Identifying Systemic Racism in Mathematics Teacher Education: Building a Cross-Site Community with Preservice Teachers of Color

This project will make significant contributions to racial equity in STEM by identifying and describing forms of systemic racism inherent in mathematics teacher education programs.

• Sponsor
  National Science Foundation Racial Equity in STEM Education
  Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program
  $644,642

• Principal investigator
  Dorothy Y. White
  Professor, Department of Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies Education
  

• Co-principal investigators
  Luz A. Maldonado Rodríguez
  Associate professor, Texas State University
  

  Juanita M. Silva
  Assistant professor, Texas State University
  

  Peter Eley
  Professor and interim dean, Alabama A&M University
  

• Active since
  October 2023

Visit the project website

Abstract

Racialized mathematics teaching practices are systemic in elementary mathematics classrooms, and the impacts of systemic inequities in K-12 mathematics education both deter students from diverse backgrounds from becoming interested in math, reducing their likelihood of engaging in STEM; and affect students’ identities by devaluing or erasing their diverse cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Since teachers are the key to ensuring racial equity in classrooms, identifying racialized mathematics experiences must begin with mathematics teacher education programs.

In this innovative study, a project team comprised of mathematics teacher educators of color (MTECs) will collaborate with 12-15 preservice teachers of color (PTOCs), in authentic partnership, from three unique mathematics teacher education programs (MTEPs) at an HBCU, an HSI, and a PWI to form a cross-site critical mathematics professional learning community (CMPLC).

By documenting PTOCs’ racialized mathematics experiences across three sites, the project will:

1. Gather fundamental knowledge on the racialized mathematical learning and teaching experiences of PTOCs
2. Build knowledge of racialized mathematics experiences and their overall impact on the preparation of PTOCs
3. Inform teacher education programs across content and contexts

As Black and Latinx scholars with extensive experience in teacher education, the project team conceptualized this creative project to illuminate new ways of nourishing and affirming PTOCs’ racial identities and cultural strengths in mathematics teacher education.

The project team will collaborate with participating PTOCs to analyze data generated from focus groups, individual interviews, CMPLC conversations, journals, and field notes using interpretative phenomenology analysis, case study methodology, and thematic analysis. Participating PTOCs’ students, especially the culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms, will benefit from this project by receiving increased opportunities to learn mathematics in ways that bolster their STEM identities.

The project will fill a gap in the research literature by:

1. Increasing the knowledge on the mathematics teacher preparation of PTOCs
2. Centering the voices and experiences of PTOCs and mathematics teacher educators of color in a cross-racial and cross-cultural project
3. Bringing unique perspectives to the design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of findings about both our own experiences and those of PTOCs, as a PI team composed entirely of MTECs

By attaining a deeper understanding of PTOCs’ mathematics learning experiences, we advance racial equity by exposing racist teaching practices that disadvantage historically marginalized students and identifying changes in teacher education that will identify and address practices that obstruct racial equity in STEM.

This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EHR Racial Equity).