On the Education of Black Children in Mathematics

Adolescent girls’ construction of moral discourses and appropriation of primary identity in a mathematics classroom

“…Several Black scholars (e.g., Stiff & Harvey, 1988) have argued that the culture of traditional mathematics classrooms poses a challenge to Black students because it lacks cultural relevance. Stiff (1990) suggests that the AfricanAmerican cultural frame of reference entails a particular set of dispositions, such as working in support groups and using a ''conversational style'' of discourse in an instructional situation.…”

A Common Vision for Undergraduate Mathematics

“…However, only 11.6 percent of mathematics bachelor's degrees were awarded to underrepresented minority students (4.9 percent to African American, 6.4 percent to Hispanics). 4 Walker [15] noted that while there has been some improvement since Stiff and Harvey [13] called the mathematics classroom one of the most segregated places in the United States, upper-level mathematics classes remain predominantly white and Asian, and these statistics point to the fact that underrepresentation of women and racial and ethnic minority students in advanced mathematics courses is an ongoing problem. As Figure 1 shows, underrepresented minority students do not have the same access to advanced mathematics courses in high school as do their white peers.…”

The Nuances and Complexities of Teaching Mathematics for Cultural Relevance and Social Justice

“…Developing a positive mathematics identity is important because mathematics education as a social construction is a gendered and racialized experience (Leonard, 2008(Leonard, , 2009Martin, 2007Martin, , 2009). Based on gender and racial characteristics, students can be conditioned to believe they are not the appropriate type of math student (Stiff & Harvey, 1988). For example, Black students may be reluctant to ask questions in mathematics class or perform a difficult task because of concerns about teachers forming unfavorable perceptions of them or their ethnic group (Morris & Monroe, 2009).…”