Race-Evasive Responding When Race Is Explicit: Elementary Teachers Reasoning on Equity Survey Items

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Coaching, Teacher Knowledge, and Pedagogy in Mathematics Education (Table 10)

Abstract

We examined interviews with teachers explaining their responses to a survey designed to measure equity attributions of mathematical success and struggle. This survey compared teachers' agreement ratings for (a) common sense notions surrounding students’ mathematical success and struggle with (b) items that echoed stereotypes about the mathematical success and struggle of students from specific racial and gender groups. We found that teachers interpreted reasons for success and struggle in different ways when items explicitly named racial groups. We provide evidence using tools of discourse analysis and race-evasiveness lens to illuminate how teachers’ explanations about student success and struggle change when race is explicit. The implications of this study for research are aligned with the conference theme of dismantling racial injustice.

Authors

• Akaash Arora, Indiana University - Indianapolis

• Anna Gustaveson, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Erik D. Jacobson, Indiana University

• Selim Yavuz, Indiana University