ascendant right now. >> Interesting. Charles
Franklin, thank you so much. >> Thank you.
>> Along with the number of education bills that
stalled in the legislature, one authored by State
Representative Karen Hurd, would have provided year
round testing and tutoring for students falling behind
in math despite not gaining enough support this past
legislative session. The push will continue to help
K through eighth grade students in Wisconsin
struggling with math tonight. Here and now,
reporter Murv Seymour takes us to the classroom and the
big screen to learn more about statewide struggles
and success with math. >> This evening, we're
going to do the film screening of Count It Out.
>> Tonight is movie night at the Urban League of
Madison's Black Business Hub.
>> We brought this film to Madison, to the community
so that we can be a contributor with changing
the dialog. >> It's a packed house for
the first ever public showing in Wisconsin of
Counted Out, a documentary about the importance of
math. >> Because math is all
around us, it is something that maybe many of us might
have had a negative experience with when we
were in school, but we want to change that narrative.
>> The film features two University of
professors. Erika Bullock is one of them.
>> I love teaching math, for sure.
>> By her estimate, this is about her 15th time
participating in a counted out screening.
>> When people are thinking about screening it, they
think about, okay, this is going to help parents to
understand how they can mathematics. It's really
difficult to convince people that there's value
in math, even though we use it all the time.
>> Math is everywhere. >> Understanding math is
foundational, just under, you know, being able to
function in the world. >> Based on the numbers.
Educators everywhere agree Wisconsin students need to
do better in math. According to Wisconsin's
forward exam, the test used to assess how well students
are doing in the classroom, just over half in grades
three through eight are proficient in math. In
Milwaukee schools, the number is just over 20%.
>> I would say this question of math and
numeracy is every bit as important as a conversation
we've had around literacy. >> Welcome to the Milwaukee
offices of City Forward Collective, a nonprofit
team of educators and advocates led by Colleston
Morgan. understand and analyze so
many different aspects of our world.
>> Collectively, their mission is to eliminate
educational inequity while providing students access
to quality schools. City Ford also tracks state and
national test scores of students at public and
private schools statewide. A father of two, Colleston
Morgan tells me he tracks his own kids in their
journeys with math. >> My fourth grader
probably just got through her times table. She's
working on advanced multiplication division. My
sixth grader is doing her math skills as well, right?
What keeps me up at night is thinking about the tens
of thousands of students across our state who maybe
aren't getting that same level of instruction, who
maybe aren't getting that same level of attention. At
home. We get to the point where we don't even think
about the ways in which we're adding and
subtracting, multiply and divide.
>> And we say, okay, it's three hours away. If I go
about 60, I'll get there. Those kinds of calculations,
we don't see those as mathematical, really
calculating a discount in a store or, you know, kind of
visually eyeing something to see. Okay, does this
look about the same size. >> In politics?
Strategizing winning campaigns and mapping
voting districts involves math.
>> This is a battleground state. I need to invest my
resources because there is something here that the
data has shown that says this is a possibility for
me. We're using algorithms in order to determine if
somebody will recommit a crime and return back to
prison. And maybe for every disciplinary infraction,
I'm going to subtract ten points.
>> Math is at the center of managing Covid and other
diseases. >> You have one person who
is infected, and then that person sits in a room with
30 people and now 30 people are infected.
>> Walk sign is on to cross park.
>> Even something as mundane as crossing a busy
street involves mathematics. >> I'm thinking about.
>> You got 30 seconds to get across the street.
>> So I'm looking at the distance.
before the light turns red? >> Do I need to run? Do I
need to walk fast. >> On the street? You're
driving 35 miles an hour. >> Suitcase in my hand. Can
I make it? >> These foundational
the basis for your ability to access and enter. And if
anything, they'll only become more important.
>> People need to hear that there are places in
education that are working. >> The Notre Dame Academy
on Milwaukee's south side is one of those places.
>> There's a special math culture here, and it's
evident in the numbers. >> That's the school's
president, Patrick Landry, speaking about the culture
of learning at Notre Dame. >> Math is cool here. Math
is fun. When you ask the kids their favorite
subjects, I'd say 70% of them are saying math.
>> You each have a problem. It's up front here.
>> Welcome to Mrs. Frome's eighth grade all boys
algebra class. >> To make sure that
whatever you input for X, whatever the outcome is for
Y, then okay. >> Where the proof is all
in the numbers, student Jonathan Todd will tell you,
in this classroom, the passion for math adds up to
positive perfection. >> The teachers here are
just amazing. I think that like the best teachers in
the world. >> Sixth through eighth
grade boys at Notre Dame scored a perfect 100% in
math on the state's Ford exam. It's girls, 70%
students at other Milwaukee schools in the same grades
scoring at 20%. >> So is your X and Y is
going to be the same as Jonathan's. Yes or no?
>> Jonathan wants to be a math teacher some day.
>> The reason why people struggle with math is
because you haven't learned it yet.
>> He believes the derivative of school
Dame is a combination of strict teaching discipline,
students supporting each support. And it's okay to
make mistakes. He and his classmates say. They learn
from them. >> There's a coefficient in
front of the variable y. >> Outside the classroom,
Jonathan says. He uses math all the time, even when he
plays basketball. >> If I'm like the three
point line and my brain is like, how much force I need
to put in the ball, how what angle I need to go
upwards like this into the net.
come up and give me an example.
>> After more than 30 years in the classroom, Angie
says teaching how students learn has changed a lot
today. It involves more problem solving, more
critical thinking. >> Maybe you and I were
kids where we just like, okay, what is two times
five is ten? What is it was it's more more than
computation. It's more conceptual. You know, you
have to really think about and use it for everyday
situation, everyday life. >> I have numbers in front
of me all day financial data, fundraising trends,
enrollment and demographic data test scores.
>> You each have a problem. It's up front here.
>> At Notre Dame School of Milwaukee, the formula for
than their peers at other schools involves a simple
equation centered around the basics.
>> Fluency and subtraction, addition and multiplication,
and percents, decimals and fractions. And if students
don't have those in second, third, fourth grade, it
makes any type of more complicated or more
advanced math. In middle school or high school
really hard. >> We've got to make sure
that teachers are getting the right training. We've
got to make sure that students are showing up.
>> I think it's a partnership between the
home and school. >> As long as it looks nice
and neat and organized. >> In your notebook.
>> Capiche? Prasch. All right.
as you can see in some of our data, I think really
remarkable things can remarkable things can