Despite getting good grades in the 2024-25 academic year, Ebony Coleman’s daughter knew she needed help in math.
“When my daughter was in eighth grade, she told me she was probably going to drop out of school,” the Midland, Texas, mom told Christianity Today, noting her daughter reached out to her directly after she couldn’t understand her math class.
This disclosure inspired Coleman to found the parent advocacy group JumpStart Midland, which aims to address locally what the outlet’s writer, Carrie McKean, calls “a problem no one can seem to solve” – creating math literacy for the majority of U.S. students.
“We’re kind of at a crisis as far as where our kids are at in math,” said Dr. Matt Friez, a board member at Midland Independent School District (MISD) and physician. “By the time you get to junior high, 60 to 70 percent of our kids in all our junior highs are two-plus years behind in math. That is just completely unacceptable.”
