Interested in joining the SJM project?
Dear mathematics educator,
Re: Social Justice Mathematics Program/Study
My name is Dr. Kari Kokka, and I am an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and former high school math teacher and math coach. Are you a math educator interested in learning more about and working with Social Justice Math (SJM) lessons? I am interested in partnering with you to investigate how math teachers learn how to use SJM. This research project involves Professional Development learning and collaboration opportunities with other math teachers, supported by a project team comprised of teachers and researchers with experience using SJM tasks.
This study lasts from 2024 until 2026. Professional development meetings would occur predominantly via Zoom, approximately monthly during the school year and for approximately one week in the summer as a “summer institute.” These meetings are currently planned for spring semester 2024 (~5 sessions), a week-long summer institute in the summer of 2024, fall semester of 2024 (~5 sessions), and a week-long summer institute in the summer of 2025. Meetings will focus on adapting, developing, and facilitating social justice mathematics lessons. You will facilitate social justice mathematics lessons with your students and seek your students’ anonymous input to improve the lessons. You will also be invited to discuss dilemmas you encounter and share artifacts of student thinking, e.g., de-identified student work, de-identified transcripts of students’ talk in class, etc. Follow up meetings during the 2025-2026 school year will focus on data analysis, publications, and presentations. You may also be invited to meet as a group in person, location and dates are to be determined. In addition, you will be invited to participate in approximately three one-on-one interviews with the research team. You may also be invited to participate in writing for books, articles, blogs, websites, and/or speaking on podcasts, webinars, and/or at conferences.
If you consent to participate you will receive a stipend. You will receive $1,500 for each semester or summer of your participation in the program meetings, activities, and interviews that occur in 2024 or 2025. During the 2025-2026 school year, which focuses on data analysis, publications, and presentations, you will receive a $500 stipend. Please note that compensation is taxable income to the participant regardless of the amount. If a participant receives $600 or more in a calendar year from one organization, that organization is required by law to file a Form 1099 – Miscellaneous with the IRS and provide a copy to the taxpayer. Individuals who do not provide a social security number may still participate in the research, but the IRS requires that 28% of the payment be sent by the institution to the IRS for ‘backup withholding;’ thus you would only receive 72% of the expected payment.
If you are interested, please fill out this interest form by December 16, 2023: https://forms.gle/9SYx4xb7ZGjZXgqz6. My email is kari.kokka@unlv.edu and my telephone number is (917) 512-1314. Please reach out (email, text, or call) if you have questions about the study. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kari Kokka
Associate Professor of Mathematics Education
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
kari.kokka@unlv.edu
(917) 512-1314
