Weaving Gender Equity - Challenge of the Month

Equity Challenge of the Month - July

People often use the words equity and equality interchangeably, yet they actually signify two distinct ideas.

What is the difference between equity and equality?

Connecting with the Learner: An Equity Toolkit¹ provides a framework for thinking about each of these terms:

Equity = Treating students fairly by considering differences.
Equality = Treating all students the same.

For many years, mathematics classrooms operated on the understanding that all students should receive the same thing at the same time in the same way. There was one right way to solve a problem, one assessment tool used for all students, and one way of gaining an understanding of the mathematics (the algorithm that the teacher showed on the board). This model fits in well with the definition above for equality - all student are treated the same.

Beginning with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM) Curriculum and Evaluation Standards² in 1989, this paradigm began to shift. In standards-based classrooms, students are encouraged to solve math problems with multiple strategies; assessment tools include portfolios, journals, teacher observation, and exams with multiple kinds of question structure; and students discover their own paths of understanding through group discussion, the use of manipulatives, and real-life problem solving scenarios. This kind of classroom has an eye toward equity - students with different strengths and learning styles can utilize those to become mathematical problem solvers. Each person is held to a high standard, but the path to that high standard is up to the individual student.

Using the equity/equality definitions as a way to distinguish standards-based classrooms from more traditional settings allows educators to think about what their classroom looks like, who is being reached, who is being left out, and how to tailor instruction to meet the needs of more students. An important consideration though is that most classrooms don't use an equity model or an equality model all the time. Effective teachers consider where their students are in their thinking and modify instruction based on this knowledge. For example, a first-grade teacher may push her students to come up with as many strategies as possible for solving two-digit addition problems (an equity model where each student can have a different avenue into understanding the material). She may then show the whole class the traditional algorithm and expect everyone to master that method as well (an equality model where students are all using the same strategy at the same time).

How would you describe your classroom using the equity/equality model? Do you ask all students to know the same material using the same procedures at the same time? Do you ask all students to be fluent problem solvers using their own methods and at their own pace?

¹Midwest Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education. (1998). Connecting With the Learner: An Equity Toolkit. Oak Brook, IL: North Centeral Regional Education Laboratory.

²National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM, 1989.

Visit previous equity challenges:

September Challenge

October Challenge

December Challenge

January Challenge