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A child鈥檚 early experiences with math can make a big difference in how they navigate numbers and solve mathematical problems for the rest of their life, but many children aren鈥檛 developing the confidence and skills they need to feel successful.

Nearly of first and second graders report being 鈥渕oderately nervous鈥� or 鈥渧ery, very nervous鈥� about math, according to a . This anxiety disproportionately affects and . If bias in curriculum or instruction makes a child feel like they don鈥檛 belong, they might not realize their potential for solving mathematical problems and figuring out the world. 

The Racial Justice in Early Math (RJEM) aims to make math accessible and engaging for all children. The one-year program helps kindergarten teachers better understand the intersection between racial justice and early math. 

The fellowship is part of the project, which launched in 2019 as a partnership between and the . RJEM was built upon a theoretical framework and practical applications developed by , associate research professor and director of the Early Math Collaborative at Erikson Institute and , professor of education and mathematics at UIC. 

The RJEM team examines the ways racial bias seeps into the classroom, organizes dialogue around this issue and develops practices for educators. McCray said she often asks educators to reflect on their earliest math experiences. Did they feel proud of themselves? Were they excited to make connections between ideas? Or did they feel left out, concluding that they simply aren鈥檛 so-called 鈥渕ath people?鈥�

鈥淭eachers are math anxious,鈥� McCray explained 鈥淢ath has been used to sort people.鈥� Labeling children as having or not having math aptitude sets them on a lifelong trajectory, and that pressure creates anxiety, she explained. But McCray and Martin assert that there鈥檚 no such thing as a 鈥渕ath person鈥� or a 鈥渘ot-math person.鈥� In a , Martin characterizes the question of 鈥渨ho is defined as 鈥榮mart鈥� and why?鈥� as an underexplored matter of who holds power in the classroom.

The RJEM Fellowship Is Changing How Early Educators Approach Math

Shae Rounds-Kelley 鈥� one of six 2023-24 RJEM fellows 鈥� teaches kindergarten at Hernwood Elementary in Randallstown, Maryland, where about . She said this experience helped her identify that part of the issue for her students is a lack of racially and culturally relevant curriculum. Working alongside her cohort and mentors in the program, she developed ideas for redesigning her lessons and strategies to help her kindergarteners make meaningful connections to them.

Rounds-Kelly observed that pedagogical strategies should depend on context. 鈥淲hat works there might not work here,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he beauty of the fellowship came in moments when we realized we had to stop, calibrate and figure out how to be more culturally relevant and responsive.鈥� 

In addition to her classroom job, Rounds-Kelly is also an adjunct professor at Stevenson University, where she works with future educators. She said the lessons she鈥檚 learned from the fellowship are also shaping her work with the next generation of teachers.

Sung Yoon, who teaches kindergarten and first grade in Woodinville, Washington was also part of the 2023-24 cohort. He said the fellowship changed his approach to teaching. Yoon reported that when he told friends and colleagues about the fellowship, a common response was, 鈥淪o you think math is racist?鈥� He would clarify, 鈥淣o, that鈥檚 not what this is about. It鈥檚 about how we teach math and dismantle the white supremacy that has been embedded since the dawn of time.鈥�

Yoon doesn鈥檛 always spell out the racial dimension of his approach to teaching. 鈥淎t our curriculum nights, I don鈥檛 explicitly say to parents that we are killing white supremacy in our math education. I do say it鈥檚 about thinking critically and coming up with our own ideas,鈥� he explained.

Reflecting on his family鈥檚 Korean background, Yoon acknowledged that math is taught differently in the United States. 鈥淎 lot of people in Korea talk about how American math is easy, but it鈥檚 not really easy鈥� There are more story problems, a lot of critical thinking going on, rather than memorization,鈥� he said.

Yoon said that parents of different ethnicities have expressed curiosity and sometimes concern about the way he teaches math. , for example, which focus on concepts like more and less so that children take time to understand context before rushing into arithmetic, have raised eyebrows. 鈥淚 tell them, 鈥業n this math workshop, we鈥檙e also learning critical thinking skills that are important in the 21st century.鈥欌��

A Math Mentorship Model Provides Ongoing Support for Early Educators

A core element of the fellowship is mentorship. The program convenes participants in Chicago and pairs each fellow with a mentor. 

Yoon teamed up with Sisa Pon Renie, an educational coach with Erikson Institute. 鈥淲e have very similar backgrounds,鈥� he said, 鈥淎nd we bonded so much over that because finding an Asian American teacher is very difficult in the United States.鈥�

For Rounds-Kelly, the experience of working with a mentor was rewarding and beneficial, but it also revealed a lot about the educational support missing at her school, which primarily serves children from low-income families.  鈥淚 just love learning from Black women in education, so when I got to work with Donna Johnson, I was like, 鈥業 want to learn everything from you! Give me all of your knowledge!鈥欌�� she said.  

According to Rounds-Kelly, Johnson 鈥� the assistant director of school support services at Erikson Institute 鈥� expressed surprise that Rounds-Kelly didn鈥檛 get a stipend from her school to spend on supplies. 鈥淚 was like, in what world does anyone get money to spend on their class?鈥� she recalled. 鈥淢y classroom doesn鈥檛 have heat! I can鈥檛 do all of these great things when my kids are wearing coats and hats.鈥� 

The fellowship and the mentorship has pushed Yoon to think more about representation.鈥淲hen we think about assumptions about who is good at math, we don鈥檛 always see different races,鈥� said Yoon. A lot of the fields considered mathematical are predominantly white, he added. 鈥淚 love that things have been changing.鈥�

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