Some schools cut paths to calculus in the name of equity. One group takes the opposite approach.
BROOKLINE — It was a gray morning in July, and most of their peers were spending the summer sleeping late and hanging out with friends. But the 20 rising 10th graders in Lisa Rodriguez’s class at Brookline High School were finishing a lesson on exponents and radicals.
The students were participating in a summer program created by the Calculus Project. Founded at Brookline High in 2009, the nonprofit group now works with roughly 1,000 students from 14 nearby districts beginning in the summer after seventh grade to help them complete advanced math classes such as calculus before they finish high school.
It focuses on helping students who are historically underrepresented in high-level math classes — namely those who are Black, Hispanic, and low-income — succeed in that coursework, which serves as a gateway to selective colleges and well-paying careers. While some states and districts are nixing advanced-math requirements, sometimes in the name of equity, the Calculus Project has a different theory: Students who have traditionally been excluded from high-level math can succeed in those courses if they’re given a chance to preview advanced math content and take classes with a cohort of their peers.
The Calculus Project’s work has taken on fresh urgency as the pandemic hit Black, Hispanic, and low-income students particularly hard. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruling banning affirmative action left even some college officials concerned that inequities in high school math would make it harder for them to diversify their classes. The Calculus Project’s national profile has grown, even as it has attracted some scrutiny from parents, due to its emphasis on students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
