Greater Equity in Higher Education Through Math Opportunity

If education is said to be the great equalizer, math could be described as the great divider. Consider the consistent disparities between the white and Asian American students who often have access to the advanced math courses that could help them stand out to college admissions officers, and the Black and Latinx students who too often miss out on those same opportunities. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way. 

Greater Equity in Higher Education Through Math Opportunity, a new policy brief from Just Equations, is part of a series by the Campaign for College Opportunity in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action. The series promotes evidence-based solutions to advance equitable strategies for college preparation, access, and completion for students who have been historically underserved and excluded in higher education.

In the policy brief, Just Equations Executive Director Pamela Burdman and National Policy Director Melodie Baker examine how mathematics education can help resolve this historical exclusion and unequal placement of underrepresented students in higher education.

That means ensuring that access to college as well as to STEM careers is driven by students’ potential, not by their race or other background characteristics. So that math opportunity can also become the great equalizer.