Over the last year, New York City has had a fascinating discussion about teaching math. In particular, NYC Department of Education has started to implement a program called NYC Solves, a parallel program to the lauded NYC Reads initiative. NYC Solves hopes to narrow the math achievement gap through a uniform curriculum for the nation’s largest public school system. On the one hand, a common language with a narrow funnel for support and training feels comprehensive given the vast array of challenges facing our schools. On the other, most vocal math teachers decry diminishing professional autonomy, citing scripted lessons and our schools’ checklist culture.
But while we’re so focused on debates about curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, we’re missing on two important discussions. The first is about culture, and specifically the norms we’re living in that inform how we’re thinking about schooling. The second is about notions of “outcomes,” and how we’ve had a hard time decoupling achievement scores with academic learning.
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