The Math/Science Teacher Initiative will be sponsoring a screening of the documentary Counted Out. Information about the film is below. This is a great opportunity for students to think about the role of mathematics education in perpetuating or disrupting long-standing inequities in society. The film has what is probably the last recorded interview with Bob Moses, the civil right icon who in later years developed The Algebra Project as a way to address what he saw as the lack of access to rigorous mathematics learning for adolescent learners in urban and rural schools.

Here is a link to register to attend:

Counted Out investigates the biggest crises of our time through an unexpected lens: math.

In our current information economy, math is everywhere. The people we date, the news we see, the influence of our votes, the candidates who win elections, the education we have access to, the jobs we get—all of it is underwritten by an invisible layer of math that few of us understand, or even notice.

But whether we know it or not, our numeric literacy—whether we can speak the language of math—is a critical determinant of social and economic power.

Through a mosaic of personal stories, expert interviews, and scenes of math transformation in action, Counted Out shows what’s at risk if we keep the status quo. Do we want an America in which most of us don’t consider ourselves “math people”? Where math proficiency goes down as students grow up? Or do we want a country where everyone can understand the math that undergirds our society—and can help shape it?