The Southern Initiative Algebra Project: Coordinating Community, School, and University Partnerships for Math Teacher Development

• In Event: Count Me In: An HBCU P-20 Research-Practice Partnership to Build Math Teacher Pathways

Abstract

Mississippi holds a profound legacy of grassroots and community-based organizing, particularly in the struggle for equitable education during and after the Civil Rights Movement. The Southern Initiative Algebra Project (SIAP) stands in continuity with this legacy, honoring the long history of educational activism in Jackson, MS while also reimagining new pathways for math teacher preparation. Rooted in the intergenerational knowledge and organizing models of the past, SIAP seeks not only to address today’s teacher shortages but to transform how communities, schools, and universities collaboratively prepare mathematics educators for classroom and community impact.

This session will share a historical overview of the community-based organizing traditions that have shaped SIAP’s evolution and provide a conceptual framework for its approach to mathematics teacher professional development and student leadership cultivation. SIAP’s mission is to help schools and communities increase their capacity to ensure a quality education for every child—especially in mathematics. Through sustained partnerships with Jackson Public Schools (JPS) and Jackson State University (JSU), SIAP leverages collective educational, social, human, and financial resources to recruit, train, and retain highly skilled, culturally responsive mathematics educators.
Central to this work is a multi-year model of teacher professional development that includes an intensive two-week summer institute grounded in Algebra Project pedagogy, followed by academic-year content workshops and in-classroom support. This model reflects a commitment to unforgetting grassroots traditions of education as liberation.

In response to urgent needs SIAP has also extended its model to include a cohort of high school students dually enrolled in Math Education (Algebra/Geometry Track) at JSU. For two years, these students have participated in co-curricular summer and Saturday PD alongside K–12 math teachers, engaged in classroom shadowing, and served as math tutors and mentors—most recently in a community GED Math Bootcamp.
By bridging past and present, the SIAP model not only confronts historical inequities in teacher development but also imagines new futures where communities are central to rethinking what math education can be. This work underscores the scholarly and practical significance of HBCU-led partnerships in charting liberatory pathways for future educators.

Author

• David J. Dennis, Southern Initiative Algebra Project