Lou Edward Matthews’ Post

Check out Mark Vincent B. Yu, Marisa Crowder, Diane (Ta-Yang) Hsieh, Claire Kelley, Alyssa Scott, MPP, MPH, Avalloy McCarthy, PhD, and I's most recent blog post about how Black and Latino students define high engagement for themselves! Be sure to check out the embedded interview with our AMME Research Group students! #STEM, #EQUITY, #MATH, #ENGAGEMENT

Of course black boys and men can excell in math. After all, they excell in basketball, football, baseball, and anything thing involving average point calculations, goal scoring, winning scores, leaderboard creation, strategy development, and probability calculations. ✊🏼

It's about that time -- to get back on the road! I'm excited to return to my MBA stomping ground, the City of Bridges and Black and Yellow, Pittsburgh, PA, to present at the State of Black Learning Conference, the premier conference unapologetically focused on Black students! In my session, "Always Been A Lil' Mathematician: Empowering Our Kids with Math Confidence," we will explore effective strategies for recognizing and addressing math anxiety, focusing on culturally relevant tips that resonate with Black students. We will also develop an action plan to create a supportive, anxiety-free math learning environment in the classroom! In line with SBL24's 'Big Dream'n' theme, this session confronts a critical barrier to Black students' success: math anxiety, shame, and trauma. Just like in calculus, where, in certain situations, 'the limit does not exist,' we believe our students' potential is boundless. Yet, these emotional barriers in math often obstruct their path to high-paying STEM and other math-heavy careers and life opportunities, dimming the brilliance of their dreams. We'll explore effective strategies to dismantle these barriers, building a solid math foundation that empowers Black students to dream big and achieve bigger, ensuring their future is as limitless as their potential! If you're attending #SBL24, let's connect! #StateOfBlackLearning #StateOfBlackLearningConference

A study in Educational Researcher documents the large effects of Black upper-elementary school teachers on Black students' self-efficacy and classroom engagement, as well as all students' test scores and decreased absences. https://lnkd.in/eu9Z4NVR

Recently, I got a chance to connect with educators who've been fired from their schools due to censorship laws across the country. It was harrowing, but also unsurprising. For years, I've been warning people about the plethora of instances across the country - even in places you consider safe - where teachers who evoked notions of racial justice, equity, and compassion in their lessons were suspended, ostracized, or fired. What these laws have done is essentially put on paper that which was already happening, and accelerated the deprofessionalization of teaching. But, as the adage goes: what is legal is not necessarily just. This doesn't exempt those of us who teach STEM topics, either. For instance, the same scientist who developed almanacs (Benjamin Banneker) also rebuked Thomas Jefferson's theories about slavery and Black people. The person to whom we attribute algebra and higher levels of math (al-Khwarizmi) comes from a region of the world where America's history books conveniently minimize. Black women and other people of color made major contributions to many of our major scientific advancements over the last century. None of these historical facts should require a permission slip to be taught in class, but here we are. Whether through my 15 years in the classroom or my work at EduColor, I saw how even our embodied histories made us susceptible to silencing. We're not "professional" for bringing up topics that provide connective tissue for our students and communities. But this is also an opportunity. For people who speak up, this is an excellent time to redefine our work, our stances, and our ways of moving the work forward. Retreating in the face of everything going on is not a viable option for all of us. Want to recruit and retain more teachers? Good trouble is the antidote. I hope you'll join us in this movement. (cardboard cut-out c/o The African American Policy Forum, SXSW EDU 2024) #educolor #education #diversityequityinclusion

We just published this insightful piece that examines the underlying causes of low academic achievement among Black students, using existing data. The article takes a road less traveled to ask the important question: 'the performance gap between White and Black students is frequently studied–but what about the performance gap within the Black student population itself?' Find out for yourself: https://lnkd.in/ey63YD6b #AcademicAchievement #BlackStudents #EducationData #DCPublicSchools

Beyond highlighting the issues, our asset-based approach has led us to use data to proffer strategies for improving academic achievement of Black students in DC Public Schools who are being affected by the #SocialDeterminantsofLearning. Read our publications now: https://lnkd.in/ey63YD6b Don't forget to share! #AssetBasedThinking #DataAnalysis #Education

In this special roundtable edition of Building the Black Educator Pipeline, we explore the reasons for the underrepresentation of people of color in math and technology fields. Our expert panel discusses the belief gap, the lack of competent teachers for Black students in America, and the role of technology in supporting student learning. The panel highlights the responsibility of teachers to use technology effectively and the need for continuous professional development. The conversation emphasizes the importance of addressing equity issues in math education while leveraging technology to enhance learning experiences. The conversation also explores the role of technology, specifically AI, in education and how it can make teacher jobs easier and more efficient. #EducateTheEducators #BlackExcellence #SayItLoud #FixTheSystem #RepresentationMatters #WheresTheEquity #blackmath #blackmathgenius #blackeducator #blackeducators #blackeducatorsrock https://lnkd.in/eptT9Yg8

As we look to the future of math education, it is our responsibility to create approaches that support Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds by design. https://ow.ly/iIy150Rre9b #FutureOfMath

This study reads what we as Black educators already know- and know why!!!