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A recent report analyzing how and whether reforms to postsecondary mathematics are advancing equity carries important lessons for those of us working to reverse decades of inequitable math outcomes. Before turning to the findings of the report, from the Community College Research Center, let’s first consider the sources of math inequity.

Work to address inequitable math outcomes begins in the classroom, but it can’t end there. Given the prevalence of policies like tracking—which disproportionately place students of color into lower-level, often dead-end, math sequences—math equity includes examining how students are steered toward math classes in the first place.

The teaching aha moment came to me in a CrossFit class in Southern California. Gary, the trainer and gym owner, was so good at helping people meet their goals that about 20 of us regularly attended his 5:30am class that felt more like a personal training session.

College admissions requirements send signals to high schools about what courses are valued. But when those requirements fail to change with the times, they can actually stifle innovation. Take the teaching of data science in high school. The development of such courses has been stunted in virtually every state in the country, because they don’t clearly fall within the defined math requirements...

Growing up, I always felt like the slow tortoise of the race. I was the last one to finish an assignment, the last to get the answer right, and the last chosen for flag football. Oftentimes, I left the classroom silent and ashamed, not understanding how I was constantly behind everyone else.