Jo Boaler

Jo Boaler
Jo Boaler, 2013
Born	1964 (age 59–60) England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Liverpool University King's College London
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics education
Institutions	Stanford University
Doctoral advisor	Paul Black Mike Askew

Jo Boaler (born 1964^[1]) is a British education author and Nomellini–Olivier Professor of mathematics education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.^[2] Boaler is involved in promoting reform mathematics^[3][4] and equitable mathematics classrooms.^{[citation needed]} She is the co-founder and faculty director of youcubed,^[5] a Stanford centre that offers mathematics education resources to teachers, students and parents. She is the author, co-author or editor of eighteen mathematics books, including Limitless Mind,^[6] Mathematical Mindsets,^[7] The Elephant in the Classroom,^[8] and What's Math Got To Do With It?.^[9]

Boaler grew up outside of Birmingham, England. Her mother was a secretary, and her father was a technical draftsman.^[10] Her mother attended Open University to study to become a teacher and in this way Boaler experienced "cutting-edge, play-based educational ideas of the day".^[11]

Boaler's early mathematics classes were largely mundane until an iconoclastic teacher introduced her class to a more nurturing and collaborative way to learn math.^{[10][attribution needed]} Boaler received a Bachelors in Psychology from Liverpool University in 1985.^[2][12]

Boaler began her career as a secondary education mathematics teacher in urban London secondary schools, including Haverstock School, Camden.^{[12][failed verification]} After her early career, Boaler pursued a master's degree and Ph.D. in mathematics education at King's College London.^[10] She won the award for best Ph.D. in education from the British Educational Research Association in 1997.^[13]

During the early part of Boaler's career, she conducted longitudinal studies of students learning mathematics through different approaches. Her first three-year study in England was published in 1997 as "Experiencing School Mathematics: Teaching Styles, Sex, and Setting".^[14]

In 1998, Boaler became an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at Stanford University in the Graduate School of Education.^[12] She became an associate professor in 2000 and left as a full professor in 2006.^[12]

In 2000, she was awarded a Research on Learning Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a longitudinal study in California.^[15][10] Boaler's NSF funded study would come to be known as the Railside study about the outcomes across three schools in northern California. The goal of the study was to compare the impact of traditional math curriculum with the reform curriculum. The findings were published in 2008.^[16] The findings were promising and were used to support further reform efforts.^[10]

In 2006, Stanford mathematician R. James Milgram filed a complaint of research misconduct against Boaler over the validity of her data collection methods.^[10][17] Milgram later co-authored an essay along with mathematician Wayne Bishop of California State University at Los Angeles and statistician Paul Clopton, stating that Boaler's conclusions in the Railside study were "grossly exaggerated and do not translate into success for her treatment [of] students".^[10][18] A report published by Stanford described the complaint as a matter of "academic debate" and declined to investigate further.^[10] The report further stated that the allegations "do not have substance" and that Boaler offered a "scientific rationale" for each of the disputed claims.^[17]

In 2006, Boaler left Stanford for the United Kingdom. She was awarded a posting as the Marie Curie professor at Sussex University by the Marie Curie Foundation.^[19] While in England, Boaler authored two books, What's Math Got To Do With It? and The Elephant in the Classroom.^[9][8]

In 2010, Boaler returned to Stanford and resumed her position as Professor of Mathematics Education.^[12] In 2013, Boaler taught the first Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on mathematics education, called "How to Learn Math".^[20][21] Its purpose was to educate teachers and parents about a new way of teaching math to help students overcome their fear of math while improving their academic performance.^[22] Over 40,000 teachers and parents participated, with about 25,000 completing the full 2-to-16-hour course.^[23] At the end of the course, 95% of survey respondents indicated that they would modify their ways of teaching math.^[20][24]

In addition to focusing on inquiry-based learning,^[17] Boaler's research has highlighted the problems associated with ability grouping in England and the US.^[25][26][27] In 2012, Boaler published articles on the links between timed testing and math anxiety.^[28] Boaler had conducted research on mathematics, mistakes, and growth mindset.^[29] In 2012 Boaler published an article on her Stanford homepage, accusing Milgram, Bishop (and others) of harassment, persecution, and attempts to "suppress research evidence".^[30] Bishop and Milgram each issued rebuttals.^[31][32]

In 2013, Boaler founded youcubed.org with Cathy Williams, former director of Mathematics in the Vista Unified School District^[5] to offer inspirational mathematics resources for mathematics teachers.^[33]

In 2014, the San Francisco Unified School District updated its math program, including removal of algebra from their public middle schools. The effort removed honors classes and accelerated math, placing all students into the same curriculum based on grade.^[34] The replacement curriculum was heavily based on Boaler's work, and had groups of students work through a series of math tasks.^[34] In an Op-Ed signed by Boaler and several colleagues, the group praised the effort, claiming the repeat rate for 9th grade algebra dropped from 40% to 8%.^[35] A school district spokesperson described the change as a "one-time major drop".^[10] According to the group Families for San Francisco, the drop could be explained by the removal of placement testing, which occurred at the same time.^[10]

Boaler criticized New York State's 2015 implementation of a Common Core–based math curriculum as being too focused on speed and rote learning at the expense of students' ability to think about numbers creatively.^[36]

Boaler is one of the original authors^[37][38] of the California Department of Education's 2021 mathematics framework.^[39] Based on the work of Boaler and youcubed, among others,^[10][40] the framework faced considerable criticism and pushback.^[41][42] Following years of delays,^[43] the framework was approved in July 2023 by the state board of education^[44] after changes recommended by WestEd were integrated into the document.^{[38][further explanation needed]}

Amid controversy over private consulting fees she received, Boaler's home address was posted to Twitter, and she said she received death threats.^[45] In March 2024, an anonymous complaint was sent to Stanford's dean of research alleging Boaler had violated the research policies of the university.^[46] As with the earlier complaint from 2006, the university declined to investigate the matter, stating that the allegations were reviewed and they "reflect scholarly disagreement and interpretation".^[47]

• 2014 NCSM (National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics) Kay Gilliland Equity Award^[48]
• 2016 The California Mathematics Council Walter Denham Memorial Award for Leadership^[49]
• 2019 The Nomellini–Olivier Endowed Chair^[50][2]

• Math wars – Debate over modern mathematics education, textbooks and curricula in the U.S.

• Stanford faculty home page