Article Reimagining Math Acceleration Tawana Stiff
David Wartowski
Jennifer Webber Likhite
Where We Were The harmful impacts our former system of math acceleration had on children were clear well before the pandemic. Students were stressed, racially segregated, and often lost their intrinsic motivation as mathematicians. The system implied that some students are good at math while others are not. Academic risktaking was not encouraged and speed was valued over deep learning. Over a decade ago, only a small percentage of students would take Geometry in 8th grade. It was a space only for the truly exceptional. Yet by 2019 nearly 20% of our students were moving at this pace—rushing through five years of standards in three years of middle school. A space that once had been intended for the truly exceptional had become normalized for part of the Evanston community. By 2019, nearly 1 in 3 White students were taking Geometry in 8th grade. Meanwhile, the number of students of color being extended this invitation was roughly 1 in 50. This system was not only excluding and stigmatizing students of color from what was perceived as the “smart track.” It was also harming mostly White and Asian
Julia Woodard
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