SANTA CRUZ – Instead of shooting paint-ball guns with friends or loafing at home, 15-year-old Nash McQuaide has spent a chunk of summer break hunkered down trying to solve algebraic equations.

Norval Broome wove through the maze of desks in classroom B 214 at King’s Fork High School. The test on conic sections was minutes away and most of his two dozen algebra II students were using the ...