The Mathematics of Opportunity

Strong quantitative reasoning skills are essential to navigating today’s data-rich society and advancing in a 21st-century career. Whether a student dreams of becoming a scientist, an electrician, a teacher, or a historian, math learning will be central to their success.

Yet math policies, practices, and perceptions often turn students off math and create roadblocks to higher education. And access to math learning opportunities and resources is highly inequitable, with Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other marginalized students facing the greatest barriers to math success. 

Together we can change policy to ensure that math education is a gateway to opportunity—not a gatekeeper.

That’s why we hope you will join us March 7-9, 2023, for Just Equations’ fifth-annual Mathematics of Opportunity conference, a three-day conference that is cosponsored by PACE. This free, virtual event will continue conversations about how education systems leaders, policymakers, and advocates can advance math education that uplifts and empowers students, resulting in deeper math learning and more equitable access to opportunities.

We’re thrilled to announce Akil Bello, FairTest Senior Director of Advocacy and Advancement, as our keynote speaker. 

Joining our opening keynote dialogue are Laura Castillo-Page, Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Jennifer Stimpson, Chief Programs Officer at T.D. Jakes Foundation; Suzanne L. Weekes, Executive Director of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics; and Dave Kung, Director of Policy at UT-Austin, Charles A. Dana Center.

We’re also excited to have Eloy Oakley, President and CEO of College Futures Foundation, leading our closing keynote dialogue. He will be joined by panelists including Portia Reddick White, Vice President of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the NAACP, Alex Marrero, Superintendent of Denver Public Schools, and OiYan Poon, Director of the Race & Intersectional Studies for Educational Equity (RISE) Center at Colorado State University. And Roberto Rubalcaba, Associate Professor of Mathematics at San Diego City College, will facilitate our Student Voices panel.

Through a series of plenary sessions and interactive discussions, subject-area experts and leading thinkers on the intersection of mathematics and education opportunity will explore such topics as:

• The role of math in college admissions and access.
• Cultivating positive student math identities.
• Supporting diverse learners on the pathway to STEM
• Data science as a tool for social justice

Each day will feature three to four hours of programming beginning at 10:00am PST/noon CST/1:00pm EST. Join policymakers, advocates, educators, and researchers from around the country, to consider how math education can be a force for equity and engagement.