FL Shares Examples Of Math Books It Rejected For 'Prohibited Topics'

FLORIDA — The Florida Department of Education released examples of math problems found in 54 books the state has rejected for use in classrooms following claims that the publishers were attempting to indoctrinate students.

In one example, two bar graphs show a math book depicting conservatives and those age 65 and older as more "racially prejudiced" than liberals and younger adults.

In another example regarding adding and subtracting polynomials, the text to a portion of the lesson begins with, "What? Me? Racist? More than 2 million people have tested their racial prejudice using an online version of the Implicit Association Test...In this section's Exercise Set (Exercises 103 and 104), you will be working with models that measure bias."

The four examples FDOE provided can be found below:

According to the department, the examples do not represent the entire list.

Last week, the department said it rejected 41 percent of the 132 math textbooks included on the state's initial adoption list of mathematics instructional materials because they "contained prohibited topics" or didn't align with the state's Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (BEST) Standards.

SEE ALSO:

• FL Rejects 54 Math Books And Attempts To 'Indoctrinate' Students: FDOE

The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where the state said 71 percent failed to align with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies.

“We’re going to ensure that Florida has the highest-quality instructional materials aligned to our nationally-recognized standards,” Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said in a news release at the time.

The department said it is continuing to give publishers the opportunity to remediate all deficiencies identified during the review "to ensure the broadest selection of high-quality instructional materials are available to the school districts and Florida’s students."