Rarely Discussed and Often Ignored: Institutional Factors Affecting Black Students' Experiences in Developmental Mathematics

• In Event: Racism in Math Education: Research Toward Theory and Praxis

Abstract

Purpose: Black students are framed in math education research as underachieving and low-performing (Berry, Ellis, & Hughes, 2014; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Martin, 2000) and blamed for their outcomes; however, their non-academic challenges are less often addressed. This paper uses an anti-deficit lens (Harper, 2010) to study the mathematics identity (MI) (Martin, 2000) of Black students who succeed in community college developmental mathematics (DM), providing a new perspective to the limited literature on Black students’ experiences in these courses.

These questions guided data analysis:
• How do learners who succeed in community college DM discuss obstacles faced in these classes and in their institutions?
• In what ways do obstacles shape their math experiences?

Theoretical Framework: Students’ MI are their deeply held beliefs about their ability in math-related contexts and the use of mathematics in their lives (Aguirre, Mayfield-Ingram, & Martin, 2013). Using MI, Martin (2000) studied math success of Black middle school students, highlighting their beliefs about their: (a) ability to achieve in math; (b) instrumental value of math knowledge; (c) obstacles and supports in math-related situations; and (d) incentives and strategies to learn math. Broadened definitions of MI include:student participation in the classroom (Boaler & Greeno, 2000; Grant, Crompton & Ford, 2015) and personal and external perceptions of an individual regarding math (Bishop, 2012). Although informed by these other definitions, authors of this paper use Martin’s (2000) framework to analyze this study’s data.

Methodology & Data Sources: Narrative methodology was used in this study, which allows for learning about another’s experiences, emotions, thoughts, and how they interpret events (Chase, 2005; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Data were collected at one community college in southern California from ten participants who: (a) self-identified as African-American or Black (b) were placed by an assessment into remedial math; (c) successfully completed the remedial math sequence; (d) enrolled in or successfully completed at least one college-level math course; and (e) completed a math course during the prior semester. Data collection involved: three to five, 30-75-minute semi-structured interviews with each participant; a mapping activity revealing their experiences in math-related contexts; responses to vignettes about community college students’ experiences in DM; and transcripts confirming participants’ math courses and grades.

Results: Data analysis revealed that participants’ non-academic obstacles and the influence on their math experiences categorize into three areas: (a) faculty refusal to revisit course content, which required students to learn course material in alternative ways; (b) institutional inefficiencies that students needed to mitigate, to their own detriment, and (c) racialized math experiences with instructors and peers, which forced students to manage their responses to others’ perceptions.

Significance: This study’s findings help shift the negative discursive frames about Black learners and their ability to achieve, particularly in DM. This study also pushes us to look beyond the typical student-deficit rationales to consider other factors that may contribute to students’ outcomes. Given the current crisis in developmental education and the efforts to ameliorate students’ outcomes, we cannot continue to ignore the role that non-academic obstacles play in students’ math experiences.

Authors

• Maxine T. Roberts, Strong Start to Finish

• Daniel J Almeida, University of Southern California