Advancing a Mathematics of Opportunity

Just Equations founder and executive director Pamela Burdman submitted the following public comment to the chairs of the California State Assembly Education Committee and Higher Education Committee in response to their Oct. 10, 2024 hearing on the mathematics requirements for public university admissions. In the letter, Burdman shares concerns that the University of California’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) deliberations on the issue were neither transparent nor thorough. The process also lacked participation from K-12 educators and analysis on the impact on student education equity.

Shakiyya Bland, Just Equations’ director of educational partnerships, explores the relationship between meaningful, evidence-based professional learning and educators’ ability to provide an equitable education for all students. In an op-ed for Education Week, Bland calls for a greater investment in quality professional development to improve student outcomes and spark a culture of continuous improvement.

Melodie Baker, Just Equations’ national policy director, shares her experience of being placed into lower level math courses despite high scores and a passion for math. It’s a fate shared by many Black and Latinx students to this day. In an op-ed for The Hechinger Report, Baker calls for more access to advanced math courses and enriching math opportunities for all students.

Just Equations founder and executive director Pamela Burdman has written a letter to the University of California Board of Regents, calling on the university to clarify and consider how data science and statistics courses will be used and evaluated as part of an admissions process that still leans heavily on Algebra II content.