Why Seattle schools are hinging student success on Black male achievement
Imran, left, confers with his math partner Nataly as the fifth graders solve a problem using base-10 rods at Hawthorne Elementary School, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Seattle. - Ken Lambert/Seattle Times/TNS

SEATTLE — During a math lesson on dividing decimals at Hawthorne Elementary School, 11-year-old Imran Ali said the material didn't click for him until his fifth grade teacher taught it using felt blocks. It was easier, he said, to count out real-life objects instead of grappling with abstract numbers in his head. For 10-year-old Aliayah Smith, the lesson made sense when she worked out a word problem on paper. And Ryan Jackson, 10, said he understood the work better after his teacher showed the class a video explainer. These are all the ways Rachel Pitts teaches math lessons in her fifth grade ...