Mathematics Curriculum Reform as Racial Remediation

• In Event: Representations and Logics in Math Curriculum

Abstract

In this paper, the author approaches mathematics education reform as a political system through historical analysis. The field has taken the history of contemporary mathematics education in the United States for granted as a story of progress relative to the nation’s goals. However, there exists a narrative conflict where discussions of a mathematics education that is more inclusive collide with conversations about a persistent achievement gap between Black and white students. The author constructs a critical race historical counterstory of contemporary mathematics education reform using the inferiority paradigm as an analytical tool to demonstrate how reform efforts—particularly standardization and equity discourses—have operated as racial remediation strategies since the 1940s.

Author

• Erika C. Bullock, University of Wisconsin-Madison