An AP Statistics teacher decided to ask his students what they wanted to learn about. The results ... [+]
In a high-poverty school in San Antonio, high school teacher Dashiell Young-Saver took it upon himself to revolutionize the way math was being taught. Frustrated by the disconnect between traditional math problems and real-life issues, he set out to create a curriculum that would engage students with topics they cared about. Fast forward to today, and Young-Saver's brainchild, Skew The Script, is now a nonprofit organization that provides free, relevant math lessons to 20,000 classrooms and 400,000 students nationwide.
Making Math Relevant
Young-Saver's journey began while teaching an AP Statistics course. He realized that the traditional curriculum was failing to captivate his students, who struggled to see the relevance of word problems about the number of watermelons in a field or the average lifetime of batteries. To bridge this gap, he decided to create lessons centered around issues his students found genuinely interesting, such as voter power, food deserts, the Spurs's chances at winning the NBA title, and online dating.
The result? That year, more students at the school took and passed the AP Exam than in the previous 16 years combined. The incredible success of his revamped curriculum inspired Young-Saver to expand his reach and help other teachers facing similar challenges.
What intrigued me most was the way that Skew The Script’s curriculum is seen as superior to alternatives even at well-resourced private schools.
Kevin Bartkovich, a teacher at Exeter Academy, one of the nation’s preeminent college preparatory schools, said, “I started using STS two years ago with my year-long stats class mainly because that course was feeling stale. I was covering all the right topics and I was using a popular textbook, but it felt like we were marching through a syllabus rather than engaging with the math we covered. I was looking for something that was more relevant to my students and connected to the world around them. After all, statistics is all around us, in the news, and used to understand so many studies and arguments (or to see the holes in studies and arguments). It took me about 2 minutes on the website to realize that this was what I was looking for.”
Skew the Script's curriculum uses math to help students draw their own conclusions about real world ... [+]
During the pandemic, Young-Saver created skewthescript.org (named after their class motto) and began sharing his innovative lessons online for free. Within weeks, thousands of teachers across the country were using them, recognizing the potential to transform their students' engagement with math.
As the movement continued to gain momentum, Skew The Script transitioned into a full-fledged nonprofit organization. Today, it offers free resources and lesson plans to teachers, making math relevant and engaging for 400,000 students across the nation.
The Future of Math Education
Skew The Script highlights the importance of adapting education to suit the needs and interests of today's students. By connecting math to real-world issues, Young-Saver's curriculum empowers students to see the value of their education and the role it can play in shaping the world around them.
“Sure, the lessons helped me understand math better. But they also made me realize that I could use math and data to dig deep into real issues - stuff I actually care about,” said Julius Cervantes, a first-generation college student at UT San Antonio and former student of Young-Saver’s. “That’s when I decided to go to college and major in data science.”
As the nonprofit continues to grow, it serves as a reminder to educators and education providers that a key to unlocking a student's potential lies in understanding and addressing their interests. By challenging the status quo and embracing innovative curricula, we can make math feel relevant to the next generation of problem solvers.
