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Research in Mathematics Education
Series Editors: Jinfa Cai · James A. Middleton

Tonya Gau Bartell Editor

Toward Equity
and Social Justice
in Mathematics
Education
Research in Mathematics Education

Series editors
Jinfa Cai, Newark, DE, USA
James A. Middleton, Tempe, AZ, USA
This series is designed to produce thematic volumes, allowing researchers to access
numerous studies on a theme in a single, peer-reviewed source. Our intent for this
series is to publish the latest research in the field in a timely fashion. This design is
particularly geared toward highlighting the work of promising graduate students
and junior faculty working in conjunction with senior scholars. The audience for
this monograph series consists of those in the intersection between researchers and
mathematics education leaders—people who need the highest quality research,
methodological rigor, and potentially transformative implications ready at hand to
help them make decisions regarding the improvement of teaching, learning, policy,
and practice. With this vision, our mission of this book series is:
1. To support the sharing of critical research findings among members of the
­mathematics education community;
2. To support graduate students and junior faculty and induct them into the research
community by pairing them with senior faculty in the production of the highest
quality peer-reviewed research papers; and
3. To support the usefulness and widespread adoption of research-based
innovation.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13030

Tonya Gau Bartell
Editor

Toward Equity and Social

Justice in Mathematics
Education
Editor
Tonya Gau Bartell
Teacher Education
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, USA

ISSN 2570-4729          ISSN 2570-4737 (electronic)

Research in Mathematics Education
ISBN 978-3-319-92906-4    ISBN 978-3-319-92907-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92907-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950542

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

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To Jaedyn Bartell
toward a more just and equitable future
in which she may live
Preface

Contributions for this volume stem from the 2015 Annual Meeting of the North
American Group of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA) held at
Michigan State University. The conference theme Critical Responses to Enduring
Challenges in Mathematics Education invited mathematics education scholars to
reflect upon and critically respond to enduring challenges in teaching and learning
mathematics for all students. To ignite discussion within the field, the conference
was organized around four focal enduring challenges: (1) addressing the needs of
marginalized populations in school mathematics, (2) teaching as responsive to vari-
ous conceptions of mathematics, (3) the role of assessment in teaching and learning,
and (4) the impact of teacher evaluation in high-stakes assessment in teaching.
As suggested by these four challenges, PME-NA has moved beyond a primary
focus on learning as dependent on a psychological representation of the mind alone
to also consider, for example, the social and sociopolitical, attending to context,
identity, culture, power, and the ways systems serve to privilege some and oppress
others along the lines of class, race, gender, and so forth, within and beyond the
boundaries of mathematics education. This book echoes these turns and is intended
for all mathematics educators committed to ongoing work toward equity and justice
in mathematics education. More specifically, authors whose papers explicitly
attended to issues of equity and justice in mathematics education at the 2015
PME-NA conference were invited to contribute chapters. These chapters, then,
reflect current efforts toward equity and justice in mathematics education. The
authors’ work spans across the ten strands of PME-NA (e.g., Student Learning and
Related Factors, Theory and Research Methods, Teacher Learning and Knowledge),
demonstrating a variety of perspectives.
The book is divided into four parts: (1) theoretical and political perspectives
toward equity and justice in mathematics education, (2) identifying and connecting
to family and community funds of knowledge, (3) student learning and engagement
in preK-12 mathematics classrooms, and (4) supporting teachers in addressing the
needs of marginalized learners. Each of these four parts addresses in some way the
enduring challenge of meeting the needs of marginalized students in mathematics
education and examines how race, class, culture, power, justice, and mathematics

vii
viii Preface

teaching and learning intersect in mathematics education to sustain or disrupt

­inequities. Each section includes contributions from scholars writing critically
about mathematics education in diverse contexts. Further, scholars were invited to
provide commentaries on each section so that the book might not only provide a
glimpse of research at a moment in time but also continue to push our thinking and
work forward toward equity and justice in mathematics education.

East Lansing, MI, USA Tonya Gau Bartell

Contents

Part I Theoretical and Political Perspectives Toward Equity

and Justice in Mathematics Education
1 Disrupting Policies and Reforms in Mathematics Education
to Address the Needs of Marginalized Learners ����������������������������������    3
Robert Q. Berry III
2 Making the Implicit Explicit: Building a Case for Implicit Racial
Attitudes to Inform Mathematics Education Research������������������������   21
Dan Battey and Luis A. Leyva
3 A Socio-spatial Framework for Urban Mathematics Education:
Considering Equity, Social Justice, and the Spatial Turn��������������������   43
Gregory V. Larnell and Erika C. Bullock
4 Building on “Misconceptions” and Students’ Intuitions
in Advanced Mathematics����������������������������������������������������������������������   59
Aditya P. Adiredja
5 Promoting Equitable Systems in Mathematics Education
Starts with Us: Linking Literature on Allywork to the Work
of Mathematics Teacher Educators��������������������������������������������������������   77
Carlos LópezLeiva, Beth Herbel-Eisemann, and Ayşe Yolcu
6 A Commentary on Theoretical and Political Perspectives
Toward Equity and Justice in Mathematics Education������������������������   99
David W. Stinson

ix
x Contents

Part II Identifying and Connecting to Family and Community

Funds of Knowledge
7 Connecting Algonquin Loomwork and Western Mathematics
in a Grade 6 Math Class�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 105
Ruth Beatty
8 Conversions for Life: Transnational Families’ Mathematical
Funds of Knowledge�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127
Miwa Aoki Takeuchi
9 A Commentary on Identifying and Connecting to Family
and Community Funds of Knowledge���������������������������������������������������� 145
Marta Civil

Part III Student Learning and Engagement in PreK–12 Mathematics

Classrooms
10 “So We Only Have One We Share with More,
and Then They Have Way More and They Share with Less”:
Mathematics and Spatial Justice������������������������������������������������������������ 153
Laurie H. Rubel, Vivian Y. Lim, and Maren Hall-Wieckert
11 Supporting the Development of Bilingual Learners’
Mathematical Discourse in a Multilingual,
Technological Context������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 173
Oi-Lam Ng
12 The Micro-Politics of Counting�������������������������������������������������������������� 191
Annica Andersson and David Wagner
13 A Commentary on Student Learning and Engagement
in Pre-K–12 Mathematics Classrooms�������������������������������������������������� 211
Anita A. Wager

Part IV Supporting Teachers on Addressing the Needs

of Marginalized Students
14 Preservice Teachers’ Strategies for Teaching Mathematics
with English Learners������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 217
Zandra de Araujo, Erin Smith, Ji-Yeong I, and Matthew Sakow
15 “How I Want to Teach the Lesson”: Framing Children’s
Multiple Mathematical Knowledge Bases in the Analysis
and Adaptation of Existing Curriculum Materials������������������������������ 241
Frances K. Harper, Corey Drake, Tonya Gau Bartell,
and Eduardo Najarro
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Contents xi

16 Seeing Mathematics Through Different Eyes: An Equitable

Approach to Use with Prospective Teachers������������������������������������������ 263
Christa Jackson, Cynthia E. Taylor, and Kelley Buchheister
17 Using Concept Maps in Teacher Education: Building
Connections Among Multiple Mathematical Knowledge
Bases and Assessing Mathematical Understanding������������������������������ 287
Lynette DeAun Guzmán
18 Using Ethnomathematics Perspective to Widen the Vision
of Mathematics Teacher Education Curriculum���������������������������������� 309
Nirmala Naresh and Lisa Kasmer
19 A Commentary on Supporting Teachers in Addressing
the Needs of Marginalized Students������������������������������������������������������ 327
Mary Q. Foote

Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 331
Notes on Contributors

Aditya P. Adiredja is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at The University of

Arizona. Adiredja’s research is situated in the intersections between post-secondary
mathematics, equity, and cognition. His work looks at ways that perspectives on
epistemology and learning determine the kinds of knowledge and students that get
privileged in the classroom. This focus is part of a larger goal of turning under-
graduate mathematics classrooms into spaces where underrepresented students can
personally, intellectually, and professionally succeed as they critically engage with
and learn mathematics.

Annica Andersson is an Associate Professor at the Department for Mathematics

and Science Teaching, Malmö University. Andersson earned her Ph.D. at Aalborg
University, with a thesis focusing on teachers’ and students’ identities in the context
of critical mathematics education. Her research is located at the intersection of
mathematics education, language, cultural responsiveness, and social justice with a
particular focus on equity, authority, discourses, and human relationships in
­mathematics education school contexts.

Tonya Gau Bartell is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at

Michigan State University. Bartell’s research focuses on issues of culture, race, and
power in mathematics teaching and learning with particular attention to teachers’
development of mathematics pedagogy for social justice and pedagogy integrating
a focus on children’s multiple mathematical knowledge bases. She served as a
­co-­chair of the 2015 Annual Meeting of PME-NA from which this book arose, is on
the editorial board of Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, and is a
­co-­editor of the Journal of Teacher Education.

Dan Battey is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the Graduate

School of Education at Rutgers University. Battey’s work examines engaging ­teachers
in learning opportunities that generate and sustain change and which c­ hallenge ­deficit
narratives that limit opportunities for African American and Latino students in
­mathematics. Battey is currently working on understanding mathematics ­education
as a racialized space through researching relational interactions in classrooms.
xiii
xiv Notes on Contributors

Ruth Beatty is an Associate Professor at Lakehead University. For the past 5 years,
Beatty has worked with research teams comprising First Nations community
­members and educators from Ontario school boards to research the connections
between First Nations cultural activities and the Western mathematics found in the
Ontario curriculum. The goal of this research is to collaboratively design culturally
responsive mathematics instruction and to learn from and incorporate First Nations
­pedagogical perspectives in inclusive classroom settings.

Robert Q. Berry III Ph.D., is President of the National Council of Teachers of

Mathematics and is a Professor of Mathematics Education in the Curry School of
Education at the University of Virginia, with an appointment in Curriculum
Instruction and Special Education. Berry teaches in the teacher e­ ducation program,
and his research focuses on equity issues in mathematics e­ ducation, with a particu-
lar focus on Black children.

Kelley Buchheister focuses her research and teaching on enhancing students’

­thinking and reasoning in early mathematics by developing practicing and prospective
teachers’ understanding of the cultural contexts of learning and constructing appropri-
ately challenging environments that provide the greatest opportunity for all students to
achieve high-quality experiences in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics) disciplines. Furthermore, through her research, Buchheister, along with
her colleagues, closely examines the role of culturally relevant pedagogy and teacher
beliefs in educational experiences and has prioritized equity and cultural contexts of
learning as fundamental elements of early educational experiences.

Erika C. Bullock is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in the

Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Bullock’s work exists at the intersections of curriculum studies, urban education,
and mathematics education. She historicizes issues and ideologies within mathe-
matics education to examine how power operates within mathematics education to
create and maintain inequities. Bullock’s work has been published in outlets
­including Educational Studies, Educational Studies in Mathematics, The Journal of
Education, and Teachers College Record.

Marta Civil is a Professor of Mathematics Education and the Roy F. Graesser

Chair in the Department of Mathematics at The University of Arizona. Civil’s
research examines cultural, social, and language aspects in the teaching and l­ earning
of mathematics; the connections between in-school and out-of-school mathematics;
and parental engagement in mathematics. She has led funded projects working with
children, parents, and teachers, with a focus on developing culturally responsive
learning environments, particularly with Latinx communities.

Zandra de Araujo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Learning,

Teaching, and Curriculum at the University of Missouri. de Araujo’s research
­examines teachers’ use of curriculum, particularly with emergent bilingual students.
Notes on Contributors xv

Corey Drake is a Professor and Director of Teacher Preparation at Michigan State

University. Drake’s research interests include teachers learning from and about
­curriculum materials, as well as the roles of policy curriculum, and teacher prepara-
tion in supporting teachers’ capacity to teach diverse groups of students. Her work
has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Spencer Foundation
and is published in venues including Educational Researcher, Journal of Teacher
Education, and Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education.

Mary Q. Foote is a Professor Emerita of Mathematics Education in the Department

of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Queens College of the City
University of New York. Foote’s research attends to equity issues in mathematics
education and broadly stated examines issues in mathematics teacher education.
More specifically her interests are in cultural and community knowledge and prac-
tices, and how they might inform mathematics teaching practice. She is currently
involved researching and developing/facilitating two professional development
projects: one supports teachers to teach mathematical modeling using cultural and
community contexts in Grades 3–5, and the other supports teachers to develop more
equitable instructional practices through action research projects that incorporate
examination of access, agency, and allyship in mathematics teaching and learning.

Lynette DeAun Guzmán Ph.D., is a mathematics education researcher and teacher

­educator at The University of Arizona. Motivated by experiences as a Latinx woman
navigating academic spaces, Guzmán’s scholarship centers on addressing inequities
in education for historically marginalized students with attention to identity and
power. She examines discourses and practices in mathematics education to interro-
gate narrow epistemological and ontological perspectives on teaching and learning
that often exclude students of color. Guzmán enjoys working with prospective and
practicing K-8 teachers to transform classrooms with equity-oriented and
­humanizing practices that value young people as knowers and creators.

Maren Hall-Wieckert is a former research assistant at Brooklyn College of the

City University of New York. Hall-Wieckert’s interests lie in data science, critical
cartography, and how notions of space and place frame and reframe conversations
in the social sciences, especially around notions of teaching and learning.

Frances K. Harper is an Assistant Professor of STEM Education at the University

of Tennessee at Knoxville. Her research broadly focuses on issues of equity and
social justice in mathematics education and teacher education, particularly within
urban contexts. She aspires to collaborate with both teachers and students to
­understand the culturally and contextually specific nuances of equitable c­ ollaborative
learning and critical mathematical explorations.

Beth Herbel-Eisenmann a former junior high mathematics teacher, is currently a

Professor of Mathematics Education at Michigan State University. She uses ideas and
theories from sociolinguistics and critical discourse literatures to research classroom
xvi Notes on Contributors

discourse practices as well as the professional development of secondary m ­ athematics

teachers. She is especially interested in issues of equity that concern authority,
­positioning, and voice in mathematics classrooms and professional development.
Much of her work has been done through long-term collaborations with mathematics
teachers and involves considering how teachers make sense of, take up, and use ideas
from these literatures in their practice through the process of action research.

Ji-Yeong I is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at Iowa State

University. Her research interests include effective mathematical pedagogy for
emergent bilinguals (a.k.a. English language learners), mathematics teacher
­education, mathematical modeling, and culturally responsive teaching.

Christa Jackson Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the

School of Education at Iowa State University. Jackson’s research focuses on
­teachers’ knowledge and conceptions of equity in the teaching and learning of
mathematics. Within this knowledge base, she seeks to understand the instructional
strategies and teaching practices mathematics teachers use that afford opportunities
for students from diverse cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds to
learn rigorous, challenging mathematics while simultaneously fostering productive
mathematical identities. Jackson’s work also centers on effective mathematics
instruction at the elementary and middle levels, the preparation of prospective
­mathematics teachers, strategies to help students who struggle in mathematics,
STEM education, and STEM learning.

Lisa Kasmer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Grand

Valley State University. Currently, she teaches mathematics courses for undergradu-
ate students pursuing degrees in secondary mathematics education and directs the
Study Abroad: Tanzania program at GVSU. Through this program, prospective
teachers teach in local mathematics classrooms while studying the cultural and
­historical aspects of education in Tanzania. Her research interests include d­ eveloping
intercultural competencies for prospective teachers and curricular reasoning of
­middle grades mathematics teachers.

Gregory V. Larnell is currently an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education

in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at
Chicago. Larnell studied mathematics and African American studies at Lake Forest
College and later studied mathematics education and earned his Ph.D. from the
Colleges of Natural Science and Education at Michigan State University. His work
centers on sociological and sociopolitical inquiry in mathematics education, with
particular attention to mathematics learning experiences and identity; postsecond-
ary remediation and other math-curricular transition issues; urban mathematics
­education; and critical approaches to (in)equity and justice concerning mathematics
learning and teaching. Larnell’s work appears in several outlets, including the
Handbook of Urban Education, the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,
and the Journal of Education.
Notes on Contributors xvii

Luis A. Leyva Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at

Vanderbilt University – Peabody College of Education and Human Development.
Using intersectionality theory from Black feminist thought and counter-storytelling
methodology from critical race theory, Leyva’s research foregrounds the voices of
marginalized undergraduate students to understand their strategies in navigating
oppressive institutional and interpersonal contexts of STEM education toward the
development of positive academic identities at intersections of their gender, race,
sexuality, and other social identities. His work has been published in the Journal for
Research in Mathematics Education, The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, and
Journal of Urban Mathematics Education. Leyva was a past recipient of the
National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and
currently serves as the principal investigator on a research project entitled
Challenging, Operationalizing, and Understanding Racialized and Gendered
Events (COURAGE) in Undergraduate Mathematics funded by the National
Science Foundation.

Vivian Lim is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Stella and Charles Guttman

Community College, City University of New York. Lim’s research interest is in
teaching mathematics for social justice and the role of mathematics education in the
development of youth as citizens.

Carlos A. LópezLeiva is an Associate Professor in Bilingual and Mathematics

Education in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies at
the University of New Mexico. LópezLeiva’s work focuses on teaching and learning
ecologies – in relation to social interactions through language uses and ideologies,
task designs, relationship development, and what counts as mathematics – that
mediate members’ participation in and meaning making of mathematical practices.
His research comprises three foci: (1) issues of equity in social interactions,
(2) ­ out-­
of-­
school interdisciplinary mathematics teaching and learning, and
(3) ­in-school interdisciplinary mathematics teaching and learning.

Nirmala Naresh is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at the

University of North Texas. She received her bachelor’s, master’s, and M.Phil.
degrees in Mathematics from the University of Madras in Chennai, India. Naresh
received her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Illinois State University in the
USA. She currently teaches mathematics courses for undergraduate students pursu-
ing a degree in mathematics and mathematics education. Naresh’s research interests
lie in the domains of ethnomathematics, teaching mathematics for social justice,
and the teaching and learning of probability and statistics.

Oi-Lam Ng is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the Chinese

University of Hong Kong. Ng received her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from
Simon Fraser University in Canada. Her research interest is on how the design and
use of dynamic geometry technology may influence calculus thinking and support
communication for students with diverse linguistic backgrounds.
xviii Notes on Contributors

Laurie H. Rubel is a Professor of Education at Brooklyn College of the City

University of New York. Rubel’s research interests include teacher education
around diversity and equity in mathematics education, probabilistic thinking, and
the use of real-world urban contexts in the teaching of mathematics. More
­information about her work around math and spatial justice can be obtained at
www.mathforspatialjustice.org.

Matthew Sakow completed his Masters of Education in Learning, Teaching and

Curriculum: Mathematics Education at the University of Missouri. Sakow currently
teaches mathematics and the AVID elective as a Knowles Fellow at Columbia River
High School in Vancouver, Washington.

Erin Smith is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Learning, Teaching and

Curriculum at the University of Missouri. Smith’s interests include equity and iden-
tity in mathematics education, the academic success of emergent bi/multilingual
learners, and the use of positioning theory to examine discursive practices.

David W. Stinson Ph.D., is a Professor of Mathematics Education at Georgia State

University, Atlanta. Stinson’s research interests include critical postmodern theory
and identity. Specifically, he explores how mathematics teachers, educators, and
researchers (might) incorporate the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of
critical postmodern theory into their education philosophies, pedagogical practices,
and/or research methods. Additionally, he examines how students constructed
­outside the White, Christian, heterosexual male of bourgeois privilege successfully
accommodate, reconfigure, or resist (i.e., negotiate) the hegemonic discourses of
society generally and schooling specifically, including those found in the mathemat-
ics classroom. Stinson serves as the editor in chief of the Journal of Urban
Mathematics Education and recently completed a 3-year term as a member of the
editorial panel of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and a 2-year
term as a member of the AERA Review of Research Award Committee.

Miwa Aoki Takeuchi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary,

Canada. Takeuchi’s works are situated in an emerging and transdisciplinary field to
address a complex educational issue: improving access to rich mathematics learning
opportunities, with a focus on linguistic diversity, and cultural and historical
­contexts. She approaches this issue through longitudinal and horizontal analyses of
mathematics learning trajectories (both in-school and out-of-school settings),
students’ identities and lived experiences in learning mathematics, students’
­
­collaboration for mathematics learning, and co-design of learning environments
with learners, teachers, and parents.

Cynthia E. Taylor received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a

­specialty in Mathematics Education from the University of Missouri and is c­ urrently
an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.
In addition to supervising student teachers, Taylor teaches methods courses, content
Notes on Contributors xix

courses for elementary teachers, general education mathematics courses, and

­graduate courses in the Master of Education in Mathematics program. Taylor’s
interests include studying mathematics teacher educators (what they say and do in
their classroom) and the preparation of prospective mathematics teachers (instruc-
tional strategies and teaching practices). Prior to joining Millersville, she was a high
school mathematics teacher for nearly 10 years.

Anita Wager is a Professor of the Practice at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody

College. Wager’s teaching and research focus on culturally relevant and socially just
(mathematics) teaching in early childhood and elementary school.

David Wagner is a Professor and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Education at

the University of New Brunswick. Wagner’s research focuses on human interaction
in mathematics and mathematics learning and the relationship between such
­interaction and social justice. He serves as an associate editor of Educational Studies
in Mathematics, member of the editorial board of Mathematics Education Research
Journal, managing editor of For the Learning of Mathematics, and member of the
Nonkilling Science and Technology Research Committee.

Ayşe Yolcu is a Research Assistant at the Department of Mathematics and Science

Education, Hacettepe University, Turkey. Yolcu studies the principles of knowledge
as making up people related to issues of equity in mathematics education.
Specifically, she questions how the practices of school mathematics fabricate
particular human kinds and their differences as the politics of mathematics
­
education.
 Part I
Theoretical and Political Perspectives
Toward Equity and Justice in
Mathematics Education
Chapter 1
Disrupting Policies and Reforms
in Mathematics Education to Address
the Needs of Marginalized Learners

Robert Q. Berry III

Abstract This chapter uses a hybrid policy analysis-critical race theory (CRT) lens
informed largely by the work of Derrick Bell to make the case that policies and reforms
in mathematics education were not designed to address the needs of marginalized
learners; rather, these policies and reforms are often designed and enacted to protect
the economic, technological, and social interests of those in power. The chapter offers
contrasting narratives between policy intentions and policy enactment, highlighting
how the language of mathematics education policies, when enacted by educational
professionals, positions marginalized learners as deficient within their cultures, fami-
lies, and communities. This chapter is organized into four sections: (1) The Social
Conditions of Marginalized Learners; (2) Theoretical Framework: CRT; (3) Historical
Perspectives and Unpacking Policies and Reforms; and (4) Discussion and Conclusion.
The Social Conditions of Marginalized Learners section describes central features of
the social and historical context in which marginalized learners now function by con-
textualizing the school and mathematical experiences of marginalized learners. The
Theoretical Framework section outlines CRT as a lens for critically examining policies
and reforms. The Historical Perspectives and Unpacking Policies and Reforms section
focuses on how marginalized students have been framed historically in policies and
reforms. The Discussion and Conclusion considers features that are necessary in poli-
cies and reform documents when discussing the needs of marginalized learners.

Introduction

In its 1989 Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (CSSM),
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) argued that schools
were not meeting the economic needs of the time and called for new social

R. Q. Berry III (*)

Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA, USA
e-mail: rqb3e@virginia.edu

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 3

T. G. Bartell (ed.), Toward Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education,
Research in Mathematics Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92907-1_1
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4 R. Q. Berry III

goals for ­education (NCTM, 1989). The four social goals for education were
(1) mathematically literate workers, (2) lifelong learning, (3) opportunity for all,
and (4) an informed electorate. As ideals, these goals can be seen as unproblematic,
with widespread appeal. They can appeal to mathematics educators who view math-
ematics as universal and desire mathematical literacy for all students, and they may
also appeal to those who view mathematics as multicultural and desire contextual-
ized interpretations of mathematics that all students can appreciate (Mutegi, 2011).
These goals may also appeal to mathematics educators who are concerned with
issues of equity in mathematics education as well as those who view mathematics
education practices as independent of historical inequities (Mutegi, 2011). It is dif-
ficult to argue against the four social goals because they appear to be inclusive and
contain generalizing language that suggests working to erase injustices and exclu-
sion experienced by people who are identified as marginalized (defined here as
Black1, Latin@2, Indigenous, and poor). The generalizing language in these goals
includes all of the political, social, and cultural considerations for reformers to
direct the practices and policies of mathematics education, almost without question.
It is the use of such generalizing language that is problematic, however, because it
varies in interpretation and offers few specific points for enactment.
The third goal in CSSM, opportunity for all, does not appear to be overtly prob-
lematic because it challenges mathematics educators by drawing attention to social
injustices and full participation in society for all by stating:
The social injustices of past schooling practices can no longer be tolerated. Current statis-
tics indicate that those who study advanced mathematics are most often white males.
Women and most minorities study less mathematics and are seriously underrepresented in
careers using science and technology. Creating a just society in which women and various
ethnic groups enjoy equal opportunities and equitable treatment is no longer an issue.
Mathematics has become a critical filter for employment and full participation in our soci-
ety. We cannot afford to have the majority of our population mathematically illiterate.
Equity has become an economic necessity. (p. 4)

Combating injustices and creating a just society are noteworthy goals that many
people would not question. This goal situates equity in mathematics education as
protecting economic interests and creating workers, with little consideration for the
moral grounds or the benefit of marginalized people and communities. In order to
produce workers, a utilitarian perspective of mathematics literacy is needed, thus
ensuring the economic and social interests of those with power. Given the high

1
I use the term Black to acknowledge the Black Diaspora and to highlight that Black people living
in North America have ancestry dispersed around the world. Black learners who attend schools and
live in North America are racialized in similar ways regardless of country of origin.
2
I borrow Latin@ from Rochelle Gutiérrez (2013a, 2013b) who stated that the use of the “@ sign
to indicate both an ‘a’ and ‘o’ ending (Latina and Latino). The presence of both an ‘a’ and ‘o’ end-
ing decenters the patriarchal nature of the Spanish language where is it customary for groups of
males (Latinos) and females (Latinas) to be written in the form that denotes only males (Latinos).
The term is written Latin@ with the ‘a’ and ‘o’ intertwined, as opposed to Latina/Latino, to show
a sign of solidarity with individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, question-
ing, and queer (LGBTQ)” (p. 7).
1 Disrupting Policies and Reforms in Mathematics Education to Address the Needs… 5

s­tatus that mathematical knowledge is given in business and society, we must

consider the role that mathematics education plays in a democratic society.
­
Mathematics education is not isolated from the larger society; in fact, it is connected
to patterns of differential economic, political, and cultural power (Apple, 1992).
Mathematical literacy is given high status in reforms because it has “socioeconomic
utility for those who already possess economic capital” (Apple, 1992, p. 98). This
raises questions concerning economic benefits for those who own, control, and
profit from mathematical enterprises. It is plausible to raise questions about whether
mathematics education contributes to social injustices and whether equity in math-
ematics education is an economic necessity or a moral obligation.
An examination of past research, policies, and reforms in mathematics education
suggests that many are a response to economic, technological, and security threats.
For example, the launching of Sputnik brought heightened concern about America’s
national security as well as concern that America was lagging behind the Russians
in mathematics and science. Documents such as A Nation at Risk (Gardner, Larsen,
& Baker, 1983), Before It’s Too Late (National Commission on Mathematics and
Science Teaching for the 21st Century, 2000), Foundations for Success: The Final
Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (National Mathematics
Advisory Panel, 2008), and Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and
Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (Augustine, 2005) capture the
driving forces that frame mathematics education policy (Basile & Lopez, 2015).
These documents have demonstrated frequent concerns about maintaining America’s
economic privilege in a global market, technological interests in a technologically
advancing society, and threats to national security.
Through a hybrid policy analysis-critical race theory (CRT) lens, this chapter
makes the case that policies and reforms in mathematics education were not
designed to address the needs of marginalized learners; rather, these policies and
reforms are often designed and enacted to protect the economic, technological, and
social interests of those in power. This chapter offers contrasting narratives between
policy intentions and enactment. These contrasting narratives highlight how the lan-
guage of mathematics education policies, when enacted by educational profession-
als, positions marginalized learners as deficient within their cultures, families, and
communities. Consequently, policies and reforms frame marginalized learners as
problems to be fixed and that if marginalized students adopt the values of the domi-
nant culture, then the economic, technological, and security interests of those in
power are maintained. Policies and reforms are about dominant culture interests
rather than the needs and interests of marginalized students.

The Social Conditions of Marginalized Learners

When I use the term marginalized learners, I am not ascribing a sweeping set of
attributes to the collectives of Black, Latin@, Indigenous, and poor peoples; I
recognize that collapsing these groups into one does not acknowledge the
­
6 R. Q. Berry III

intersectionality within these collectives. There are, however, shared histories and
experiences among the collectives. Martin (2013) argued that there is a dominant
discourse in research and policy documents about Black learners and mathematics
focused on a fixed set of cultural and cognitive explanations for negative outcomes,
including cultural differences or deficits, limited mathematical knowledge and
problem-­solving skills, family background and socioeconomic status, and opposi-
tional orientations to schooling. Gutiérrez and Irving (2012) identified similar over-
laps in the dominant discourse regarding research and policy documents that Latin@
and Black learners share. Barnhardt (2001) pointed out how Indigenous learners are
positioned as “at risk” and how their culture and languages are positioned in opposi-
tion to schooling. This positioning, and the fact that the use of Indigenous languages
and culture is discouraged in schooling, is associated with the legacy of federal poli-
cies aimed to “civilize” and “assimilate” Indigenous learners into an American cul-
ture (Barnhardt, 2001; Noel, 2002). Although there are differences among the
collectives, they also share legacies of being positioned as deficient in research and
policy documents and share values and beliefs that prioritize community and family,
a respect for spirituality, and interconnectedness with the natural world (Barnhardt,
2001; Berry, 2008; Gutiérrez, 2013b).
When we consider a historical perspective of public education and policies, we
see that there were intentional policies designed to keep marginalized people unedu-
cated and/or undereducated. There were laws, particularly in Southern states, where
it was illegal to teach Black people who were enslaved to read and write (Anderson,
1988). As public education developed and expanded, schools became institutions to
civilize, Christianize, and control Black and Brown children to keep them passive to
social change so that they would not contribute to social upheaval (Watkins, 2001).
It was illegal to teach Indigenous peoples in their native tongues. Congress created
genocidal policies to strip young Indigenous children from their homes, adopting
“kill the Indian to save the man” (Churchill, 2004). There have been policies sup-
porting linguistic nationalism, condemning multilingual and marginalized learners.
Although during Reconstruction many Black children had access to education, the
withdrawal of federal troops in 1877 led to generations of terror, legal segregation,
and substandard educational opportunities. Given these collective legacies, reforms
in education policies often overlook the generational impact that violence has had on
marginalized people. Rather, a narrative of assimilation and control is ever present.
There is a body of research in mathematics education suggesting that marginal-
ized learners experience devaluation, inequities, exclusion, and violence (Berry,
2008; Gutiérrez, 2002; Gutstein, 2003; Martin, 2015; McGee & Martin, 2011).
Research, policy, and reform “has been violent to marginalized peoples, such as [­ I]
ndigenous groups, who are represented by perspectives that are neither kind to their
cultural worldview nor accurate regarding their priorities” (Leonardo, 2013, p. 5).
Students from Black, Latin@, and Indigenous communities have disproportionately
low representation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
fields at all levels of education compared to their representation in the general popu-
lation of the USA (National Science Foundation [NSF], 2015). Due to projected
population growth, people from marginalized groups are expected to be more than
1 Disrupting Policies and Reforms in Mathematics Education to Address the Needs… 7

half of the US population by 2043 (Colby & Ortman, 2014). By the year 2020, more
than half of the children in the USA are expected to be part of a minority race or
ethnic group (Colby & Ortman, 2014). Yet, Black, Latin@, and Indigenous indi-
viduals collectively make up only 13% of the STEM workforce in the USA and only
16% of all STEM undergraduate degrees awarded (NSF, 2015). The number of
Black, Latin@, and Indigenous people earning science and engineering bachelor’s
and master’s degrees has been rising since 1993, but the number of doctorates earned
in these fields has flattened at about 7% since 2002 (NSF, 2015). Since 2000, Black,
Latin@, and Indigenous students earning degrees in engineering and the physical
sciences have also been flat, and earned degrees in mathematics and statistics have
dropped (NSF, 2015). The High School Transcript Study by the National Assessment
of Educational Progress (Nord et al., 2011) found that high school graduates com-
pleting Algebra I before high school are twice as likely to successfully complete a
Precalculus/Analysis course than students who take Algebra I in high school. Only
12% of Black students and 17% of Latin@ students, however, had taken Algebra I
before high school. A report by the College Board (2013) found that even when
Black, Latin@, and Indigenous students are equally prepared for Advanced
Placement coursework, they are still less likely to experience these courses (p. 2).
The data presented above do not exist in isolation. Data are, however, often pre-
sented with little description of the conditions, contexts, and experiences of margin-
alized students. Research, policies, and reforms must consider the positionality of
marginalized learners and the many conditions and contexts in which marginalized
students exist. Schools are social institutions set up by those in power and are orga-
nized to support and value the types of cultural and social capital held by those in
power (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990). It is plausible to consider that since policies
and reforms support the value of those in power, there may be differences in the
ways marginalized learners are perceived. Policies and reforms in education often
portray marginalized learners as in need of “fixing” and their cultures, families, and
communities as deprived and deficit (Stein, 2004). For example, Basile and Lopez
(2015) point out a deficit positioning and negative narrative in the document Adding
It Up (National Research Council, 2001):
The same survey found large differences between ethnic groups on the more difficult tests
(but not on the Level 1 tasks) with 70% of Asian and 66% of non-Hispanic white children
passing the Level 2 tasks, but only 42% of African American, 44% of Hispanic, 48% of
Hawaiian Native or Pacific Islander, and 34% of American Indian or Alaska Native partici-
pants doing so. Other research has shown that children from lower socioeconomic back-
grounds have particular difficulty understanding the relative magnitudes of single- digit
whole numbers and solving addition and subtraction problems verbally rather than using
objects … This immaturity of their mathematical development may account for the prob-
lems poor and minority children have understanding the basis for simple arithmetic and
solving simple word problems. (p. 178)

The content of the quote from Adding It Up not only presented the data from a
deficit position but also used the language surrounding the data to position margin-
alized learners in “a static racial hierarchy, via what may be inferred as a biological
deficit, with White children” (Basile & Lopez, 2015, p. 534). Also, it implies that
8 R. Q. Berry III

the conditions and contexts of marginalized students are the reasons for
­underperformance, rather than structural issues of schooling, ways these learners
might be positioned, or variable access to jobs, healthcare, and other resources.
When examining how policies and reforms respond to the needs of marginalized
learners, there is a constant pattern in which they are routinely given the least access
to advanced mathematics content, the fewest opportunities to learn through methods
other than memorizing facts and mimicking teacher-modeled procedures, and the
least access to well-prepared mathematics teachers (Berry, Ellis, & Hughes, 2014).
As a result, these learners experience the following conditions: (a) reduced access
to advanced mathematics courses that prepare them for higher education and
improved career options; (b) routine exposure to activities that focus primarily on
rote, decontextualized learning through drill and practice with little to no engage-
ment that promotes reasoning and using mathematics as a tool to analyze social and
economic issues, critique power dynamics, and build advocacy; and (c) less access
to qualified teachers of mathematics who both understand mathematics deeply and
understand their students’ cultural and community context deeply in order to give
learners access to mathematical knowledge (Ellis, 2008; Flores, 2007; Martin,
2007). The effect of these conditions on marginalized learners’ attainment in math-
ematics demonstrates well that such an approach constrains outcomes to a narrow
range of proficiencies focused on basic skills.
While the disproportionality in conditions of marginalized learners is a cause for
concern, it is important to understand that addressing the needs of these learners
may not have been the primary goal of prior policies and reforms in mathematics
education. Berry and colleagues (2014) argued that prior policies and reforms in
mathematics education have failed due to having been developed to address the
needs and interests of those in power. In fact, many past policies and reforms in
mathematics teaching and learning have come at the expense of the needs and inter-
ests of marginalized learners by framing policies and reforms based on economic,
technological, and security interests of those in power.

Theoretical Framework: Critical Race Theory

Derrick Bell, a former attorney with the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) during the civil rights era, employed his interest-­
convergence principle to explain how the US Supreme Court issued the landmark
ruling in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (Brown) in 1954. The
Supreme Court’s ruling in the Brown case revoked the “separate but equal” doctrine,
which legally sanctioned segregation in public education and daily life. Bell (2004)
argued that the Brown decision was not the result of America coming to terms with
its democratic ideals or moral sensibilities; rather, the Supreme Court was more
interested in providing “immediate credibility to America’s struggle with commu-
nist countries to win the hearts and minds of emerging third world people” than in
doing what was morally right (p. 233). Under the interest-convergence principle,
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