laws that have been in place, but ignored by the District, for years,” said RLS Attorney Olivia K. Leary.
The Math Placement Act requires that all public schools use multiple objective academic measures to determine that students are placed into an appropriately challenging math course. For some students, that is Algebra I, and for some students it should be either a more challenging or less challenging course, according to their abilities. Should a parent or student object to their child’s placement, the Act requires the District to provide a system for prompt and clear recourse to appeal this placement. However, for years, it is alleged in the action that due to political reasons the District forced all students into Algebra I regardless of ability, causing some to flunk out and others to be held back. In the effort to keep all students together in the same class, regardless of merit, the District used the Math Validation Test to prevent gifted students from advancing past Algebra I.
Many studies have shown that taking Algebra I prior to high school is a critical step directly impacting a student’s advantages in college admissions, especially students intending to apply for competitive STEM programs. However, beginning in 2014, the District decided to stop offering Algebra I to any students prior to 9th grade, and created the MVT as a barrier to impede those who dared try to advance on their own. Per the District’s own statements at the time, this policy was done in an effort to stop students from being separated into different math courses based on academic success, which often correlated on certain racial lines. Following the institution of this policy, Algebra I would be taught later, in 9th grade. The District refused to accept credits from outside of SFUSD, students who already took Algebra I at another school or through another program were required to retake Algebra I upon entering 9th grade, unless they passed the District’s MVT. Due to the importance of Algebra I, many advanced students with the financial means to do so, sought to take Algebra I through another program and demonstrate proficiency by taking the MVT to test into a more advanced math curriculum upon entrance into 9th grade. The gifted students without the financial means were unfairly left behind without recourse for the District’s decisions.
“Although the District may have had admirable goals to reduce racial disparity in its math courses, the means by which they sought to achieve this seemed to accomplish nothing and unfairly prejudiced deserving students. It appears that the District intentionally set students up to fail by refusing to recognize students’ completion of Algebra I outside the District courses and insistence on the use of their MVT, which seemingly tested students’ proficiency for Algebra I with irrelevant and much more advanced mathematics concepts. The District used the MVT to intentionally hold all students back from advancing any faster than their imposed pace. We are pleased that the District apparently recognized the inequity in its policies after the Petitioners brought their action and have agreed to comply with the Math Placement Act.” Leary added.
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