This study used the Eccles et al. expectancy-value (E-V) theory to test the influence of motivation on mathematics achievement and enrollment using data from a cohort of 926 seventh-grade prealgebra students (49% male, 76% Hispanic, 76% low income, and 55% English learner). E-V beliefs were assessed in seventh grade along with achievement, and…

Current educational policies in the United States attempt to boost student achievement and promote equality by intensifying the curriculum and exposing students to more advanced coursework. This paper investigates the relationship between one such effort -- California's push to enroll all 8th grade students in Algebra -- and the distribution of…

Background/Context: Across the United States, secondary school curricula are intensifying as a growing proportion of students enroll in high-level academic math courses. In many districts, this intensification process occurs as early as eighth grade, where schools are effectively constraining their mathematics curricula by restricting course…

In this paper, the authors investigate the consequences of curricular intensification by examining changes in the social organization of schooling and student achievement in one California school district. The authors' analyses consider the following three research questions: (1) What effect did 8th grade curricular intensification have on…

A national initiative encourages STEM careers to prepare students to succeed in an increasingly competitive economy (National Research Council, 2011). The STEM pipeline is dependent on students' mathematics course-taking trajectories, which are determined once a student enrolls in his/her first Algebra course. Despite efforts to increase access to…