Sunday, May 12

Jo Boaler, Stanford Professor For Math Education Accused Of Academic Fraud: Report

Edited by Fathimathu Shana
Jo Boaler, Stanford Professor For Math Education Accused Of Academic Fraud: Report (image@joboaler)

A Stranford professor of mathematics education, Jo Boaler suggests that the teaching of Algebra should be delayed until high school and teaching of fuzzy “data science” courses should be considered as an alternative to calculus in the name of ensuring “equity”. Boaler made the suggestions in the new California Math Framework (CMF). CMF is the newly approved set of curricular guidance aimed for teachers from state’s more than 950 public school districts. Though the guidelines are non-binding, it aids in moulding the instructional materials and practices.

Reportedly, Boaler can be called as a person responsible for the new California Math Framework (CMF). She is now called as an ‘academic fraud’ by the public. The CMF have been accused of distorting research to fit its policy agenda. The greatest blow came last week when a 100-page long document was submitted by an anonymous complainant, alleging that many of the misrepresented citations throughout the CMF can be traced back to Boaler.

The complainant said that Boaler has been “engaged in reckless disregard for accuracy” throughout her career. She also have accusations of charging underperforming schools exorbitant consulting fees, pushing water-down public school courses while she placed her own children in private schools.

She first grabbed headlines in 2000s, by advocating against “tracking”. It is a system designed to allow high-performing students to be appropriately challenged and underperforming students to receive appropriate support. Instead of this Boaler promoted a “heterogenous class” where students’ demonstrated with high math ability are ignored and all are taught the same content.

She submitted a research advocating for the delaying of the Algebra 1 until 9th grade. This underpinned the San Fransico Unified School District’s (SFUSD) 2014 decision to stop teaching the course in the middle school. Boaler is one among the five authors who drafted the original CMF in 2021. The CMF had underwent revision several times after that. The SFUSD will reinstate the course of middle schoolers in the upcoming 2024-25 school year, after years of criticism and lawsuits from parents.

Notably, it is found that the algebra delay study by Boaler pushed on SFUSD in the name of helping “students from underserved communities” disadvantaged high-achieving students and did little to help those already struggling.

It is to note that Boaler’s children are unaffected by this policy, as her children are not in Public schools but are enrolled in $48,000-a-year private school, said Pirate Wires. According to the publicly available course material of the said private school, Algebra 1 is offered to all middle schoolers.

According to Pirate Wires, though Jo Boaler often writes of her desire to bridge “indefensible racial and social inequities” in math performance, she charged $5,000 for an hour for consulting services which included a seven sessions for a total fee of $65,000. When a professor at University of California, Jelani Nelson tweeted about this huge consulting fees, Boaler responded that his “sharing of private details” was “being taken up by police and lawyers”.

SpaceX owner Elon Musk tweeted that it is not “cool that she undermined math education in California”.

 

(With inputs from Pirate Wires)