The 74 Million – Kelly James and Brian Carter and Kimberly Brenneman and LiLi Liu and Kassie Davis and Cornelia Grumman and Victoria Manning
““I’m just not a math person.” We’ve all heard that phrase from friends, family, or colleagues. Though usually presented as a harmless personality quirk, it conceals math anxiety, insecurity, and potentially a belief that math isn’t as valuable as other areas of study. This has real implications: Research shows that merely expressing math anxiety can damage math performance. Yet we rarely hear people say they’re not a “reading person.” Why is reading viewed differently than math in this way? One reason is that most people don’t know how to support math skill development in young children. This affects low-income children and children of color the most. Fewer than 10 percent of children from low-income families can count to 20 in preschool — a skill that correlates strongly to math achievement in first grade. This contributes to significant racial and socioeconomic math gaps before students enter kindergarten.” (more)