Josh Boots: How to help D.C.’s kids learn the math they need to succeed
Josh Boots, founder and executive director of EmpowerK12, a nonprofit data analysis organization that focuses on DC schools, made a case for a statewide strategy to improve math education in The Washington Post.
The importance of early math education cannot be overstated. Readiness for eighth-grade algebra is strongly linked with students’ math fluency as early as first grade. Students who successfully complete Algebra I in middle school are more likely to pursue advanced math courses in high school and subsequently enroll in STEM fields in college.
There are ways schools can help. A review of schools where students’ math skills were improving most quickly identified five instructional strategies that help students develop confidence, conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
The D.C. Council’s fiscal 2025 budget must include a citywide strategy to support schools that adopt evidence-based programs and scale these strategies. Such action could position D.C. to set a historic precedent, enabling Black and Brown students and students from low-income backgrounds to meet or surpass the national average in academic performance by decade’s end.
