This content is sponsored by the Collaborative for Student Success.
As Washington, D.C. grows into a national center for technology, health sciences, and cybersecurity, city leaders say the next generation of workers will need one skill above all others: math.
Paul Kihn, Washington, D.C.鈥檚 Deputy Mayor for Education, says the city鈥檚 long-term education plan, Compact 2043, is designed to make that connection clear by ensuring that every student graduates with the skills to thrive in both college and high-growth careers.
鈥淐ompact 2043 is our work to ensure that every single child and every student in Washington, D.C. is on a pathway to both higher education and a really good job,鈥� Kihn said.
He hopes to 鈥渘arrow both the economic and the racial wealth gaps in D.C鈥ocusing relentlessly on the high growth sectors that we expect to see in Washington.鈥�
Those sectors, from health care and information technology to data security, rely on strong quantitative reasoning. To meet that demand, D.C. has opened advanced technical centers focused on health sciences and cybersecurity while expanding career programming in high schools. At the same time, Kihn says the District is investing heavily in the academic foundation those careers require.
鈥淲e鈥檝e focused a lot on reading, and we鈥檝e focused a lot on math,鈥� he said. 鈥漁ver this past year, we improved four points in our own very rigorous standardized tests in math.鈥� While we know that the numbers are not nearly where they need to be, we know they continue to improve.鈥�
A citywide math task force recently released expert recommendations for strengthening instruction, and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education has made teacher quality a cornerstone of its work. 鈥淎ll of this actually begins and ends with our teachers,鈥� Kihn said. That means compensating educators well, providing access to high-quality instructional materials, and offering curriculum-based professional development, 鈥渢o make sure that they have the skills that they need.鈥�
Beyond classrooms, D.C. is expanding opportunities for work-based learning that allows students to apply math in real-world settings, experiences Kihn believes make academic learning more meaningful. He says these 鈥渨ork-based learning opportunities could count for credit.鈥�
City officials are also focused on helping families feel confident supporting their children鈥檚 math learning. For many parents, today鈥檚 emphasis on conceptual problem-solving can feel unfamiliar, Kihn says. 聽鈥淭here is a strong sense from a lot of families that it鈥檚 a little bit foreign to them, this way of doing math and approaching problems from four or five different angles, as opposed to just learning the rule.鈥�
To bridge that gap, Kihn discusses D.C.鈥檚 “parent universities,” school meetings and chats with experts, all aimed at helping families better understand the instructional shifts underway. He says the goal is to create a 鈥渃ulture where everybody understands that everyone is a ‘math person’鈥� and erase the belief that 鈥渟ome people are 鈥榤ath people鈥� and some people aren鈥檛.鈥�
Kihn spoke as part of 海角精品黑料鈥檚 鈥淢ath That Works鈥� series, produced in partnership with the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Collaborative for Student Success, spotlighting how math education fuels economic opportunity across the D.C. region.
