Students’ Perspectives on Equitable Mathematics Teaching: A Focus Group Approach

• In Event: Users and Uses: Multiple Perspectives on a Mathematics Education Classroom Observation Instrument

Abstract

Purpose
Researchers have identified teaching practices that support students’ success and identity (e.g., Authors, 2019). However, students may perceive these practices differently. The purpose of this study is to consider students’ perspectives on teaching that supports their learning, aiming to understand whether and how teaching practices measured by AR rubrics resonate with students. We ask: 1) What AR practices do students identify as supporting their success in mathematics classrooms? 2) How and in what ways do students’ perceptions of AR teaching practices align with the perspectives of researchers?

Perspectives
Mathematics education research has described and measured equitable instructional practices (e.g., Authors, 2022; Reinholz & Shah, 2018; Wilhelm et al., 2022). However, research seldom focuses on students’ perspectives around equitable teaching. Prior studies have investigated students’ perceptions of various teacher- and student-directed teaching practices (Joseph et al., 2017; Rittle-Johnson et al.; 2021); we build on this work by focusing specifically on equity-oriented teaching practices.

Data and Methods
We conducted student focus groups with 6th-8th grade students at four middle schools in a large urban district. As part of the protocol, students were asked to react to a series of vignettes reflecting situations that occur in mathematics classrooms that included teacher actions aligned AR practices. Drawing from Q-sort methodology (Brown, 1996), students engaged in a task sort with definitions and examples of AR practices in student-friendly language, sorting these in order of most to least helpful, and explaining their ranking. Students were also asked to describe how they felt when they experienced specific AR practices. We coded transcripts of focus group recordings using inductive and deductive codes, developing themes through memos and discussions.

Findings
Students highlighted two AR rubrics in the task sort that supported their learning. These related to creating a nurturing classroom environment and the ways in which teachers both establish and maintain positive mathematical learning environments. In contrast, students responded negatively (e.g., annoyance, confusion, dejection) to an AR practice that intended to develop students’ mathematical authority. This practice featured teachers directing students’ toward peers and resources other than the teacher when asking for help. Across focus groups, students’ reactions to AR practices initially mirrored cultural scripts around what schooling “should” look like. However, when asked to reflect empathetically (i.e. with an emphasis on how they feel), students articulated alternative, affirming pedagogical moves as important. These moves aligned with indicators of elevated enactments of the AR practices, despite students never having seen the rubrics.

Significance
Findings offer considerations for how students respond to teaching practices aimed at supporting equitable instruction. Despite being the presumed beneficiaries, students’ perspectives are seldom considered in discussions of high-quality and equitable mathematics teaching. This study provides insights into what students describe as the ways in which teaching practices support (or do not support) their mathematical success and identity and highlights a process through which researchers might engage students in the instrument development process.

Authors

• Jonee Wilson, University of Virginia

• Erica Litke, University of Delaware

• Samantha Akridge, University of Delaware

• Victoria Varlack, Harvard University

• Heather C. Hill, Harvard University

• Miriam Simone Leshin, University of Virginia

• Micaela Y. Harris, University of Virginia