Dive Summary:
- Stanford professor Jo Boaler, whose ideas in the "reform" school of mathematics education are hailed by many as groundbreaking, published an essay on her own website Friday night describing what she says are unfair personal and professional attacks by two senior mathematics scholars and some of their supporters against her and her work.
- The two scholars accused are Stanford's James Milgram and California State's Wayne Bishop, and though their critique of Boaler's work (which alleges data cooking) has only ever appeared on Milgram's Stanford University web page and been rejected by the university itself, links to the critique frequently appear in the comment sections of Boaler's published work as evidence of invalid data collection.
- Milgram denies any involvement in "academic bullying" and claims that the essay critiquing Boaler's work was prepared and scheduled for publication in a journal, but that issues arising from the ease of identifying schools involved (Boaler agreed under federal privacy protection rights for work involving schoolchildren to keep the schools she studied confidential) were holding that up.
From the article:
Jo Boaler's career has all the hallmarks of success. She is a full professor at Stanford University. She receives grants from the National Science Foundation and other funders for her research on mathematics education. She consults with educators on her ideas on mathematics education -- hailed by many as ground-breaking -- in several countries. Her work appears in the leading peer-reviewed journals in the field. And she has also published for a general audience, with What's Math Got to Do With It? How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children to Love Their Least Favorite Subject (Penguin). ...