Defining Math in Seattle Public Schools

There's an elective math course at Garfield High School  labeled "BUSINESS MATH 130" that look straightforward in the course listings but there's a lot more to it than "business math."

BUSINESS MATH 130

Credits: 0.5 credit/semester

Grade(s): 11 and 12

Length of Course: Two Semesters Prerequisite: Algebra 1 and Geometry Average Weekly Homework:
Graduation Requirement Satisfied: Math

Graduation Requirement Satisfied: Math

This college in high school course fulfills the 3rd year math graduation requirement as well as being an alternative pathway to graduation for students who opted out of state testing or did not meet the level 3 requirement. Students may also choose to pay for and earn 5 credits for BUS130 from Edmonds College. 

So the students can take a college-level Business Math course through Edmonds College on their own dime OR take the Mathematics for Liberation course at Garfield High? One thing is not like the other despite the stated title of the class in the Garfield Course listings. 

Editor's note: the Edmonds College class costs $215 total with no cost for transportation or books.  Here's their course description:

Instruction and review of basic math functions to prepare students for business classes. Ratio-proportion, percents, estimating, basic algebra, trade/cash discounts, promissory notes, credit terms, and other consumer related activities.

I have asked Edmonds about this issue and am waiting to hear back. What is interesting is that the WA Ethnic Studies Now Twitter page puts up a logo for both Garfield and Edmonds including the Edmonds' logo and "College in the High School", which might infer that the "Mathematics for Liberation" course at Garfield would earn you college credit. And it won't.  

Here's the class description for the Garfield course, Mathematics for Liberation: 

No matter what route students take after high school, there will be aspects of their life that require mathematics. Mathematics for Liberation engages students in mathematical discourse and critical analysis. This course is designed to prepare students to actively engage in mathematical analysis when looking at data & statistics in any field of study, use mathematical discourse as a process for critical thinking, and support the search for liberation through the study of mathematics. Much of the content of the course will be co-created with students based on interest & current events. Example units include:
    • The Election Cycle: The mathematics of political campaigns & races
    • Tax Justice: Studying & reforming American tax structures to move towards a just tax system that benefits the people
    • Housing in America: How mathematics played a critical role in creating houselessness & generational poverty
    • Funding Structures: The ways in which mathematics are used to benefit some while oppressing others
One of the goals of this course is to redefine and interrogate the definition of a mathematician from a socially constructed perspective. This course develops the notion that all people have the ability to identify as mathematicians.  
 
As such, this course contains a year- long independent study project. Students will self-select a topic of interest (cooking, video games, nursing, airplanes, etc.) and will be asked to research the mathematics of this topic. Each student will be required to have a mentor, other than the instructor, who will support their mathematical studies by signing off on the bi-weekly updates. By the end of semester 1, students will submit a completed project proposal & will present their independent study project as the final project for the year.

From an article in the South Seattle Emerald about the teacher, Shraddha Shirude:

Fliers for Ms. Shirude’s elective class posted around Garfield’s hallways advertised that students would seek to, “understand our world through a mathematical lens.” The flier listed diverse modules of study within the yearlong class: political science, business and finance, arts and culture, health and fitness, and technology. It also listed the four ethnic studies themes that can be interwoven through any class, K–12:
  • Identity & Origins
  • Power & Oppression
  • Resistance & Liberation
  • Reflection & Action
Like Running Start, students will receive both high school and college credit for taking Ethnic Studies Math.

That last statement is from the article in the South Seattle Emerald and is factually untrue. Students will not get college credit unless they take the Edmonds College course.

The Garfield course says students will "engage in mathematical analysis when looking at data & statistics" but this isn't a data or statistics course or can a student assume that will be part of the course?

Also somewhat troubling is that the first unit of the course is called “The Election Cycle: The mathematics of political campaigns & races.” Students looked at city issues they are concerned about and made recommendations for the best candidate. 

There are many guides online about teaching about politics, campaigns, voting, analyzing issues, etc. for high school students. But there aren't many that put out voting guides which is what this class did.  Generally, you can't use school resources to tell people how to vote. See this page at the PDC:

No elective official nor any employee of his or her office nor any person appointed to or employed by any public office or agency may use or authorize the use of any of the facilities of a public office or agency, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition

Other items of interest from the PDC (bold mine):

Public facilities may not be used to support or oppose a candidate or ballot proposition. RCW 42.17.555. Facilities include school district equipment, buildings, supplies, employee work time, and district publications. The statute includes an exception to the prohibition for "activities which are part of the normal and regular conduct of the office or agency.”

School districts are charged with education and instilling civic virtue.

The combination of a number of activities into a coordinated campaign involving close coordination between district activities and citizens' committee activities which closely resembles traditional election campaign activities and which is targeted at and/or occurs close in time to a school district ballot measure election is likely to draw close scrutiny and careful consideration by the PDC as to whether a violation has occurred.

From reading the students' voters guide, it doesn't appear that they coordinated their endorsements with any campaign.

Also at PDC:

Is the school project student-initiated? The answer to that would be no.

Teachers shall not assign school projects to students that require creating or distributing materials to influence an election’s outcome. Well, that would be a yes especially since after the students finished, the teacher published the recommendations outside of the school on Facebook and encouraged others to share it.

I don't think this course stepped over the line with the PDC but comes pretty darn close. 
 
I'm not against ethnic studies or overlapping topics within one course. But a math course should be primarily about math. A school should be clear on what classes can earn college credit. 

You may recall another issue I wrote about a couple of months ago about the use of the word "liberation" in SPS.  In that case, a press release about the birthday of George Floyd said this:

Learn more about our Department of Liberatory Education on our website.

That department is really the Department of Racial Equity Advancement - DREA - and yet the district has a press release calling it by another name. Curious.

Comments

Anonymous said…
At 12:30 today, Garfield High school has been evacuated for a bomb threat. Kids are outside. I cannot see anything on the PSD blotter. Do you know where else we can look for information?

Bulldog Parent
Anonymous said…
Nice sleuthing!!! I saw some seemingly random screenshots about this come up in the SPS Resources FB group and now I’m connecting the dots.

Also seems like a topic that the State Auditor would be interested in given that the teachers time and other resources are publicly funded and this is illegal under the State Constitution. The public interest here, education, should stop at class projects and not serve a purpose to benefit any individual or campaign.

Also how disingenuous to advertise a course as receiving college credit, when that’s not true.

Cannot wait until my high schooler can participate in Running Start away from this nonsense. My kid struggles enough with math; calling it racist isn’t setting anyone up for the skills they need for success.

-Section 7
RCW States said…
Thanks, Melissa.

It is abundantly clear that a Seattle Public School teacher is using students to create and disseminate a voting guide for political purposes. Washington State Ethnic Now founder has posted the voting guide to a public site. The voting guide has been shared with additional social media sites.

As the law states, public school resources should not be used to promote political campaigns.

Legal needs to weigh in.
Anonymous said…
I don’t think anyone is calling math racist, but it has been used as a convenient gateway or barrier subject, throughout the educational system, and its stratification has created barriers to advancement for many students. Expanding the subject, both theoretically and practically, can increase participation and understanding. As for the connection between math and politics. Well, there is a lot of math in politics, in demographics, analytics, statistics etc and students should have the opportunity to make those connections.

All is well

All is Well, I actually have heard people say the WAY math is taught is racist but that's not part of this story at all. And I didn't say that at all.

As I said, I have no problem with interdisciplinary teaching because as the teacher says, many kids have a bad idea in their head about math.

I also didn't say anything about politics not using math.

What I said is that this math class and its description is confusing vis a vis the course at Edmonds College, seems to infer that it is a college credit course (it's not) and puts out a voting guide naming people to vote for. Which again, goes against PDC regulations.
Anonymous said…
@mw

I was actually referring to Section 7’s comment about math being racist.

All is well
Anonymous said…
Sounds like a pretty amazing math class. Nice alternative to offer. Love the multi-disciplinary approach. More of what I'd expect in a private school - pretty impressive that its being offered at Garfield.

BLUE SKY
Marc Auerbach said…
I find your post to be narrow-minded. I welcome new ways of teaching math that connect math to the things we experience in the world. For some students, I would imagine a course like this could have a powerful positive impact on their academic trajectory. I think we all know that many, many students (and teachers) struggle with math as it is conventionally taught. I myself was a very strong student but lagged in math, in part because I didn't see it's relevance. This class would have definitely been of interest to high school me. I'm trying to understand why you're so invested in attacking this effort.
Anonymous said…
Using math as a ridiculous barrier to educational furtherance is what's "racist", more than any given instructional pedagogy. How much math is really needed to become an educated functioning adult, even in a STEM field? Not much. Quantitative reasoning, arithmetic fluency, basic algebra and geometry, all practical and useful for students. But theoretical math really now is a gateway for its own sake and should be optional instead of being graduation requirements. The colleges are mostly to blame for this outsized importance given to 1 field. It is a cultural value to place such high prestige on theoretical mathematics, replete with formulaic "proofs" of very little practical value or usefulness - ever. Who does the most poorly in math on our standardized math testing? By ethnic breakdown of all our standardized scores - it appears to be black students. Instead of making a lot of inferences of poverty, "achievement gap", or any other stereotype - isn't the more reasonable assumption more plausible? Theoretical mathematics isn't a practiced cultural value for many people of color, and it also is not a cultural value for a great many white students as well. The Math Myth and research from UW is a testament to our mindless pursuit and elevation of math standards as contrary to the interest and well being of students. The standards were proposed as some odd parity measure with other countries educational values. There's no real reason for us to go down that path too. I think its great that someone is teaching actual practical mathematics that matters. Quantitative reasoning and politics are a great example of an important use of quantitative reasoning; it shouldn't be dismissed as political interference.

If it's true that college credit claims are fallacious, well that's a huge disservice to students. And the claims of this teacher also seem hyperbolic. Her basic idea seems good - and sorta good that the administration hasn't gotten in her way. But her claims (included below) take a good thing too far, and aren't completely accurate. The history of mathematics isn't particularly a whites only field. Algebra and our numeric system is the invention of brown people. It would be pretty hard to do much mathematical reasoning with the number system the white Europeans came up with - Roman numerals.

-Mathy

Shirude:
“Woke math means waking up to see our own internalized white supremacy, waking up to see how we perpetuate white supremacy in our daily engagements in the math classroom, waking up to the idea that the reason the mathematics world is filled with white men is because we have allowed ourselves to believe that only a certain caliber of human (wealthy, white male) is capable of truly understanding how the world functions, thus allowing that caliber of human to control everything.”


Blue Sky, plenty of public high schools have courses on civics/social studies that include examinations of politics and, of course, use math. It's no manna from private schools.

Marc, you are a writer, no? I assume that means you are a reader. I didn't say I was against this class or how it's presented (except the voting guide). I'm not even "attacking" it. I'm pointing out that the class offered through Edmonds is very different both in content and presentation than the GHS one. Putting them together also implies that you can get college credit for the GHS one and students cannot. I also point out that pushing out that voters guide - one that tells people who to vote for - gets very close to violating PDC regulations. The teacher pushed this guide out into the world and it turned up in several places before the election.

Mathy, if you read the Edmonds' class description, it aligns with what you are saying about what the average person needs math for in their daily life. Not to say that knowing how data and stats are used especially in elections isn't important; it is. And I see you said that as well.

And where did you get that quote from the teacher?
Anonymous said…
Sounds like more story problems pretending to be math. This has been going on for decades in SPS with conceptual approaches replacing math that prepares students well for college.
Both of our sons struggled with these abstract story problems. They would have done far better with straight forward equations and enough practice to become proficient.
Anonymous said…
Eyeroll. Of course Johnny does better following rote formulas than actually applying thinking. Of course anybody would do better with the easy stuff than with actual deep understanding. Schools need to aim higher than that. Math is about concepts (and those are words) not arithmetic.

https://www.westernjournal.com/wokeness-comes-mathematics-academics-saying-225/
Here's where the teacher's comment about white supremacy in all the other math classes. Other eyeroll. CRT really is here in our public schools contrary to media commentary. Best to get in front of it. The pendulum will swing back one day, and it won't be pretty for democrats.

Mathy


Patrick said…
Mathy - The math requirement for graduation from Seattle Schools is just 3 years of math. The first two years are algegra I and geometry. The third year is usually algebra II for students who are contemplating any of the STEM fields, but there are other options including a good consumer math course, and a course in probability. Scheduling these options may be a challenge, but they do exist.

I'm not sure what your phrase "theoretical math" means. Any of the math taught in high school has been in use for a very long time - middle ages for algebra, 1600s for calculus. Set theory that's dabbled in a little bit in some elementry schools is newer, in the late 1800s.

A lot of people recommend calculus, and calculus is very useful in most STEM fields. There are some hard concepts there and some aspects that are not hard conceptually but need a lot of intuition and practice to solve problems, like the harder integration techniques. A student who wants to go into STEM cannot ignore it forever - by not taking it in high school, they only get to take it at greater expense in a faster-moving class in college.

Even the introductory courses in a lot of the STEM fields call for mastery of Algebra II and some calculus. You could probably take algebra II and calculus freshman year of college and then take your other STEM intro classes starting sophmore year, but it slows you down and makes it more likely you'll need 5 years to graduate.

I remember being pretty tired of all the math examples taken from artillery when I was taking geometry and calculus. Cannonballs at various velocities and angles first, then with calculus moving on to rockets where the rocket becomes lighter as it uses fuel and thrusts at changing angles throughout its course. It's a classic example, but I did wish that sometimes we'd study examples that weren't raining death on some hapless target.

Perhaps you'll be glad to know that proofs in geometry were dismissed with a skippable appendix at the end of the geometry textbook for high school geometry (at Roosevelt, about six years ago). That made me terribly sad. To me, proofs are the reason to study geometry. It's a way of introducing the student to symbolic logic which is useful for realizing when someone is making a good case or when that case is really full of holes.
Anonymous said…
Right Patrick. Areas of inquiry like “integration by parts” and taking the limits of whatever when whatever have been around for centuries as areas of interest in European culture and academic traditions. All good and interesting, and fine to study. But yes, you absolutely can ignore them forever in nearly all STEM fields, except that the colleges use them as arbitrary barriers placed on students for admissions and more. The point. European cultural barriers designed to exclude others. Eg. I bet your doctor doesn’t remember LHospital’s rule or any bit of calculus often seen as a requirement for admissions to selective colleges. Heck, ask any middle school teacher (non math) the how to calculate the volume of a cone. That’s a middle school standard. And nobody knows even that. Obviously it’s not so important. Knowing a lot of math and having fluency with math (that you will never use) is absolutely equated with basic intelligence and intellectual capacity. I don’t have a problem with the study of math. But quantitative thinking and application are things all students need. So. It’s an intriguing class at Garfield I would support. I’d be happier if the teacher didn’t overplay her hand and engage in cultural wars… and call everyone White Supremacists. But hey, the pendulum on CRT (and this an example of that) is on the minds of the electorate, and it won’t be pretty.

Mathy

PS. I liked geometry proofs too. Certainly not the easiest or best way to teach logic.
Parent said…
I’ve worked in software companies for many years, including hiring and managing engineers, testers, IT, product managers, program managers, and project managers.

At some point, I generally stopped interviewing people that did not have a Bachelor of Science degree. The reason is that I found that people who had earned a Bachelor of Science degree generally solve technical problems better than people who received a Bachelor of Arts.

I would expect everyone that I’ve hired for a technical role to be able to pass a calculus class, or a programming class, or a physics class, or a mechanical engineering class. That doesn’t mean they’ve done so, but it means they should be able to do so.

Kids in SPS have 13 years to study math. If in 13 years SPS can’t get kids through a year of introductory Calculus, then I believe SPS has failed.
Anonymous said…
Even more troubling than the overtly political and grossly inappropriate "Math for Liberation" course description is the dreadful quality of work on display. I'm grateful our kids have not been assigned this teacher (so far anyway) who is evidently less interested in the teaching of math than in the teaching of her activism.

GHS Parent
Anonymous said…
This class looks super cool. It may pull in students who have always wondered if math was for them and it one of the few civics classes I've seen. Bravo for this teacher. It's so hard to reach kids who have zoned out. There may be some issues to work out but she should be applauded!
Anonymous said…
@Anonymous, yeah and part 2 of the class can talk about campaign rule violations, the ethics of using public goods for private purposes, and how frivolous lawsuits drain more resources away from education. Building quite the little racket, there!

Boondoggie
Anonymous said…
Melissa- This revamping math subject and national movement and controversy in the educational section of the NYT today (Nov 10th). The article included multiple links for readers to get caught up on what is going on. I am a progressive on most issues, but I do think it is helpful for readers to be open minded reading all sides of this debate. We tend to stay in our bubbles.

The NYT education article today links to this CA letter below which is signed by tons of scientists who are very upset about the movement to change teaching traditional math as it is "white supremist and racist". These arguments confuse me though as there are plenty of non-European and Asian countries that teach traditional math. But in the US these scientists feel it will do the opposite of it's intention and will not benefit BIPOC students. If other countries, private schools & wealthy districts still teach traditional math, I do think it creates a two tier educational system. I agree with the view it is harmful.

https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?campaign_id=174&emc=edit_csb_20211110&id=13658&instance_id=45039&nl=education-briefing&regi_id=105205397&segment_id=74017&te=1&user_id=1f94d65a70eea3d48b0f431ef25053e2

An observer
An Observer, I could not read the original NY Times story but I did read the one with the comments. Fascinating. Here are some:

“Public schools cannot leave 50 to 90 percent of the children behind!” a reader from Brooklyn wrote. “Largely white and Asian gifted-talented programs should make more parents squirm!”

“Shortly after SFUSD announced that they were eliminating algebra in the eighth grade and detracking, everyone I was done,” a parent wrote of the San Francisco school district. “Even my most stereotypically woke and progressive friends have had enough and are sending their kids to private schools.”

“I am a faculty member in the Princeton math department and a practitioner of some pretty advanced calculus,” a reader from Princeton, N.J., wrote. “Calculus is less useful and less ubiquitous than linear algebra and statistics in every STEM discipline. Calculus is fetishized as this glorious capstone subject for advanced students, but I really believe that this is a consequence of the historical structure of math education and not a well thought out policy.”

“Drawing examples from topics like racism, where mathematical arguments are used to show or reject disparities, could help inoculate the next generation against the kind of sophistry so often employed in political arguments nowadays, a socially valuable goal,” a California reader wrote. “De-tracking, however, is another matter, and I regard it as a terrible idea. True, everyone can get better at anything with practice, and disparities sometimes reflect unfair differences in privilege or opportunity, but that doesn’t mean some people aren’t innately gifted at math, as others are innately gifted at basketball or painting or music.”

So a couple of things to remark on from these comments.

The first two, of course, kind of self-cancel each other but they point to one big question for parents in public schools: what is your responsibility to other students in your child's class, school or even the district?

I would agree that more parents should stand up for better classes for all but parents have little say in curriculum and especially teaching. And, of course, SPS is trying its own experiment in focusing on Black boys. What I have to wonder is who will get blamed if this experiment doesn't work?

What I believe is what I would call "purposeful math" is what should be taught to all students, K-12, with higher level offerings for those who want them. By purposeful math, I mean relating math to everyday life. All of life IS math and science and showing kids the truth in that really would interest them. I also mean students learning how math relates to living life as a productive human. What is a budget, interest, how do you get a home loan, etc. Fundamentals that do NOT get taught in all homes. Imagine how much better kids could live their lives if they understood the real costs of student loans and interest.

And that last commenter's last sentence? Yup, but in SPS it is smackdown time to say some kids have natural academic gifts but you can, of course, say some kids are gifted in music or sports.

Anonymous said…
@ Melissa- The open letter in The Independent to Governor Newsom signed (link above) by 1163 CA scientists, scholars etc against this movement that feels math curriculum is "white supremist and needs to change" was more illuminating for me than the NYT article. They made important counter points about potential negative outcomes towards achieving equity and towards second language speakers etc. I apologize for the long link above. I will also link to the NYT article for those who have subscriptions, but readers do check out the links as well to read multiple views of this CA debate. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/us/california-math-curriculum.html

An Observer
Parent said…
The reality is that an English degree or philosophy degree or undergraduate business degree generally doesn’t pay as much as a computer science or engineering degree or science degree. For example, a graduate degree in social work costs $112K in debt from USC (the program requires a C+ GPA for admissions) with an average annual salary of $52K two years after graduation. That compares with $40K starting for flipping burgers at Dicks.

Equity activists realize equity can’t just be about ending the standardized testing requirements to graduate high school and for college admissions because selective university STEM departments still “select” students either through competitive department admissions and/or through tough graduation requirements and grading.

The activists that run Seattle Public Schools and other districts don’t want some kids taking advanced math in K12 because that gives them an unfair advantage for getting a STEM degree. For example, I have a relative at the UW that recently graduated from SPS, had planned for a degree in the sciences, but now plans to pursue a career in social work, because the required UW math classes are too hard and there is stiff competition to be admitted to the STEM departments.

Dumbing down math in SPS is real. When my son took fifth-grade math in SPS, it was tough, and he had a few couple hours of homework a week. By the time he took algebra II, there was very little if any homework because the principal said homework was not equitable. My daughter is currently taking Algebra I and has a perfect score in the class, which is not saying much because as of November 11, there have been three quizzes this year, and no tests. Generally, the quizzes have been 3 or 4 questions long. Also, no homework. Call it what you want, but I call it dumbing down math.

One problem for the equity activists is that families such as ours can push back because we can pay for outside enrichment. For example, my daughter is completing Algebra II this year through OSPI approved BYU Online, at the same time she is taking Algebra I from SPS. Or we can move, or place our kids in private schools, which is where our son now is.

A second problem for activists is that STEM professors such as those at Stanford can push back because they have tenure. For example, forty-seven from Stanford recently signed an open letter as opposed to the dumbing down of math in California K12. Good luck getting them to dumb down their classes, so Liberation Math is enough to pass physics.

That’s not to say there aren’t still high-paying jobs with state-guaranteed pensions and healthcare benefits, that don’t require advanced math or a STEM degree, as SPS seems to be actively hiring for its central staff.
Anonymous said…
@Parent,

Well said. “Equity” is the latest deflection from dysfunction and incompetence of our school system. Activists are underperforming bureaucrats in new clothes doing the work of the “system” they dread. Folks who are terrible at math shouldn’t be in charge of math curriculum.

Matthew McMathison
Anonymous said…
I’m pretty sure Lakesiders are still doing 3 or 4 hours of homework after a couple hours of sports, and still placing students in great colleges with big payoffs. Meanwhile the work of the social justice warrior is never done, and never measured. A huge distraction from actual education and results. Those poor results will be scoffed as racist tropes, instead of bureaucratic failure. What instruction is going to get those improved scores for AA boys? Unattainable without actual benchmarks. And irrelevant. Aren’t all the colleges saying they aren’t using those standardized tests anyway. SMART goals anyone? The strategic plan fails on “achievable”, “timely”, and “relevant “ parameters. But the warriors will chalk it up to racism and micro aggressions. It’s so easy to hide behind those unassailable claims

Reader2

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