Dr. Jonathan David Farley, co-founder of Girls Equal, Inc.
Mathematician Jonathan David Farley, Ph.D., believes that girls can and should be learning higher mathematics beginning in elementary grades and continuing through high school. In 2015, he co-founded Girls Equal, Inc. to help realize this goal.
Does teacher bias discourage elementary and middle-school girls from studying higher math?
After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard, Dr. Farley earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Oxford University, where he also won the Senior Mathematical Prize and Johnson Prize in 1994. Now an associate professor of mathematics at Morgan State University in Baltimore, he advocates for advanced math education across gender, racial and cultural barriers. “Girls can do more advanced math than teachers and parents typically believe they can,” Farley said.
Recent data supports his statement. A 2015 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research compared two sets of sixth-grade math test scores. Investigators discovered that female students consistently received lower scores on math tests from teachers who knew them. However, girls outscored boys when teachers graded tests that were taken anonymously.
When the same students were tracked in high school, the girls were much less likely to take advanced math and science courses. This evidence indicates that teachers’ gender bias can influence achievement starting when students are very young. By contrast, math educators who advocate for their students’ learning potential can reduce bias, unequal access and other obstacles to math education opportunities for girls, students of color, and children from underserved communities.
Girls Equal, Inc. supports advanced math learning for women and girls
Dr. Farley co-founded Girls Equal, Inc. with designer and entrepreneur Mira Alden to promote teaching research-level mathematics to female students. Their company’s engagement efforts include a math group for first-grade girls at a Princeton, New Jersey, elementary school that emphasizes puzzles, logic and using math for fun. The nonprofit organization also presents lectures on math education for parents and seminars on advanced math concepts for high school students in the Greenburgh Central School District in Hartsdale, New York.
The founders work together to ensure growth for Girls Equal. “As we raise more funds, we will indeed hire more staff so we can do the program in more than two cities a year,” said Dr. Farley. Goals for their organization include expanded programs in research-level math, mostly in enumerative combinatorics.
“A philanthropist conditionally promised $50,000 to do the program in Princeton, New Jersey,” Farley said. “We plan to get funding to do the program in Baltimore, Maryland, as well.”
He has spent much of his career teaching advanced math to women and girls. A young woman Dr. Farley began mentoring when she was 15 is now a graduate student at Princeton University, and he recently taught a graduate-level math course to a small cohort of Saudi Arabian women. Equitable access to math education is improving, “Although in some Eastern countries there may be real barriers to girls studying math, which we are trying to overcome with our Equations of Peace program,” he said.
Equations of Peace furthers education for female math students from regions in conflict
Girls Equal is the home of Equations of Peace, a program Dr. Farley refers to as a “STEM cross-cultural initiative.” It brings female mathematics students from regions in conflict together in the U.S. for a four-month stay, where they collaborate on advanced math research under his instruction.
“Our goal is to raise $800,000 to fund a dozen women around 18-22 to come to Baltimore, specifically Morgan State University,” he said.
Dr. Farley has plans for more student cohorts to collaborate on mathematics research as part of Equations of Peace. “The head of Morgan State University’s Development Office and a member of the Morgan Foundation board support Equations of Peace,” he added.
Building future math heroes: Advice for elementary-school teachers
Many elementary and middle-school teachers in the U.S. don’t teach advanced math because “They don’t know it, typically,” Dr. Farley said, “At least in America, as opposed to the [former] Soviet Union.”
He also sees a teaching opportunity gap between younger students and educators who specialize in higher math. “Most mathematicians are uninterested in teaching children,” he said.
If teachers do have the required knowledge, how can they get elementary students involved in higher mathematics? Dr. Farley recommends introducing students who already like math to unsolved problems in fields like enumerative combinatorics, where they can do experiments.
Finally, as part of his efforts to increase math engagement for girls, Dr. Farley is also involved in Peren Linn Fashion, a company that makes math-themed T-shirts and activewear. “My vision for Peren Linn Fashion is to make ‘Love Math’ apparel for girls as ubiquitous as ‘Love Pink,’” he concluded.
Erin Flynn Jay is a writer, editor and publicist, working mainly with authors and small businesses since 2001. Erin’s interests also reach into the educational space, where her affinity for innovation spurs articles about early childhood education and learning strategies. She is based in Philadelphia.
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