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That would be a political goal (not having Equitable Math get framed) that is implemented by putting a cost, or at least a reduction of service, onto every chil

That would be a political goal (not having Equitable Math get framed) that is implemented by putting a cost, or at least a reduction of service, onto every child. Besides everyone knows what the real problem is: teachers not having decent levels at a bunch of subjects themselves, and not willing to improve. This is about saving money on the back of children, not about being equitable. Whilst there should be some allowance for high achievers and (very) low achievers that no teacher has much influence over, the average achievement of students is very much a property of the teacher, not so much of the students. This is about cheaper and less capable (not just in subject knowledge either) teachers, at any cost to children.

threatofrain 5y ago
> Besides everyone knows what the real problem is: teachers not having decent levels at a bunch of subjects themselves, and not willing to improve. It is not abnormal for Californian high schools, including in some of the prestigious areas mentioned in other posts, to have math classroom sizes of 40 children, with classroom size penalties ending in middle school. When classroom sizes get that big, the problem becomes one of classroom management (are children even listening now?) and targeting average performance. And then there is the matter of teacher pay. To have the credibility to convince the math faculty that you are ready to teach Calculus, you likely have a Masters in education and a Bachelors in math. Such a technical person may just have well earned a CS degree instead. Lastly, the students. The schools which are severely underperforming are those schools where absenteeism may be enormous... in all classes. This is not a matter of math teachers not being engaging or ambitious enough. One might merely volunteer at some schools in East Palo Alto to see some of this. These are problems which extend well beyond the school. I would also ask, if learning were just a matter of quality instruction, then what's wrong with Khan Academy? Khan Academy is a world class resource and it is delivering pedagogical wins. But something is missing.

threatofrain 5y ago

> Besides everyone knows what the real problem is: teachers not having decent levels at a bunch of subjects themselves, and not willing to improve. It is not abnormal for Californian high schools, including in some of the prestigious areas mentioned in other posts, to have math classroom sizes of 40 children, with classroom size penalties ending in middle school. When classroom sizes get that big, the problem becomes one of classroom management (are children even listening now?) and targeting average performance. And then there is the matter of teacher pay. To have the credibility to convince the math faculty that you are ready to teach Calculus, you likely have a Masters in education and a Bachelors in math. Such a technical person may just have well earned a CS degree instead. Lastly, the students. The schools which are severely underperforming are those schools where absenteeism may be enormous... in all classes. This is not a matter of math teachers not being engaging or ambitious enough. One might merely volunteer at some schools in East Palo Alto to see some of this. These are problems which extend well beyond the school. I would also ask, if learning were just a matter of quality instruction, then what's wrong with Khan Academy? Khan Academy is a world class resource and it is delivering pedagogical wins. But something is missing.