Perspectives on Culturally Responsive Mathematics From Black Mothers of Black Middle School Students

• In Event: Black People Are Not a Monolith: Designing and Nuancing Culturally Responsive Mathematics

Abstract

Efforts to broaden mathematics learning opportunities for students historically and systematically marginalized on the basis of race/ethnicity largely focus on changing the way school mathematics is taught. This emphasis of school and classroom-based mathematics reform, however, overlooks the role of parents and caregivers (henceforth, parents) in shaping students’ experiences and learning opportunities in mathematics. For example, recent initiatives to “catalyze change” in high school and middle school mathematics (NCTM, 2018, 2020) mention parents only four times. The exclusion of parents is worrisome because parental involvement is strongly linked to students’ mathematics achievement (Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Knapp et al., 2017; Yan & Lin, 2005). That those from privileged backgrounds have long used parental involvement as a form of social capital to ensure their children’s academic success (Yan & Lin, 2005), points to one factor (among many; Berry III et al., 2014), contributing to the persistent marginalization of racially minoritized students in mathematics.
Accordingly, when we undertook revisions of mathematics curricula for cultural responsiveness, we sought out the insights of mothers. Specifically, we interviewed three mothers of Black middle school students to gain insights for developing a culturally responsive algebra curriculum. Semi-structured interviews prompted mothers to share their perspectives on culture and the cultural responsiveness of schooling and mathematics, based on their own and their child’s experiences. Interviews were analyzed through iterative rounds of qualitative analysis, beginning with in vivo coding (Saldaña, 2013). In vivo codes were then categorized based on tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, which includes an emphasis on: (1) academic achievement; (2) affirmation of cultural competence; and (3) development of sociopolitical consciousness (Ladson-Billings, 2009). In this paper, we report on findings related to the research question: How do Black mothers of Black middle school students describe the development of sociopolitical consciousness in mathematics?
All three mothers described developing sociopolitical consciousness as a critical aspect of education at school and home, but connections to mathematics varied. All three provided examples from school mathematics that they identified as addressing sociopolitical issues, but these examples ranged from superficial contexts of problems to in-depth projects exploring local issues. Yet, mothers mostly emphasized the development of sociopolitical consciousness at home. One mother described using statistics to help her child recognize that “everybody is not on the same playing field.” Another mother found that mathematics did not play a prominent role in sociopolitical consciousness development at home, but noted, “I don’t want my son to be a statistic.” Mothers highlighted an important tension between preparing Black children for the unjust world in which they live and also allowing “kids to be kids.” These findings have important implications for the development of sociopolitical consciousness in and through mathematics. Research with parents of middle school children is rare among the limited studies focused on parents, and this study helps identify critical areas for sociopolitical consciousness as well as tensions in bringing those topics into the mathematics classroom.

Authors

• Frances K. Harper, University of Tennessee
  Presenting Author

• Taryrn T.C. Brown, University of Florida
  Presenting Author