Equity-Directed Instructional Practices: Beyond the Dominant Perspective

Abstract

In this article, the author synthesizes four equity-directed instructional practices: standards-based mathematics instruction, complex instruction, culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), and teaching mathematics for social justice (TMfSJ). The author organizes these practices according to the dominant and critical axes in Gutiérrez's (2007a) equity framework. Among 12 teachers from 11 schools in a large urban school district, the author presents case studies of 3 teachers who excelled with the aforementioned dominant equity-directed practices but struggled with the critical practices of connecting to students' experiences called for in CRP and critical mathematics called for in TMfSJ. The analysis explicitly explores the role of whiteness in these struggles. The author presents implications and recommendations for mathematics teacher education on how to better support teachers for equitable teaching that includes these critical equity-directed practices.

Communal socialization: (re)imagining the role of communal socialization on african american high schoolers’ engagement and performance in mathematics.

“…To this end, preservice and continuing education can teach the use of communal messages and practices to build connections to students’ local and global communities. Afrocentric, critical, and social justice-oriented mathematics offer guides in this endeavor as scholars in the field have led the way of exploring social orientations and community connections through qualitative study (Dover, 2013; Gutstein, 2003; Rubel, 2017), theoretical insights (Stinson, 2013; Tate, 1995), and educator preparation (Gates & Jorgensen, 2009; Winter, 2007).…”

“…Doing so alleviates the cost of participating and performing in mathematics by providing a way for students to maintain their cultural integrity while pursuing academic achievement (Ladson-Billings, 1995). In addition to the emphasis on access and achievement, culturally sustaining practices connect mathematics to students’ cultural values, practices, and experiences in meaningful ways, thereby focusing on the cultural context of teaching and learning to increase students’ utility for and interest in mathematics (Rubel, 2017). Three components (student achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness; Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2014) have guided instructional practices that value students’ abilities and contributions as well as support them through (a) high expectations for students to be active participants in the classrooms, (b) incorporating students’ local contexts, language, and sense of community, and (c) providing collective learning experiences (Battey, 2012; Joseph et al, 2019; Wilson et al, 2019).…”

“My noticing lens disrupts this narrative”: Preservice mathematics teachers' awareness of the self as noticer

“…An emerging body of research to advance equitable practice argues that teachers' noticing is situated inside of social, political and institutional systems of mathematics education that produce dominant narratives to uphold mathematics as a white institutional space (Jackson et al, 2018;Louie, 2018;Shah & Coles, 2020). These narratives are problematic because they lead to inequitable opportunities to learn, by privileging white, male, Western, neurotypical practices, such as, being quick to solve problems or precisely and accurately using mathematical procedures (Martin, 2019;Rubel, 2017). Therefore, noticing is not objective or neutral; instead, it is highly subjective and selective (Erickson, 2011;Williams et al, 2019).…”

Principal Leadership for School-Wide Transformation of Elementary Mathematics Teaching: Why the Principal’s Conception of Teacher Learning Matters

“…Second, teacher learning scholars draw on sociocultural perspectives to conceptualize learning as shifts in participation occurring along a trajectory of complex knowledge, practice, and identity development rather than involving the acquisition of isolated knowledge or skills (e.g., Russ et al, 2016). To attain equity-oriented visions for mathematics teaching, teachers have to transform how they teach and unlearn, in many cases, their own negative experiences with mathematics in school, their limited ideas about students' capabilities including gendered and racialized narratives, and the dominant recitation-based way of teaching mathematics (Battey & Franke, 2015;Rubel, 2017). Researchers describe trajectories and key shifts related to how teachers' knowledge, skills, and identities evolve in relation to conceptions of student capabilities (e.g., Wilson et al, 2017); high-quality mathematics instruction (e.g., Munter, 2014); engagement with children's thinking (e.g., Franke et al, 2001;Hufferd-Ackles et al, 2004); integration of children's cultural, home, and community-based thinking (e.g., Turner et al, 2012); and the value of teacher intellectual community (e.g., Grossman et al, 2001).…”