The Bob Moses Research Center for Math Literacy Through Public Education is the child of Bob Moses' lifelong efforts championing math education as the key to empowerment in the 21st century.
Today, we continue his work with communities to conduct transformative research on math education, empowering children to excel academically and shape their own futures. We envision a world where rigorous research on math education is the driving force behind quality public education, providing all students with equitable access to knowledge and the tools to become engaged, informed citizens.
By illuminating effective practices and collaborating with educators, families, and communities, we seek to create a transformative learning environment that nurtures critical thinking, fosters active citizenship, and empowers every individual to contribute meaningfully to society. Together, we want to embody the vision of Bob Moses and create a world where the path to full citizenship is paved with high-quality education, ensuring a brighter future for all.
Our Focus
Research
Conducting and sharing math education research, leveraging local and national partnerships to actively involve public school parents, students, and educators in research design, implementation, and application.
Professional Development
Developing math educators and math literacy workers, locally and nationally, who have the deep conceptual knowledge needed to teach math to all students in their communities. Offering resources to help develop people willing to partner with others to lead their schools and school districts toward equitable academic outcomes.
Community Engagement
Collaborating with parents, policy makers, communities, and other agents of change to support the development of quality public education for all people.
Quality Public Education as a Constitutional Right
Continuing our long established partnership with the FIU College of Law and other institutions dedicated to the upholding of the U.S. Constitution and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals' establishment of literacy and education as fundamental rights.
Who We Are
Drawn from a collection of experienced professionals, we come from a variety of career backgrounds. Some of us were on the ground teaching in classrooms while others were lobbying for funding at the highest level to make that teaching possible. Regardless of where we all started, we are all now in one place, driven together by our passion to advance public education and make a positive impact in the classrooms across the nation. Together with our Advisory Circle of dedicated supporters, we know we will make that impact.
Bob Moses and our History
During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Bob Moses risked his life daily to support black sharecroppers, day laborers and domestic workers in their decades long struggle to exercise their right to vote in Mississippi, where they lived, worked and were raising their families. The impact of Bob and his supporters ensured access to the vote for millions of blacks and poor whites in the South.
40 Years as a Leader in Math Literacy & Equity
In the last forty years of his life, Bob committed himself to translating his work in Mississippi into goal posts inside math education, advocating for algebra as the equivalent of the vote in the 21st century's increasingly global and technological world.
He devoted his MacArthur “Genius” Award to creating the Algebra Project, which engages students, teachers and communities to co-design and deliver innovative instruction and curriculum for students being left behind by traditional math teaching and learning methods.
The Algebra Project therefore represents a critical gamechanger: setting a target that has all students completing high school Algebra I as early as possible to graduate high school on time and gain access to college preparatory curriculum and career opportunities without math remediation.
Systemic Change
While an Eminent Scholar partnering with FIU for 17 years, Bob envisioned our Algebra Project having a national footprint, within local schools across the country and globally. He wanted it to demonstrate how to successfully raise the floor of math literacy, using those results to influence teaching and learning, and scaling that approach to schools in under-resourced communities.
That work has significantly succeeded. However, until now, no dedicated university research center has ever existed to analyze, evaluate, and publish what the Algebra Project and its partners are learning, nor translated that success into increased opportunities for professional development so these initiatives can grow and be sustained in our nation’s schools.
Now that The Bob Moses Research Center has a home at FIU, our next step is to increase the capacity of the staff to directly address the systemic disparities inside our systems that cut off access to math literacy for a large segment of the nation’s students.
Bob Moses at John Witherspoon Middle School Auditorium, 217 Walnut Lane, courtesy of Princeton Public Library. Creative Commons License
