This space was created to provide resources for members of the ANN community who want to deepen our own understanding of racism and white supremacy, in terms of living history, math education, and also in terms of implicit biases that impact our practice. This space will also be a growing source of materials for teachers to explicitly use math to recognize and challenge injustice in the world around us.

We have organized this space into three pages:

  • This page serves as the Math & Social Justice home: Videos exploring intersection of math/justice/anti-racist teaching 
  • Educating Ourselves: Resources for teachers to reflect on aspects of our practice (like implicit bias and microaggressions) as well as a growing list of resources on US history, the history (and present) of racism and anti-racist math teaching practices
  • Learning with Students: Classroom resources for teaching social justice and math
An important aspect of social justice in math is using math as a tool to uncover and respond to injustice. But we believe that the heart of social justice mathematics begins in our daily practice as teachers. Opportunities for corrective justice can be found in opportunities to celebrate student brilliance and in how we disrupt and expand the ideas of who does math, what it means to do math, and where math is done. 

The ANN Principles of Teaching and Learning are rooted in three truths we hold as axiomatic:

  1. all students learn
  2. all adult basic education students deserve a quality math & numeracy education
  3. math needs our adult students, with their experiences and drive.  
  • We advocate for adult education students to do more than just memorize and repeat procedures because they are entitled to bring their whole selves to mathematics, especially their sense-making.

  • We believe that organizing our instruction around conceptual understanding, student sense-making, and worthwhile tasks drawn from the context of the real world can repair previous school experiences that marginalized students’ identities and diminished their belief in their capabilities to do and learn math.

  • By valuing the various informal and alternate strategies students use to solve problems, by building collective understanding, by focusing on reasoning and sense-making (as opposed to answer-getting), we are disrupting traditional notions of what it means to do math and what it means to be capable in math.

  • We use routines like notice/wonder, push and support cards, and low floor/high ceiling tasks to ensure access for all students to participate in high-level mathematical thinking and to contribute their ideas.

Math Teachers: The Key to Ending Racism

by Max Ray-Reik (5 minutes)

In 5 minutes and 19 seconds, Max Ray-Riek makes the case for what math teachers can do to end racism.

  • Learn the history of racism in the United States
  • Examine our own inevitable implicit biases and work to be better for our students
  • Math is a tool of understanding and combating systems of oppression. Teach students to use it.  

Interested ANN members may also want to join the ANN Racial Equity in Math Education Committee.

Visit our committee page to learn more. 

A Note on Leaning In:

For those of us who commit to doing the daily work of becoming anti-racist teachers, we know there will be mistakes. But as Max Ray-Reik says in the video above, we are math teachers, we know what to do with mistakes. We inspect them. We slow down, check our work, understand the concepts, and practice until we get better.    

Knowledge is built socially. Choose one of the videos below and watch it with a colleague or friend. Use the ANN Forum or Ask ANN to connect with other ANN members. As you watch: What do you notice? What do you wonder? What are the ideas that resonate most with you? What can you try in your classroom? Then afterwards, please share your thoughts in the ANN Forum, on Ask ANN, or in the Math Practitioner. 

This work is going to be evolving process, both on this website, in our classrooms, and throughout our organization. Feedback, requests, and suggestions are welcome.


The Changing Landscape of Mathematics Education

A discussion between Margarita Barraza, Marian Dingle, Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez, and Linda Fulmore (President of TODOS Mathematics For All), moderated by Luz Maldonado. (1 hour, 15 minutes)

The current health pandemic has brought equity & social justice issues to the fore while concurrent social movements have helped build momentum toward antiracist teaching in math education. This group came together on July 10, 2020 to reflect on the potential in this mo(ve)ment and consider what we must do going forward.

This webinar was co-sponsored by NCTM and TODOS and was part of the TODOS Live! series. 

10 Things Every Math Teacher Should Know 

by Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez (16 minutes)

Rehumanizing Mathematics: A Vision for the Future

by Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez (56 minutes) 

Equity in Education Webinar Series: Rehumanizing Schools - Rights of the Learner

by Olga G. Torres (50 minutes - the webinar starts at 9:40)

In this joint webinar between Casio Education and TODOS Math for All, Olga Torres shares ways in which we can rehumanize the classroom and focus on the rights of the learners. She will share her philosophy of listening to what students know and helping use that to discover learning. She provides examples of what this might look like in a math classroom and inspires educators to listen to their students.

Expectations & Outcomes

by Abby Roza (12 minutes)

In her 2019 ANN Under 10 talk, MN ANN member Abby Roza reflects on the impact low expectations have had on her teaching and her students and challenges herself and all of us to call upon the power of "yet" to imagine, and then build, a culture of high expectations in adult basic education. Quality math education for our students is a social justice issue and Abby is suiting up.

What Counts? The Tyranny of HSE Testing

by Charlie Brover and Solange Farina (18 minutes)

In their 2017 ANN Under 10 talk, NYC ANN members Charlie Brover and Solange Farina and their collective 60+ years of adult numeracy instruction, spoke about the effect the Common-Core aligned assessments have had on our students and our field. They make the case for not ceding our classrooms to the publishers and test-makers and helping our students develop the math they need to be empowered members of our society. 

Taking a Knee in Mathematics Education: Moving From Equity Discourse to Protest & Refusal

By Dr. Danny Martin (59 minutes)

Delivered for the Iris M. Carl Equity Address at the 2018 NCTM National Conference. 

Here's a partial transcription of the talk. 

Math as Liberation by Dr. Danny Martin (2:25)

Black Children are Brilliant

by Dr. Danny Martin (32 minutes)

2020 Equity in Education Series (Sponsored by a partnership of CASIO Education and the Benjamin Banneker Association)


Is there a video about the intersection of math/social justice/anti-racist teaching that you think should be added? 

Please let us know - Video Suggestions. 


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