The remarkable story of the Algebra Project, a community-based
effort to develop math-science literacy in disadvantaged schools--as
told by the program's founder
At a time when
popular solutions to the educational plight of poor children of color
are imposed from the outside--national standards, high-stakes tests,
charismatic individual saviors--the acclaimed Algebra Project and its
founder, Robert Moses, offer a vision of school reform based in the
power of communities. Begun in 1982, the Algebra Project is
transforming math education in twenty-five cities. Founded on the
belief that math-science literacy is a prerequisite for full
citizenship in society, the Project works with entire
communities--parents, teachers, and especially students--to create a
culture of literacy around algebra, a crucial stepping-stone to
college math and opportunity.
Telling the story of
this remarkable program, Robert Moses draws on lessons from the 1960s
Southern voter registration he famously helped organize: "Everyone
said sharecroppers didn't want to vote. It wasn't until we got them
demanding to vote that we got attention. Today, when kids are falling
wholesale through the cracks, people say they don't want to learn. We
have to get the kids themselves to demand what everyone says they
don't want."
We see the Algebra
Project organizing community by community. Older kids serve as
coaches for younger students and build a self-sustained tradition of
leadership. Teachers use innovative techniques. And we see the
remarkable success stories of schools like the predominately poor
Hart School in Bessemer, Alabama, which outscored the city's
middle-class flagship school in just three years.
Radical Equations
provides a model for anyone looking for a community-based solution to
the problems of our disadvantaged schools.
