Learning Opportunity and Teachers' Beliefs of Meritocracy in Mathematics Education

• In Event: Elementary Mathematics Teaching That Is Responsive to Student Learning, Emotions, and Culture

Abstract

This study responds to calls for research on racial attitudes in mathematics education by using a novel teacher survey instrument (n = 117) and student achievement data (n = 4163) to examine educational equity in Grade 4 and 5 elementary mathematics classrooms. Opportunity gaps are operationalized as differences in year-to-year gain scores between racial groups. The findings suggest that teachers’ beliefs attributing mathematical excellence to personal effort (meritocracy) are associated with the size of the opportunity gaps between students identified in specific racial groups (i.e., Black, Hispanic, or White students) and their peers who share the same teacher.

Author

• Erik D. Jacobson, Indiana University