Krista Holstein, Cary, NC kristaholstein@cpm.org
Over the past year, employees at CPM have been reflecting on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have read materials, attended webinars, and engaged in conversations related to social justice issues. We continue to do the important work of discussing and reflecting on these issues internally as well as with the larger CPM family.
As part of this work, we created a document detailing our equity principles. Our current draft is shown below. We ask that the CPM community read through these principles and provide feedback (CPM Equity Principles Feedback Form). Your input will help us continue to reflect and keep others’ perspectives in mind. Your feedback will be invaluable as we create the final draft of these equity principles.
CPM’s Vision
CPM envisions a world where mathematics is viewed as intriguing and useful, and is appreciated by all; where powerful mathematical thinking is an essential, universal, and desirable trait; and where people are empowered by mathematical problem solving and reasoning to solve the world’s problems.
CPM’s Mission
CPM’s mission is to empower mathematics students and teachers through exemplary curriculum, professional development, and leadership. We recognize and foster teacher expertise and leadership in mathematics education. We engage all students in learning mathematics through problem solving, reasoning, and communication.
CPM uses the following principles to guide our path toward this vision and mission.
- The goal of teaching is to help dependent learners become independent learners.
We recognize that “a disproportionate number of culturally and linguistically diverse students are dependent learners” (Hammond, 2014, p. 13). Direct instruction and rote memorization are ineffective practices when working with dependent learners. All students can learn and benefit from productive struggle. In addition, we note that while answers are important, they may not always be the goal. We instead focus on taking steps toward mastery and developing an academic mindset. We strive to provide engaging curriculum, interesting tasks, and empowering instruction to all students. - Relationships are of vital importance.
Our curriculum and professional development are designed to help teachers generate trust, build rapport, and create social-emotional connections with their students. We encourage teachers to become warm demanders. Teachers are more able to react appropriately to students when they understand their needs and backgrounds; they should seek out and embrace opportunities to gain these insights. Students are more willing to take intellectual risks if they trust their teacher and see them as an ally. Classroom strategies and activities that build the classroom community and trust should not be skipped as unnecessary. - Student differences are assets, not deficits.
Students come from different cultures, have different ways of learning, and may demonstrate their understanding in a variety of ways. We view these differences as assets and believe that students excel within their strengths. The educational environment should build upon these differences – utilizing cultural knowledge as a scaffold rather than as something to be corrected – and avoid one-size-fits-all learning. We aim to help teachers respond to different students’ needs and backgrounds. - Reflection is a crucial part of growth.
Biases, lenses, values, and backgrounds influence our work at CPM as well as the educational environment. We acknowledge and regularly reflect on these influences as we work with teachers and develop curriculum. In addition, we encourage teachers and other stakeholders to reflect on these influences as they plan, teach, and assess students.