The Mathematics of Opportunity: Advancing Social Justice Through Math Education

February 2-4, 2021

Just Equations’ third annual Mathematics of Opportunity conference brought a social justice lens to how education systems, colleges, schools, and teachers are implementing math pathways that enhance deeper learning and advance equitable outcomes.

Highlights Video

Sessions

Click on the to see more information about the session, including speakers, sponsors, and supporting materials.

Math and its Aftermath: Reimagining Data for Justice

To claim a role for equity in math education requires examining what happens in its wake. Students leave math classrooms and enter careers and communities where their prior math experiences influence the opportunities they can pursue. At the same time, the algorithms they learn are deployed in ways that have profound implications for social justice. Just Equations Executive Director Pamela Burdman introduces the conference and this opening session which inquires into the perils and possibilities of math education in a digital age. In the first half, Princeton University professor Ruha Benjamin speaks about Innovation, Race, and Imagination in the Data Age. Then, in Student Voices: The Promise of Data Science Education, former data science students reflect on their experiences, in conversation with Viviann Anguiano of the Center for American Progress.

Video

Speakers

Resources

• Branching Out: Designing High School Math Pathways for Equity
• Introduction to Data Science Brochure
• Introduction to Data Science Brochure (English and Spanish)

• Data Science 4 Everyone
• Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab
• The Messy Data Coalition

Sponsors

Keynote Dialogue: Centering Equity in Math Education

Math education too often operates in ways that exacerbate, rather than alleviate, educational inequities. Leading thinkers on equity and mathematics share insights on the imperative and possibility of ensuring math education serves the goal of educational justice.

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Speakers

Resources

• Equity in Motion: Math Assignment Analysis Guide
• Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Math Modeling Education
• Hard Truths: Why Only Race-Conscious Policies Can Fix Racism in Higher Education
• Social, Emotional, and Academic Development Through An Equity Lens

• A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction
• Black and Latino Students Shut Out of Advanced Coursework Opportunities
• Edge: The Power of a Black Teacher
• EduColor
• This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education 
• 20 Judgments a Teacher Makes in 1 Minute and 28 Seconds

Sponsors

Equity in Math Assessment: Implications for Policy and Practice

Tests are routinely used to rank and sort students, whether for course placement, scholarships, or college admission. And traditional multiple-choice exams and timed tests emphasize speed over depth and answer-getting over understanding. They also neglect the ways math can be generative, creative, or interpretive. What do new approaches to math assessment mean for classroom practice and education policy?

Video

Speakers

Resources

• Assessing College Readiness Through Authentic Student Work
• Restarting and Reinventing School: Learning in the Time of COVID and Beyond 
• Restarting and Reinventing School, Priority 3: Assess What Students Need
• Using Performance Assessments to Support Student Learning (Report)
• Using Performance Assessments to Support Student Learning (Research Brief)
• Crossing the River (Sample Problem)
• The Last Person Standing (Sample Problem)

• California Performance Assessment Collaborative
• Performance Based Assessment: Student Work Examples – Math
• Reimagining College Access: Performance Assessments From K-12 Through Higher Education

Sponsors

Social Justice Mathematics: Innovating for the Future

Learning math can offer students a way to understand, critique, and transform the world. In this session, researchers and educators continue building a shared conversation about teaching math for social justice: How can it contribute to math learning and educational equity? What are good strategies to advance its implementation in high schools and colleges?

Video

Speakers

Resources

• High School Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Respond to Social Injustice (Book)
• Social Justice Mathematics and Science Curricular Resources for K-12 Teachers

Sponsors

Disrupting Tracking in High School Mathematics

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has called for an end to the “insidious” practice of tracking students into “qualitatively different or dead-end course pathways.” But educational systems are still solving the challenge of how to do so. Education leaders and equity advocates discuss various district-level and state policy strategies that seek to ensure equal access to advanced high school math.

Video

Speakers

Resources

• Closing the Opportunity Gap:A Call for Detracking Mathematics
• High School Mathematics Is Not Working
• Mathematics Education Through the Lens of Social Justice
• Pursuing Equity and Excellence in Mathematics Course Sequencing and Placement in San Francisco
• SFUSD: Quick Facts about Math & Tracking
• Work to End Tracking and Offer Four Years of Meaningful Math Instruction 

• A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction
• For MLK Day, Educators Discuss Increasing Equity in Education
• Mia’s Mission to be a Mathematician (Book)
• Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project (Book)
• SFUSD Mathematics Department
• The Education Trust-West: Black and Latino Students Shut Out of Advanced Coursework Opportunities
• The Education Trust-West: College and Career Readiness
• The Gatekeepers: How School District Policies Can Open or Close the Door for Students to Take Advanced Coursework

Sponsors

New Research on Creating Inclusive Math Classrooms

The traditional architecture of mathematics opportunity is grounded in misconceptions about math ability and reinforced by the use of mathematics achievement to preserve privilege rather than provide preparation. Changing that requires building awareness of inequities and developing an understanding of how to restructure classroom environments and norms. Participants discuss new research into how to make math classrooms more inclusive and how to ensure those insights are implemented.

Video

Speakers

Resources

• Mind the Gap: How a Large-Scale Course Re-design in Economics Reduced Performance Gaps

• A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction
• Am I a “Math Person”? How Classroom Cultures Shape Math Identity Among Black and Latinx Students
• Expanding Visions of Success in Mathematics for Marginalized Students: Building More Equitable and Inclusive Mathematics Environments
• Findings from the Inclusive Mathematics Environments Early Career Fellowship
• Five Guiding Principles for Creating Inclusive Mathematics Environments (from the Inclusive Math Fellowship)
• Inclusive Mathematics Environments Working Papers 
• Mindset Scholars Network: Inclusive Mathematics Environments Early Career Fellowship

Sponsors

Implementing Postsecondary Math Pathways: Solving for Equity

Postsecondary systems around the country are redesigning math pathways to ensure all students can access college-level (rather than remedial) courses that are relevant to their interests or field of study. But though these changes are often adopted with equity goals in mind, whether or not they actually eliminate disparities will depend on how they are implemented. What design elements do leading researchers and practitioners say are necessary for success?

Video

Speakers

Resources

• A New Approach to Mathematics: Increased Success Rates for ALL Students at the University of Cincinnati

• Addressing Postsecondary Math Obstacles Faced By Underserved Students
• Still Getting There: How California’s AB 705 Is (and is not) Transforming Community College Remediation and What Needs to Come Next
• “Who Needs Remediation? No one, argues Alexandra W. Logue.”

Sponsors

Minding the Gate: Reshaping College Admissions for 21st Century Math

As education systems redesign math pathways to expand equitable college opportunity, admissions policies can pose unique obstacles. Traditional math requirements have long served as a gatekeeper to selective colleges as well as competitive majors. How can we ensure that the way math figures into the admissions process is as equitable as possible?

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Speakers

Resources

• Strengthening Ohio’s High School Math Pathways Overview

• 
  Featured course from UCLA Center X: Introduction to Data Science
• Revised mathematics (C) course policy for 2021-22 & beyond
• Statement on the Impact of Calculus on UC Admissions

Sponsors

Prioritizing Math Opportunity Through State Policy

Students’ math experiences can profoundly influence their lives beyond the classroom. And policy decisions by state officials, boards, and systems—in areas ranging from admissions and placement policies to curricular alignment and professional development—can have a dramatic effect on how equitably the doors to educational and career advancement are opened. Join state education leaders in considering how to leverage state policy to promote math equity. Then, Just Equations’ Executive Director Pamela Burdman shares closing remarks.

Video

Speakers

Resources

• A New Era of Student Access at California’s Community Colleges
• Emerging Solutions-It Takes a Village: Central Texas Mathematics Alignment Taskforce
• Launch Years: A New Vision for the Transition from High School to Postsecondary Mathematics 
• Louisiana Prospers: Driving Our Talent Imperative 

• Dana Center Mathematics Pathways
• Launch Years Initiative
• Louisiana Master Plan for Higher Education
• Louisiana Math Forward
• Multiple Paths Forward: Diversifying Math Pathways as a Strategy for College Success

Sponsors