A complaint against Jo Boaler alleges 52 misreported study.
The private complaint, backed by a California- based group of math- and- science focused professionals, alleges that Professor Jo Boaler—the most important influence on California’s K- 12 math framework that nudges schools apart from accelerated math pathways—has in 52 instances misrepresented supporting research she has cited in her own work in order to help her conclusions. These include the notions that mixing students from various academic levels improves achievement, timed tests cause math anxiety, and teachers do n’t grade their work as well. This pattern of” citation misrepresentation”, the complaint alleges, violates Stanford’s standards of professional conduct for faculty, showing a disregard for accuracy, and may violate the university’s research integrity rules.
According to the complaint,” [D]in light of the potential impact and influence Dr. Boaler may have on the math education of CA K-12 public school students,” it is necessary to investigate the references in Dr. Boaler’s work.
The allegations come as a result of a backlash against Boaler’s policies that are based on equity. The University of California has updated its admissions policy to mandate that high school students must take Algebra II and may no longer switch it for “math-light” data science courses like those offered by Boaler, a Stanford center run by Youcubed. Tesla’s founder Elon Musk and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman were among the Silicon Valley executives who praised UC’s move. In addition, after years of declining student performance, San Francisco public schools are restoring middle school algebra, which the district abruptly ended a decade ago, citing Boaler as a major influence.
According to the complaint filed on Wednesday, Boaler’s repeated errors in citing research may conflict with Stanford’s stringent standards for academic integrity and accuracy. According to the university’s research handbook,” the importance of integrity in research cannot be overemphasized,” and faculty have a responsibility to foster an environment that fosters intellectual honesty and integrity and does not tolerate misconduct in any aspect of research or scholarly endeavors. Stanford deems , “reckless disregard for accuracy” a “misdeed”.
” In the case of a serious violation of these standards, a faculty member may face disciplinary charges”, the faculty handbook says.
Regarding the issue of timed tests that cause “math anxiety,” Boaler claimed that “scientists now know that students experience stress on timed tests that they do not experience even when they work on the same math questions in untimed circumstances.” As evidence, she cites a study by psychologist Randall Engle. However, Engle’s paper in question deals with “working memory” rather than student anxiety, and Engle himself called the assessment a “huge misrepresentation” of his work.
Many math teachers still seem to believe this claim, according to Anna Stokke, a mathematics professor at the University of Winnipeg, and their belief appears to have come from Boaler.
Stokke told the Washington Free Beacon,” I’ve tried to figure out where this misconception comes from among teachers, that timed tests cause math anxiety, and it frequently seems to lead back to Jo Boaler’s faulty opinion piece.”
Boaler has cited a 1988 study that involved giving a random sample of students a basic language task and some puzzle questions outside of their regular classrooms as examples of how students have “achieved at significantly higher levels” if teachers “diagnostic comments” on their work rather than grade them. The author of the study acknowledged the limitations, but not Boaler, because the study did not involve an actual academic class taught over the course of several months.
Boaler has also asserted that students who studied math at all proficiency levels learned the subject more effectively and enjoyed it more. This claim was made again in the math framework of California to prevent separating advanced students from their less-effective peers. However, the study cited in both cases did not concentrate solely on the advantages of teaching an accelerated algebra course to all eighth-graders in a “diverse suburban school district,” which was not mentioned by Boaler.
Before the complaint was filed, Boaler’s spokesman Ian McCaleb, on Tuesday, declined to comment on it.
Dr. Boaler said he is confident in the validity and breadth of the research supporting her work.
Cole Sampson, a member of the committee that reviewed the California framework and who has defended its guidelines and the research behind them, claimed the complaint is a “discredit” attempt by its opponents.
Given her 100K+ followers on social media and the attention ( like this report ) that they would seek to stifle the development of mathematics in the state of California, Sampson said in an email,” While I am not assuming the intent of those I have never met face-to-face, I could imagine why those with opposing views would choose to target and criticize the work of Dr. Boaler over all the others who played a pivotal role in the new framework”
Boaler runs a Youcubed center out of Stanford, which produces data science courses that are marketed in the California math framework and provides consulting services. One California public school district records revealed that she billed$ 5, 000 per hour in fees. She has also established a name in progressive and educational circles. After drawing criticism for the initial drafts of the equity-focused California math framework that she led, she sought assistance from Democratic megadonor Laurene Powell Jobs to lobby for the guidelines sent to California governor Gavin Newsom, according to emails.
She has underplayed her influence in San Francisco public schools ‘ 2014 decision to eliminate middle school algebra for equity reasons, which the city’s school board had just overturned and had rejected by a voter resounding in correspondence with the Free Beacon. Yet she frequently praised the elimination of that course—in a Stanford video, in her research, and op- eds. The former superintendent of the district also cited her research as being the policy’s inspiration.
