As a teacher, I heard it all the time: “I’m not a math person.” I would be in line at the grocery store, wearing a math T-shirt one of my students got for me, and I’d hear it: “Algebra? Who needs it?” ...

There’s a familiar divide between practice and policy. When it comes to grading, devices, equity, choice, student behavior, and much else, the views from inside and outside the schoolhouse are very ...