Glimmers of Progress: Understanding Conceptions of Culturally Responsive Math Teaching as Anchors for Teacher Learning

• In Event: Fostering Equitable, Culturally Responsive Instruction System-Wide: A Multidimensional Examination of Mathematics Education in Four Districts

Abstract

Purpose
Culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT) draws on students’ identities and lived experiences in multiple ways to support a rigorous, affirming, and sustaining learning environment. We considered middle school mathematics teachers’ conceptions of CRMT and their described affordances and constraints related to CRMT. We then considered how these descriptions align with the focus toward CRMT within district professional learning (PL) and curriculum materials.

Theoretical Framework
CRMT is a multidimensional construct that encompasses “a set of specific pedagogical knowledges, dispositions, and practices that privilege mathematics, mathematical thinking, cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge, and issues of power and social justice in mathematics education” (Authors et al., 2023, p. 6). This work emphasizes the prevailing narratives around the nature of mathematics and teaching mathematics which can create tension with or contradict the educational approaches embedded within CRMT (Gutiérrez et al., 2023), and considers these in relation to teachers’ focus toward CRMT and district curricula and PL.

Methods
We employed a multiple case study approach (Yin, 2018) in the context of a large, urban school district in the western United States. We coded secondary mathematics teacher interviews to capture participant references to dimensions of CRMT in alignment with Authors et al. (2023), and references to affordances and constraints in implementing CRMT. We also rated district-mandated curriculum materials along dimensions of CRMT, as well as recordings of district curriculum-embedded PL workshops.

Data
We solicited two rounds of semi-structured interviews from teachers (n = 6) in “deep dive schools” within the district, meant to reflect meaningful variation in math achievement and teacher experience. Across 19 PL workshops, we identified and coded the CRMT focus of 82 activities. 36 lesson plans across four content units were coded to determine curriculum ratings.

Results
As shown in Figure 1, teachers described a range of conceptions regarding CRMT. Each teacher described at least one CRMT dimension negatively (i.e., an aversion or disagreement), but every teacher also described attending (or seeking to attend to) at least two dimensions of CRMT as well. Teachers’ negative and mixed descriptions indicate a range of perceived barriers, often rooted in concerns around the curriculum, teacher self-efficacy, and perceptions of student interest and ability. Emerging results indicate both PL workshops and the teachers’ curriculum rarely addressed dimensions of CRMT, with most observed instances focusing on dimensions related to rigor and support and the fewest emphasizing students’ knowledges and identities.
Significance
Our findings indicate attention to only particular dimensions of CRMT in teacher descriptions of their instruction and beliefs, paired with limited support of CRMT from PL and curriculum materials. However, we also found “glimmers” of attention toward CRMT from every participating teacher. These results indicate potential anchors from which teachers could contend with implicit, competing narratives impacting their work (Gutiérrez et al., 2023) in ways that build from teachers’ strengths and desire to improve their practices. Such findings also suggest that greater attention toward a variety of CRMT dimensions within teacher PL and curriculum materials could support teachers’ work in this regard.

Authors

• Ethan P. Smith, Washington State University - Tri-Cities

• Maria del Rosario Zavala, San Francisco State University

• Meghan Comstock, University of Maryland

• Laura M. Desimone, University of Delaware