Mathematics Standards, Cultural Styles, and Learning Preferences: The Plight and the Promise of African American Students

Ideas and Identities: Supporting Equity in Cooperative Mathematics Learning

“…African American students' cultural learning styles are suited to joint sense-making activities in cooperative-based mathematics classes (Berry, 2003). One meta-analysis of several studies of cooperative learning in elementary contexts found that 'peer-assisted learning' was most effective with young, urban, low-income, 'minority' students (Rohrbeck, Ginsburg-Block, Fantuzzo, & Miller, 2003).…”

Yes we can achieve in mathematics and why we don't : African American female eleventh and twelfth grade students in a career and technical setting.

“…Some educational researchers argue that the "quality of instructional delivery" (Tate, 2008, p. 956) contributes to the poor mathematical outcomes of African American students (Berry, 2003;Tate, 1997). Research suggests that the conventional mathematics instruction that these students receive is not serving their best interest (Berry, 2003).…”

“…Although a substantial body ofliterature on African American students' underachievement in mathematics is available (Berry, 2003;Brand, Glasson, & Green, 2006;Dimitriadis, 2001;Education Trust, 2003;Parsons, Travis, & Simpson, 2005;Jamar & Pitts, 2005;Lee, 2004;Moody, 1998;Powell-Mikle, 2001;Russell, 2005;Saddler, 2005;Stinson, 2006;Tate, 1997), relatively little attention has been given to the difficult and complex issues associated with the learning and achievement of African American students within the public school system. According to Powell-Mikle (2001), "This narrowing of focus tends to blame African American students for their failure instead of examining their experiences or perceptions to help alleviate the problem" (p. 3).…”

“…Research suggests that the conventional mathematics instruction that these students receive is not serving their best interest (Berry, 2003).…”

“…After reviewing research studies on mathematics achievement, L. noted that "students of some Asian countries, such as Japan and China, consistently outperformed their counterparts in the United States" (p. xix). Unfortunately, among those low performing groups in the United States, African American students are the lowest at all grade levels (Berry, 2003;Braun, Wang continues to widen (Education Trust, 2003;Ikpa, 2004;Jordan & Cooper, 2003) due to African American students persistently performing "at significantly lower levels" (Tate, 1997, p. 673). This finding is consistent with the NAEP mathematics scale scores of African American eighth graders from the years (NCES, 2007.…”