Just Equations Director of Educational Partnerships Shakiyya Bland flips the script on familiar student deficit framing, suggesting that the issue is not what students lack—it is what institutions have failed to provide.
Bland points to examples in Tennessee and Georgia where institutional choices, such as designing and implementing a corequisite model, are helping more students pass gateway math courses.
“Students do not fail the system. The system fails to build what they need to succeed. Restricting access is not stewardship. It is a choice and it is worth being honest about who bears the cost of the choice,” Bland writes.
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