Dive Brief:
- Students who opt into calculus are typically those looking to pursue a STEM career or major — if they can even get into the class. Even then, there are often gatekeeping measures in place that can prevent interested students from signing up, making the process inequitable.
- Often, teachers are the ones who grant students permission to sign up for the advanced class or not, said Adrian Mims, founder and CEO of the Calculus Project. If they’re on the fence, they may require that students score high enough on an entrance exam or force families to petition the school to override the recommendation.
- “Too many math departments try to discourage students and their families from overriding the teachers' course recommendations,” Mims said, adding that this occurs mostly in suburban school districts. “I worked in one district where the course override process was three pages and required the parents to jump through ridiculous hoops that disproportionately discouraged more Black and Hispanic families than White families.”
Dive Insight:
There are several ways educators and schools can shift their practices to ensure that opportunities for advanced math courses — including calculus — are more equitable for all students, said Mims. One is to have all sections of the same course, such as Algebra Honors, use the same syllabi and grading criteria.
One teacher may not consider homework completion and class participation part of the grading process, but another might. That may lead one student in one section to get a B while another may get a C. Yet, both students have the same ability to succeed in upper-level math classes.
Another change Mims suggests is that educators review their recommendations for advanced math classes at the end of the year. Teachers, he said, typically make course recommendations in the middle of the semester. However, a student can improve their grade between then and the end of the term.
“How many teachers will go back and change the recommendation for next year?” asked Mims. “And even if the teacher changes the recommendation, is the master schedule flexible enough to allow the change to occur?”
Founded in 2009, The Calculus Project works to expand the pathways for advanced math for all students of color and pupils who are economically disadvantaged. As founder, Mims sees advanced math as a marker for future economic success. The organization has worked with more than 10,000 students in Florida and Massachusetts to open doors to honors and advanced math classes.
For Mims, it’s critical that educators consider whether they’re acting as gatekeepers. Giving them the training they need to remove their inequitable practices is necessary so all students are able to move forward, said Mims.
“Teachers need professional development around unconscious bias, so they can avoid making course recommendations based on race, class, gender and the perceived socio-economic status of students,” said Mims.
