It's 'MATH-ish' -- but is it math?

Stanford will not investigate a complaint accusing Education Professor Jo Boaler of “reckless disregard for accuracy” by misrepresenting research citations. The embattled professor claims her ideas on how to teach math are being "silenced" by right-wingers and misogynists as part of a campaign to "suppress researchers who study equity."

Boaler is fighting back with a new book, MATH-ish, writes Hechinger's Jill Barshay. The book calls for encouraging students "to take a guess and make mistakes, to step back and think rather than jumping to numerical calculations."

Traditional teaching turns students off to the wonder of math, Boaler argues. She wants students to explore math concepts rather than learning how to find right answers.

Her ideas, advanced through a Stanford-based nonprofit, youcubed, have been very influential.

In 2014, San Francisco public schools adopted Boaler's "equity" ideas, including eliminating advanced math in middle school and delaying algebra until ninth grade. She wrote that San Francisco was getting math right.

However, San Francisco Superintendent Matt Wayne declared the math curriculum “was not working,” after a Stanford study found no achievement gains for black and Hispanic students. After a voter revolt led by Chinese-American parents, the district plans to reinstate algebra for eighth graders this fall.

"Before that math experiment unraveled in San Francisco," writes Barshay, Boaler was chosen as one of the lead writers of California's new math framework, which would guide math instruction throughout the state. The first draft used San Francisco's detracking as a model, emphasized “social justice” and suggested that students could take data science instead of advanced algebra in high school.

Her critics called it “woke” mathematics, she writes. "The battle became personal, with some criticizing her for taking $5,000-an-hour consulting and speaking fees at public schools while sending her own children to private school."

Brian Conrad, a Stanford math professor, published a devastating critique of the framework, charging that it "seriously misrepresented" research to back up its assertions. "Sometimes the original papers arrive at conclusions opposite those claimed," he wrote.

Many of the research citations were dropped, and the framework was revised, writes Barshay. Boaler remained a target.

"From my perch as a journalist who covers education research, I see that Boaler has a tendency to overstate the implications of a narrow study," writes Barshay. "And she tends not to factor in evidence that runs counter to her views or adjust her views as new studies arise."

“People have raised questions for a long time about the rigor and the care in which Jo makes claims related to both her own research and others,” said Jon Star, a professor of math education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

But Star says many other education researchers have done exactly the same, and the “liberties” Boaler takes are common in the field. “That’s not to suggest that taking these liberties is okay,” Star said, “but she is being called out for it.”

Stephanie M. Lee reported on the challenges to Boaler's research in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Boaler "has at times misinterpreted studies and made bold assertions with scant evidence, experts say, empowering skeptics who fear that her proposals would water down math and actually undermine her goal of a more equitable education system."

Math achievement is low and getting lower across the country. I think we need reliable research on what teaching strategies are most effective.