Math Equity

Because balanced equations are racist or something?

An explicitly not-named group backed by various public school boards, universities, private organizations and funded in large part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have released “A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction”, which is a resource and guidance to “support Black, LatinX, and Multilingual students to thrive in grades 6-8.

“A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards. The Pathway offers guidance and resources for educators to use now as they plan their curriculum, while also offering opportunities for ongoing self-reflection as they seek to develop an anti-racist math practice. The toolkit “strides” serve as multiple on-ramps for educators as they navigate the individual and collective journey from equity to anti-racism.”

Of note, many of these “strides” are bland and academic sounding, which to many parents and others seems “professional” and due thereto the wokeness sprinkled throughout is accepted because it is written by “the experts”.

The “About” page describes itself thusly:

“This toolkit was developed by a team of teachers, instructional coaches, researchers, professional development providers, and curriculum writers with expertise in mathematics education, English language development, and culturally responsive pedagogy. (See collaborator bios).

“Recognizing the importance of helping educators to identify essential content for the 2020-21 school year, our team used Student Achievement Partners’ Instructional Priority Content in Mathematics as a foundational guide for sharpening our content focus for this toolkit. We also recognized that educators need support in shifting their instructional practices to provide meaningful access to priority content while ensuring that those practices are research- and assets-based, and culturally responsive. We drew upon the principles of the California English Learner Roadmap and the Position Statement of TODOS: Mathematics for All as key resources for the development of the tools.

“We also realize that the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color has exacerbated the historic and systemic inequities experienced by Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students. We therefore embraced the responsibility to simultaneously create equitable access to quality math instruction for 6th-8th graders in the 2020-2021 school year, while continuing to confront systemic racism and individual beliefs rooted in racism.”

They offer PDFs of their “strides” which can be downloaded (for now) here, or read below.

The PDFs of the lessons:

A Pathway to Equitable Math… by ThePoliticalHat