#506 – Implications of State-Level Math Policy on the Classroom, with Lindsey Henderson

If you are listening to the podcast with your instructional team or would like to explore this topic more deeply, here are guiding questions to prompt your reflection:

• How does state policy influence your classroom?
• Where do students face barriers to advanced math?
• How can educators “round up” on rigor?
• What makes a policy evidence-based?
• How can screening data guide instruction?
• How can teachers clearly communicate math progress?
• What policy change would best support your students?

• Math Matters (ExcelinEd)
• ExcelinEd (official website)
• National Conference of State Legislatures (official website)

#506 Implications of State-Level Math Policy on the Classroom, with Lindsey Henderson

AVID Open Access
43 min

Transcript

The following transcript was automatically generated from the podcast audio by generative artificial intelligence.  Because of the automated nature of the process, this transcript may include unintended transcription and mechanical errors.

Lindsey Henderson 0:00 Policy prioritizes what the legislature should invest their money in in public education. It gets the conversation started about where the educational system should put their energy and their resources. It’s time, but it’s also funding. Right? Where do we want funding to go to make sure that we have all the supports necessary in the system so that kids can learn math?

Winston Benjamin 0:22 The topic for today’s podcast is Implications of State-Level Math Policy on the Classroom, with Lindsey Henderson. Unpacking Education is brought to you by AVID. AVID believes in seeing the potential of every student. To learn more about AVID, visit their website at avid.org.

Rena Clark 0:40 Welcome to Unpacking Education, the podcast where we explore current issues and best practices in education. I’m Rena Clark.

Paul Beckermann 0:52 I’m Paul Beckermann.

Winston Benjamin And I’m Winston Benjamin. We are educators, and we’re here to share insights and actionable strategies.

Transition Music with Rena’s Children 1:01 Education is our passport to the future.

Winston Benjamin 1:06 Our quote for today is from ExcelinEd’s Math Matters website. It says, “Every student can learn math, yet many claim, ‘I’m not a math person.’ A strong K–8 math framework ensures all students have access to rich, high-quality math instruction and can become confident, capable math learners.” Paul, that’s a lot, but it’s very important. What are you hearing from this quote?

Paul Beckermann 1:42 Oddly enough, it’s about math, and I’m hearing an equation. I’m hearing access plus confidence equals achievement. If we can make sure that all of our students have access to high-quality math instruction, and then we work diligently to build and maintain their learner confidence, that’s a great formula for learning. Access plus confidence equals achievement. So there you go — put that on your T-shirt, Winston.

Winston Benjamin 2:07 I will. It definitely will be on my T-shirt. I think I’m going to go with the idea that teachers need to recognize that students need them to know how to explain math in a way that makes sense. My teachers explained math to me in a way that didn’t make sense, and that’s the reason I wasn’t confident — I was always second-guessing the information I was given. So I love the idea of having a framework for teachers so they can provide, like you said, the access and confidence that leads to achievement. I appreciate that this is from both sides of the coin — the student end and the teacher end. So, as a way of getting us a little deeper into this conversation, we’d like to talk with a person who is part of this organization. We are so lucky — we are excited to welcome Lindsey Henderson to the podcast. Lindsey is a senior policy director in the area of math at ExcelinEd, where she leads their math policy team. Their purpose is to advance student-centered, evidence-based policy. Their most recent publication is MathMatters.org, which includes a model K–8 math policy, a 50-state scan of math policy, and a math policy implementation playbook. You’re really trying to get people to do math well — I love it! Lindsey, thank you so much for coming here and helping us dig into a little bit of math, because I’ll tell you the truth: I’m one of those kids who’s not confident in my math skills, so I’m glad you’re here to have this conversation with us today. Can you give our listeners a little more about yourself on a personal level? I’ve talked about who you are professionally, but who are you? Help our listeners ground themselves in you as a person and a whole human.

Lindsey Henderson 4:02 Well, thank you so much. First of all, I’m honored to be invited onto this podcast. I really appreciate you, Winston and Paul, taking the time to talk about mathematics and how important it is in students’ lives. Me as a person — that is such a good question. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was born and raised in rural Utah, moved to the “big city” — I’m using air quotes — for college, and never left. I’ve always enjoyed math, but I didn’t love it until I took calculus in college, and then I was just fascinated by all of the calculus concepts. Our oldest daughter is taking Calc II. She just finished it last semester at the University of Utah, and I would wake up and tell her how I would love to be in her position again, discovering Calc II concepts for the first time, as if I’d never known them before. It was such a thrill for me. So I guess you could sum me up as a super nerd — I love math, I love to do mathematics, I love to learn math. Let’s see, I don’t even know what my hobbies are aside from math.

Winston Benjamin 5:15 (Laughter)

Paul Beckermann 5:16 So when you’re not working out a calculus problem, what are you doing?

Lindsey Henderson 5:23 Oh, I am the crazy cat lady. We have four adorable Scottish Fold Munchkin kitties that I dote on. I have a family — I have two kids, one’s in college, one’s going to be a junior in high school. It’s a really exciting time for our family. I studied secondary math, and I didn’t learn anything about the elementary progression of math until my kids went through elementary school, and that was also fascinating to me. I really enjoyed seeing how they picked up different math concepts and which developmental milestones they were supposed to hit at different times. I thought that was really interesting. I’m just a geek — I nerd out on all the math things all the time.

Winston Benjamin 6:06 Since we’ve got you here, it’s about time we geek out on some math stuff. One of the things that’s important for us is to help define things so our listeners understand what’s going on and to help make sense of this math policy topic. Could you give our listeners a basic understanding of what well-crafted state-level math policy looks like? Why should we even worry about state-level policy, since it’s the classroom that we’re thinking about? Can you give us an example of what it means and why it matters?

Lindsey Henderson 6:44 That’s a really great question. I’ll start by saying I started my career as a math teacher — a middle school math teacher — and I taught all levels of math here in the Salt Lake Valley, across several high schools. My last high school was the High School Musical high school, actually — it’s called East High, here in Salt Lake City. We did not sing in my math class, because that is not my talent, but we did a lot of fun mathematics. I grew up through the system and became a district math specialist, and then finally ended up at the Utah State Board of Education. Now I’ve transferred over to this policy role, where we’re helping advise state-level policymakers on the policies it takes to help kids have the resources they need to learn math. So I’ve experienced the education system from every level — from practitioner, to district-level oversight, to state-level oversight, and finally as an advisor to state policymakers in terms of evidence-based policy.

I like to say that policy prioritizes what the legislature should invest their money in in public education. It gets the conversation started about where the educational system should put its energy and resources — and I’m using “resources” loosely. It’s time, but it’s also funding. Where do we want funding to go to make sure we have all the supports necessary in the system so that kids can learn math? Well-crafted state-level math policy has to be evidence-based — we want things that impact student learning outcomes positively. We want to get those kinds of system changes into the hands of teachers, administrators, district specialists, and state departments, and finally codify them in policy so those programs don’t expire once a passionate person leaves their position and is no longer there to carry them out.

I like to use analogies a lot. Policy is like the bumpers in a bowling lane. We all have the same goal — we want kids to learn math — and the policy ensures that we’re putting all the resources in place so that ball rolls down the lane and, not knocks the kids out, but helps them, sets them up for mathematical success.

Paul Beckermann 9:08 Can knock them out in a good way — like, “Man, you knocked me out!”

Lindsey Henderson 9:13 I love that.

Paul Beckermann 9:17 So policy does set that target for us and gives us a focus, especially for the legislator, on where to put their time and resources. It’s easy for a classroom teacher to say, “That’s state legislative policy stuff, that’s not my world,” but it does impact the classroom. Could you talk a little about how state policy actually impacts the classroom level?

Lindsey Henderson 9:48 Sure. State policy really codifies into law or statute the things that different parts of the educational system need to attend to. Practically, when it’s signed by the governor and has gone through the legislative process, it’s a law, and a law comes with some weight. Now, the point of policy isn’t to put out a law so we can nitpick who’s breaking it and follow up with punishments. The point of policy, like I said, is to get the resources in place in the system so that teachers, administrators, district-level specialists, and state departments have the supports they need to improve math instruction.

Do you know about the NAEP — the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly called the Nation’s Report Card? It’s a test given to every state in the United States, in fourth grade and eighth grade, every two years. In 2024 they released the latest NAEP results: fourth graders across the country — 61% of students are below proficiency level. That is a big number. I saw your eyes get big. And when you move to eighth grade, the number gets more drastic. I’ll just say you can look up the numbers if you want, but it shows we have a real problem we need to address. Because, like you said earlier in the quote, Winston, we know from cognitive science that every student is capable of learning mathematics at high levels — and yet we have 61% of fourth graders — think of a little fourth grader — who are not proficient in mathematics.

Fourth-grade math is not rocket science, but it’s the building blocks, the foundations students need if they want to become a rocket scientist. So we have a real problem, and that 61% not meeting proficiency isn’t because of COVID — we’ve been in decline since 2012. We’re back to 2006 levels of proficiency in mathematics on the NAEP. We’ve hit — to use a math term — an inflection point, where it’s really serious now. Policy really trickles down to the classroom. It seems like a state-level thing that just happens, and it’s written in legalese, so it’s kind of behind a paywall — you have to understand what they’re saying in the policy — but it really helps streamline things and puts the legislature’s and governor’s stamp of approval on expectations they want carried out in the classroom. If the policy is evidence-based, you can guarantee that, implemented well, you’re going to see a reversal in that 61% of students below grade level. It might not be immediate — sometimes that change takes time — but over years of successful implementation, we’re going to start to reverse that curve on student math achievement.

Winston Benjamin 12:58 I appreciate the call to action along with the information. As an educator, and as parents, we hear about standards — we know there are math standards, English standards, and so on. Can you tell me the difference between why we need math policy, even though we have standards that define what should be taught? What’s the difference, and why should we focus on math policy?

Lindsey Henderson 13:32 Yes, that is a fantastic question. People usually get confused between curriculum and standards, so I love that we’re going a little deeper here. Math policy can include things like standards, but it also goes broader, to practices we want to see happen in the classroom. For example, we know from cognitive learning science that it’s normal to struggle with new concepts and routines when you’re learning something new. If it’s normal to struggle in math class, then we need to implement interventions when a student is struggling or has a misconception — a teacher needs to be there to jump in, correct it, and get that student back on the right mathematical track.

A lot of times, when I talk about these things, it sounds like a no-brainer — that seems like it should already happen. But a lot of times, especially in a high school setting, you have kids — and these are children, even high schoolers are still kids — who take a full year of mathematics, and you hear, “Oh, I failed the entire year of math.” I’m not blaming anybody in the system, but I’m saying we need to change the conversation: a child should never fail an entire year of mathematics without having the supports, the interventions, the real hard work it takes to help get a student back to grade-level understanding.

One of our policies is that we need to screen students — a screener is a quick, fast, grade-level-appropriate assessment tied to the standards. It’s not the screener that’s the magic; it’s what the teacher does with the data about their students — “My students really excel in this area, and these three students need help with this specific math concept, so I’m going to pull them aside in a small group and reteach them. I’m also going to put them in heterogeneous groups so they can learn from their peers.” Teachers do different things to provide those interventions and get students back on track, and they use that data.

We did some national polling about four months ago and asked parents, “Do you understand your specific child’s math needs?” 80% of parents responded that they understand their child’s math needs, and 80% thought their children were on grade level. Yet NAEP showed in 2024 that 61% of students are below grade level. So that screener data is really important — it informs the teacher so they can provide personalized interventions and supports to help struggling students get back on track. And it’s important that we don’t crush parents’ dreams, but we have to be realistic with them about how their student is progressing toward a goal, and it has to be understandable to parents. If you can’t explain the math you’re teaching to somebody’s child in layman’s terms, then you need to figure out a way to do that, because the parent is probably one of the most underutilized resources in the education system — and 80% of parents in our national poll think their students are performing on grade level or above.

Paul Beckermann 16:51 That reminds me of a quote my wife always says: “Clear is kind.” We have to make sure it’s clear to our parents how their students are doing — that’s kind.

Lindsey Henderson 17:04 Right. And I never recommend — a teacher-parent relationship is an important one to have, and you never want to start out with “these are all the things your child is really terrible at.” There are nuances to this conversation. If I had that kind of conversation with my spouse, she would go ballistic if I started with everything that was wrong. You always start with the screener data — students have mathematical strengths. Start with the strengths: “Your child is really excelling at this and this and this. Your child needs additional support here, here, and here, and here are some resources you can use at home if you wish to help. And this is what I’m going to do in the classroom to help your child get back on grade level.”

So math policy goes deeper than just content. Math standards talk about content, and the mathematical skills or habits of mind that children are developing. Math policy addresses things like evidence-based routines and practices — intervening when a student is struggling, or requiring that elementary teachers dedicate at least 60 minutes of uninterrupted instructional time to core mathematics instruction. That’s really important — Alabama is the only state that has that in their policy, which is fascinating. It goes deeper and talks more about the delivery mechanisms that help all students be successful.

Paul Beckermann 18:40 And if I’m not mistaken, one of the other things policy can address is access — how we make sure all kids have access to advanced math or math opportunities so they can continue to grow. One of those conversations revolves around opting in or out of math classes. Want to talk about that a little?

Lindsey Henderson 19:00 Yeah, I’d love to. In our 50-state scan, all states require mathematics in K–10 or 11 — it varies in high school, but K–8, everybody has to take math. The question is about advanced math opportunities — a lot of people want an advanced math opportunity — and what we found is one of our most popular policies has kind of taken off, exponentially growing in the number of states that have adopted it.

Paul Beckermann 19:34 I like that.

Lindsey Henderson 19:37 It’s called Guaranteed Access to Advanced Math — sometimes called automatic enrollment in advanced math. What the evidence says is that Algebra I is a very critical course for kids. If you take Algebra I in ninth grade, that’s considered on grade level; if you take it before high school, in middle school, that’s considered advanced. Almost every school in the country has different ways students can access that entry point to advanced math. What the research says is that students are most successful in Algebra I if they are — and I’ll quote — “mathematically ready.” I could get really nerdy about the math topics that set students up for success in Algebra I, but I’ll save that for later.

Think about how students progress through the educational system in America —

Paul Beckermann 20:38 Grade seven, grade eight, grade nine —

Lindsey Henderson 20:40 Happy birthday! Right — and some kids, particularly in middle school, are all over the place in terms of their mathematical readiness. What Guaranteed Access does is take the top quartile — the top 25% of students who score on the fifth-grade end-of-level test, or state summative — and says, “You’re good at math, you’re mathematically ready — we’re going to get you on a pathway to take Algebra I by eighth grade in this advanced math pathway.”

Before this policy, schools and districts were all over the place in how students got access to that advanced math pathway. It took a parent knowing how the system worked, knowing which class to take, and having the time to go into a school and advocate for their student’s placement. It took a teacher recommendation — some districts use GPA, not just the student’s math score but their overall GPA; behavior sometimes gets taken into account too. What Guaranteed Access says is: you can still use all of those measures, but it’s an opt-in model in reverse — you are on the advanced math pathway automatically, as opposed to needing to know the rules for getting into it.

This policy was first adopted by — I like to say the three states, because it shows this is a bipartisan initiative — Washington State, Texas, and North Carolina were the first three to automatically enroll students in advanced math based on their performance on the statewide summative exam. Indiana and Virginia adopted this policy last year and are in the process of implementing it. And this year, seven states — Arizona, Iowa, Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia among them — passed guaranteed access to advanced math policies; those are sitting at the governor’s desk, ready to sign. Other states are still working it through the legislative process.

I always like to highlight Texas’s data — when they moved from an opt-in to a guaranteed-access advanced math policy, they tripled the number of Black and Hispanic students scoring in that top quartile, tripling their access to eighth-grade Algebra I, just from that one policy change.

Paul Beckermann 23:12 Because they didn’t have to know they had to opt in — they were just in, right?

Lindsey Henderson 23:18 They were just in.

Paul Beckermann 23:20 And that’s the key.

Lindsey Henderson 23:21 They were just in. And there’s also an important provision in our model policy: if parents want to opt their student out —

Paul Beckermann 23:29 Right.

Lindsey Henderson 23:30 — fine. We think that’s perfectly reasonable; a parent should be able to make that decision. But for top performers who are mathematically ready, they’re on that pathway to advanced math. Black students’ representation in advanced math went from 33% to 82% in the following year. Hispanic students rose from 46% to 80% representation in Algebra I. Just amazing. And we have great data out of Washington State from their policy — they automatically enroll students for all subject areas, not just math, but also English language arts and science, and they show a 90% success rate for automatically enrolled students, which is 10% above their district average.

Paul Beckermann 24:16 Our listeners couldn’t see it, but Winston was practically dancing back there.

Winston Benjamin 24:20 Yeah, baby! Doing good out here.

Lindsey Henderson 24:27 I think there’s a lesson in those high success rates. We know that teacher estimates of achievement are really crucial to providing rigorous math opportunities for students, and when the system is set up to propel mathematically ready students through to advanced math, success rates stay high. Kids rise to the challenge, they rise to the occasion. It’s always better to round up in terms of rigor and access to rigor than it is to round down.

Winston Benjamin 25:03 100%. You said a lot of things I’m in favor of, including the fact that parental involvement is key. Parents going from being an adversary to a colleague is really important. Additionally, you touched on something I wanted to ask about: how do you deal with teachers’ worry that these policies might make their classroom life a little bit harder? How do you speak to teachers’ worries about implementing policies that support students’ math engagement?

Lindsey Henderson 25:58 That’s a really great question. I would challenge teachers, administrators, everyone in the system, to think of policy as an opportunity — an opportunity that states where the effort of our experts in the educational system should be spent. It’s giving them permission to do these high-leverage practices to help kids increase their achievement. So instead of seeing it as an additional add-on, I’d challenge teachers to reframe it as an opportunity. If it’s an evidence-based policy, I don’t know any teacher who would say no to a policy that improves student achievement. Think of it as a way to really focus and narrow the conversation — it gives you guardrails.

When we did our 50-state scan of math policy, we found there’s just not a lot of state-level math policy out there in the world — it’s kind of a desert with tumbleweeds blowing through it, nothing there. So when you implement this, it gives math a great starting point, and states that implement evidence-based math policy give teachers something to trust — that their legislature and governor are trying to help them focus. Again, it’s those bumpers in the bowling alley, trying to focus everybody’s efforts toward what’s best for kids.

Winston Benjamin 27:36 Here’s the follow-up question: for those teachers who are in support, who like this — what can they do to support the policies, and how do they utilize them to support what they’re already doing in the classroom?

Lindsey Henderson 27:55 Well, it kind of reminds me of teaching. When I was introducing a new math concept to my class, there were always some students who grabbed onto it really fast, and I liked to leverage those students to help their peers get up to speed. I think the same goes for teachers — teachers who are excited about the policy are empowered, emboldened. You can be a bright, shining star in your district, whatever your sphere of influence is. You can help those PLC conversations that every math teacher should be engaged in. This could be a great starting point — knowing you have somebody on staff who’s already made great strides through this policy might really help bring other people along and on board. It’s always great to have that resource, an expert.

Winston Benjamin 28:52 Thank you — you’re ours.

Paul Beckermann 29:04 All right, let’s talk about students again for a little bit. Math policy guides the legislature, it helps focus teaching practices, and its intent, generally, is to improve student achievement. How does strong math policy positively benefit students in the long term?

Lindsey Henderson 29:28 Oh, fantastic question! When we were putting together MathMatters.org — again, that’s ExcelinEd’s website — we developed model policy that explains our 11 fundamental principles of math policy that we think all states should implement. It also helps you make the case for why math policy is important. I’ll read you three statistics.

The first one I already mentioned: only 39% of fourth graders and 27% of eighth graders are proficient in math on the statewide NAEP. So we’ve got a problem. Number two: a study out of the Urban Institute looked at several factors — student health, parent-child relationship quality, reading test scores, and math test scores. Math outperformed all those other indicators — students with high math scores saw a five to ten percent increase in their wages at age 30. So it’s an economic driver of opportunity for kids. And Gallup just did a nationwide poll a few months ago — 78% of employers strongly want, are practically begging for, employees with strong financial, data science, and foundational K–8 math skills.

Those three pieces together show that access to rich math opportunities, and the ability to build a strong mathematical foundation, pays dividends. It’s a huge investment in a student’s future.

Winston Benjamin 31:20 That is a very important call to action. I believe in students and I want them to do well. So — you’ve got me hyped up! I’m ready to fight, do all the things, march.

Lindsey Henderson Exactly, I love that.

Winston Benjamin 31:58 And we’ve got a bunch of listeners who are also down for that. So what steps could our listeners take to support or push for comprehensive state math policies? What can we do to help move the movement forward?

Lindsey Henderson 31:58 Oh, such a great question. First of all, everybody has a sphere of influence — people they can influence within their control. It’s not always policymakers. Policy is the way programs are sustained and funded over time, but it doesn’t have to be the only way you implement these evidence-based practices for math achievement.

First, go to MathMatters.org — you can see our 11 fundamental principles of math policy, and even a teacher could say, “60 minutes of math instruction a day — I’m going to make that a priority when I’m building my school schedule,” even if it’s not capital-P policy at the state level. A principal could make it a requirement for the school. A district leader could say, “This is where we’re focused.” You can use those 11 fundamental principles to really focus the programs you want your educators to spend their time on within your sphere of influence.

The second thing is that everybody is a constituent of some district in the United States. I challenge you to go to MathMatters.org, go to the state map, and click on your state — you’ll get a detailed report on how your state is performing against those 11 fundamental principles of math policy. You can download that report and share it with your representative or senator, and tell them math achievement is a high priority for you, and here’s a great starting point. No state is all green on the 11 fundamental principles — there isn’t one yet. You could be the first to initiate something like that. Often there are education nonprofits in a state also looking to focus on where to take the next big policy step, and that report could be really important to help them focus and drive the conversation.

On MathMatters, we’ve also taken the NAEP data and produced individual state NAEP reports, disaggregated by student group — you can see how Black students, White students, Hispanic students, and free-and-reduced-lunch students perform in your state. Often there’s a gap between the general population and each of those student groups, and some states do better than others, so you can really focus your conversation. For example, Massachusetts is the top-performing state in the country on NAEP, but they have some really strong disparities, particularly with free-and-reduced-lunch students. That would be a wonderful starting point to focus everyone on those 11 fundamental principles of math policy.

Winston Benjamin 34:42 Sometimes I think it’s important to recognize how to move people forward, and really, it’s about providing people with tools, like you just did. But it’s time for our next segment: What’s in Your Toolkit?

Transition Music with Rena’s Children 34:55 Check it out! Check it out! Check it out! Check it out! What’s in the toolkit? What is in the toolkit? What’s in the toolkit? Check it out!

Winston Benjamin 35:06 I’ll pass it to Paul. What’s in your toolkit? How are you taking these tools provided today and utilizing them in the future? Do you have any tools you’d like to add?

Paul Beckermann 35:16 Yeah — it’s a website I came across because I was curious what my state is doing, what policies are being introduced in the state legislature, and what the focus is even locally in my area. I found a website called the National Conference of State Legislatures, www.ncsl.org. It’s a database where you can find your state, click on it, and find all the legislation that’s been proposed, passed, or even failed, by time period, bill status, or topic. It’s pretty cool — you can click on your state and see what’s going on locally, and at least raise your awareness. So that’s mine.

Winston Benjamin 36:04 I love that, Paul. So I’ll piggyback off of you and add to the toolkit: you are a constituent. Politicians want to, and have to, listen to you if they want to keep their jobs. So, ladies and gentlemen, if you’d like to be part of the movement and push, just reach out to your politicians — their goal is solutions. I’ll put that in the toolkit: write a letter, make a call, or just look at the website Paul mentioned, find the politicians associated with it, and make a push. Lindsey, I’ll throw it to you — what would you like to add to our toolkit? Any support, tools, ideas?

Lindsey Henderson 36:48 These are really great tools — I use NCSL’s information all the time, constantly advocating with my representatives for what I think is important for the students of Utah. On ExcelinEd’s math policy website, we have several playbooks for state-level leaders. One of our policies is high-quality instructional materials — we want them in the hands of teachers so they don’t have to spend time creating materials themselves. They can trust a resource they know is tied to the state standards and allows them to use evidence-based instructional practices. We have a playbook for state-level leaders on how to run a review process for high-quality instructional materials, how to get that information to districts and school leaders, and how to get implementation on the right track. So I’d recommend checking that out, along with everybody’s advocacy for good, student-centered policy.

Paul Beckermann 37:53 Can you reiterate the website? Where do people go?

Lindsey Henderson 37:57 If you Google “ExcelinEd” — all one word — and add “math” after that, the website will come up. It’s ExcelinEd’s math policy website.

Paul Beckermann 38:09 Awesome. All right, it’s time for our One Thing.

Speaker 1 38:13 It’s time for that one thing.

Speaker 2 38:21 Time for that one thing.

Paul Beckermann 38:24 That one thing — okay, One Thing time. Time to boil things down to one thing. You know, Winston, that’s always a challenge, as it is again this week. What do you have for your One Thing?

Winston Benjamin 38:36 For me, I think we need to start recognizing that people’s passion projects shouldn’t remain just their passion projects. If one person who’s so focused on students learning math leaves the building, that focus shouldn’t leave with them. What Lindsey was saying is: how do we implement that person’s vision through policy, so that even when they’re not there in the building, the district, or the community, their belief in student learning is still being demonstrated? Let’s take this personal project and push it into a public project. That’s how all of us can work to push for our students to be capable of doing math. So I’m digging that One Thing — getting everybody involved. There you go.

Paul Beckermann 39:30 Okay, I couldn’t narrow it to just one, but they’re related. The first is: we’ve been talking a lot about math, and math is exceptionally important, but it’s not just about math. If you’re listening and you’re in a different content area, policy can matter there too. And my other One Thing is when Lindsey said it’s better to round up in regards to access and rigor than to round down. That’s a T-shirt right there — wear that everywhere. All right, Lindsey, you get the final word today. What would you like to leave our listeners with?

Lindsey Henderson 40:18 I think what I want to say is closely related to what you just shared. We know from science that all kids are capable of learning math at high levels — it’s all about fixing the system so they have the opportunity and access to do so, along with the instructional routines that will realize student gains. So: round up, hold high expectations for your students, give them access to rigor, and really help them build that strong mathematical foundation. It’s going to set them up for economic success in the future.

Winston Benjamin 40:50 That’s so important, because, like you said, doing math increases the paycheck. We really need to support our students’ ability to have a living wage and support their lives in the future. Lindsey, thank you so much for bringing this topic to us. I didn’t even realize how underdeveloped math policy was until we started this conversation. I’m on board — I know standards and things like that, but this opened up a different way of supporting students that I didn’t know was there, and I really appreciate you sharing that knowledge with us.

Lindsey Henderson 41:26 Thank you so much, Winston and Paul, for having me. I really appreciated this opportunity to talk about math policy.

Paul Beckermann 41:32 Thank you.

Rena Clark 41:34 Thanks for listening to Unpacking Education.

Winston Benjamin 41:37 We invite you to visit us at avidopenaccess.org, where you can discover resources to support student agency and academic tenacity to create a classroom for future-ready learners.

Rena Clark 41:54 And remember: go forth and be awesome.

Paul Beckermann 41:58 Thank you for all you do. You make a difference.