At my public school in Massachusetts (yikes, those schools in CA sound really competitive!) one class of around 24 students (240 total in the grade) take Algebra I in 8th grade. A good number, but not all, move directly into Geometry in 9th grade. That’s the only acceleration path at our middle school. For those students who take or need to re-take Algebra I in 9th grade, they can double up in 10th grade with Geometry and Algebra II if they hope to get to Calculus in high school.