The state of California adopted new math standards that prioritize “meaning-making” and equity over traditional problem-solving.
According to Education Week, the “1,000-page framework aims to put meaning-making at the center of the math classroom, promoting a focus on problem-solving and applying math knowledge to real-world situations.”
“It also encourages teachers to make math culturally relevant and accessible for all students, especially students of color who have been traditionally marginalized in the subject,” Education Week continued.
The president of the California State Board of Education, Linda Darling-Hammond, said, “The United States has not been teaching math effectively or equitably. We are one of the lower-achieving countries … and California is below the national average in its achievement in mathematics.”
“The process has taken a long time, but it has allowed many voices to be heard and has resulted in a deeper, important understanding, better conversations, and provided insight into the complexities that we all must grapple with as we roll this out,” noted the chair of the curricular and improvement support committee Ellen Barger.
An early draft version of the document reportedly featured a section that linked to a document discussing “ethnomathematics.”
The content encouraged educators to “identify and challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views” and “expose students to examples of people who have used math as resistance,” among other concepts.
Reporting from Hot Air:
Another big topic covered by the new framework is math de-tracking. Basically this boils down to pushing all students to take Algebra in 9th grade instead of 8th grade which makes it harder for advanced students to get through Calculus in high school. There’s quite a backstory on this topic as well. De-tracking was adopted in San Francisco explicitly for social justice goals, i.e. improving the achievement gap between white and minority students. The state then decided to adopt the idea as part of the new math framework.
