The Racialization of Mathematics Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Racialized Perspectives on Math Education for Black Students

Abstract

This paper examines the racialization of mathematics education in US education. Mathematics education houses disparities between groups of students from more- versus less-dominant racial, ethnic and linguistic groups; however, fewer stories speak to the role of mathematics education in creating these disparities. The grand narrative of Black failure and White success is told without regard to the realities of racism. As Martin (2009, 2003) argues, mathematics education is a profoundly racialized experience in students’ lives. We illustrate how racialization is constructed in moments of classroom life, within schools, and within the structures and systems which constitute those schools.

Authors

• Joi A. Spencer, University of San Diego

• Victoria M. Hand, University of Colorado - Boulder