Imagine stepping into a math classroom where every student feels connected, not just to the numbers on the board but also to the content of the lessons. This is the kind of change UnboundEd envisioned when it launched the Math Identity Leadership Accelerator (MILA) in 2020. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant, the goal was to empower middle school leaders to break down systemic barriers, especially those rooted in racism and bias, and reshape how math is taught — making math classrooms a space where every student builds a positive math identity and thrives academically. Math identity refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and feelings a person holds about math, themselves as a math learner, and their ability to do math.
A New Perspective on Math
At the heart of MILA was a simple but powerful idea: math instruction should be grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful. The program brought together middle school leaders nationwide to rethink math education. Instead of viewing math as just a set of standards to meet, they began to see math as a way to empower students by acknowledging and affirming their cultures and life experiences based on the idea that empowered students can take ownership of their learning, resulting in improved math learning and math proficiency and an enhanced sense of belonging.
One principal from the program described it perfectly: “It’s not just about building relationships with students; it’s about connecting the curriculum to their language, culture, and experiences. This makes rigorous math more accessible and meaningful to them.”
Facing Challenges, Seeing Growth
Of course, the journey wasn’t always smooth. The MILA program launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant virtual meetings and limited in-person interactions. Despite these obstacles, school leaders found immense value in the program’s structure. From one-on-one coaching to group learning sessions, the program’s design kept them focused on instruction and committed to their students at a particularly challenging time.
MILA included school leaders from 65 schools across nine states and eleven districts. They participated in a mix of synchronous sessions, independent work, and coaching focused on preparing school leaders to better understand math problem-solving and culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy while building effective math Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Leaders worked together to refine their approaches to math instruction, making it more inclusive and culturally responsive, and leveraged curricula to promote rigorous standards-based instruction. However, like with any new program, not everyone could fully implement all the strategies due to time constraints and other challenges brought on by the pandemic.
Planting Seeds for the Future
Throughout the MILA program, the mindsets of the participating school leaders measurably shifted. Many reported being more intentional about supporting their teachers and creating environments where students felt like they truly belonged in math class.
The program’s external evaluation, conducted by the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), showed that while changes in classroom instruction were difficult to detect, there was a positive effect on students’ math identity — a key outcome. Students began to see themselves as capable mathematicians, which is the first step toward long-term academic success. HumRRO has prepared a report outlining findings from the study, and the executive summary is available here.
Building on Success: The Math Leader Collaborative
The lessons learned from MILA led UnboundEd to launch the Math Leader Collaborative (MLC), which represents an evolution of the work that MILA started. MLC equips school-based instructional teams to strengthen their PLCs, preparing them to support grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM™ — math instruction. By offering more flexible, manageable time commitments, MLC is a semester-based UnboundEd offering aimed at further improving math education while aligning with district priorities.
In the words of one leader, “Culturally responsive math instruction means creating a safe space where students feel seen and understood.” This approach is the foundation on which MLC continues to build: creating classroom experiences that eliminate the predictability of student outcomes by race, language, and socioeconomic status.
As we look to the future, it’s clear that the seeds planted by MILA will continue to grow, fostering more inclusive, culturally rich math environments where every student can see themselves as confident mathematicians as they tackle grade-level content.