The second edition of Mark Wolfmeyer's award-winning primer offers future and current math teachers an introduction to the connections that exist between mathematics and a critical orientation to education, one that accounts for race, social class, gender, sexuality, language diversity, and ability. Expanded and updated from the first edition, this book demonstrates how elements of human diversity and intersectionality have real effects in the mathematics classroom, and prepares teachers with a more critical math education that increases accessibility and equity for all students. By refocusing math learning toward the goals of democracy and social and environmental crises, the book also introduces readers to broader contemporary school policy and reform debates and struggles, especially in light of Covid-19 and the ongoing struggle for racial equity. Featuring concrete strategies and examples in both formal and informal educational settings, as well as discussion questions for teachers and students, text boxes with examples of critical education in practice, a glossary, and suggestions for further reading, Mark Wolfmeyer shows how critical mathematics education can be put into practice, relevant for undergraduate and graduate students in education, current teachers, and teacher educators.

Math Education for America? analyzes math education policy through the social network of individuals and private and public organizations that influence it in the United States. The effort to standardize a national mathematics curriculum for public schools in the U.S. culminated in 2010 when over 40 states adopted the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Rather than looking at the text of specific policy documents, this book complements existing critical reviews of the national math education curriculum by employing a unique social network analysis. Breaking new ground in detailing and theorizing the politics of math education, Wolfmeyer argues that the private interests of this network are closely tied to a web of interrelated developments: human capital education policy, debates over traditional and reform pedagogy, the assumed content knowledge deficit of math teachers, and the proliferation of profit-driven educational businesses. By establishing the interconnectedness of these interests with the national math education curriculum, he shows how the purported goals of math education reform are aligned with the prevailing political agendas of this social network rather than the national interest.

Math Education for America? analyzes math education policy through the social network of individuals and private and public organizations that influence it in the United States. The effort to standardize a national mathematics curriculum for public schools in the U.S. culminated in 2010 when over 40 states adopted the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Rather than looking at the text of specific policy documents, this book complements existing critical reviews of the national math education curriculum by employing a unique social network analysis. Breaking new ground in detailing and theorizing the politics of math education, Wolfmeyer argues that the private interests of this network are closely tied to a web of interrelated developments: human capital education policy, debates over traditional and reform pedagogy, the assumed content knowledge deficit of math teachers, and the proliferation of profit-driven educational businesses. By establishing the interconnectedness of these interests with the national math education curriculum, he shows how the purported goals of math education reform are aligned with the prevailing political agendas of this social network rather than the national interest.

The second edition of Mark Wolfmeyer's award-winning primer offers future and current math teachers an introduction to the connections that exist between mathematics and a critical orientation to education, one that accounts for race, social class, gender, sexuality, language diversity, and ability. Expanded and updated from the first edition, this book demonstrates how elements of human diversity and intersectionality have real effects in the mathematics classroom, and prepares teachers with a more critical math education that increases accessibility and equity for all students. By refocusing math learning toward the goals of democracy and social and environmental crises, the book also introduces readers to broader contemporary school policy and reform debates and struggles, especially in light of Covid-19 and the ongoing struggle for racial equity. Featuring concrete strategies and examples in both formal and informal educational settings, as well as discussion questions for teachers and students, text boxes with examples of critical education in practice, a glossary, and suggestions for further reading, Mark Wolfmeyer shows how critical mathematics education can be put into practice, relevant for undergraduate and graduate students in education, current teachers, and teacher educators.