The Pittsburgh Public Schools Board has voted to hire a consulting group that educates teachers on how to replace “White supremacy culture practices” in math instruction with methods that center on the “wellness of students of color.”
On October 25, the board approved a measure to give Quetzal Education Consulting $50,000 to dismantle racism in math classes.
As reported by The Center Square, the consulting group states that its workshops teach “antiracist math” and will help equip teachers with tools to “identify, disrupt and replace” practices that perpetuate White supremacy.
Ebony Pugh, the Director of Public Relations and Media Content for Pittsburgh Public Schools, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the Board of Directors of the School District of Pittsburgh authorized its offices to enter a contract with Quetzal.
The move will provide the school with “additional foundational knowledge of antiracist math pedagogy and tangible learning experiences that can be implemented with students.”
Quetzal will provide support through introductory workshops for math teachers and a leadership series for administrators.
The school board’s agenda for the meeting confirms the purpose of the introductory workshops, which will confront “oppressive practices in math instruction with practices that center the wellness of students of color and to provide opportunities for math departments and math teachers to grow their antiracist math praxis collaboratively in pedagogy and instruction.”
It was also confirmed that participants in the leadership workshop series will “engage in an ongoing workshop series in the topic of antiracist math leadership.”
“The purpose of this series is to equip educators who have completed the Antiracist Math Workshop Series Edition 1 to develop and lead towards a more cohesive and aligned math instruction praxis across classrooms, departments and schools. Participants will learn how to train others in the topic of antiracist math, as well as how to identify issues of equity in math spaces,” the school board tab added.
Several schools, organizations and states have issued guidance and promoted teachers’ programs that seek to remove racism from mathematics.
In 2021, the state of Oregon defended the “Pathways to Equitable Math Instruction” teacher training, which advises that a focus on finding the correct answer in class is an example of White supremacy infiltrating schools.
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“The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so,” a document for the “Equitable Math” toolkit reads. “Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.”
Similarly, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics hosted a webinar in 2022 that discussed antiracist math and asked to eliminate all examples of “tracking,” which they claimed was a form of “spirit murdering” inflicted on children of color through math.
Tracking is defined as a method used by secondary schools to group students based on ability, IQ and achievement.
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Fox News’ Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
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