How might we support math teachers to develop knowledge and behaviors that sustain high expectations and promote belonging for students of color?

Research points to numerous factors that are instrumental in the development of positive academic outcomes for all students. These include a positive racial/ethnic identity (1), beliefs about their academic abilities (2), and a sense of belonging (3). Teachers’ expectations are one of the most powerful influences in students’ beliefs about their own academic abilities, but these have been found to be lower for Black, Latine, and Indigenous students due to teachers’ biases (4). Asset-based pedagogy ensures that teachers develop essential knowledge and behaviors that sustain high expectations and promote student identity (5).  

This is particularly important in mathematics (6) where some of the most stubborn achievement disparities persist (7). While asset-based pedagogy is important across subject areas, special attention to these practices within the domain of mathematics is necessary because math has historically been a major focus of high-stakes testing—leading educators to hyperfocus on students’ skill development at the expense of empowerment and social connection. In addition, advanced mathematical concepts can sometimes be abstract in nature, which makes it difficult for students from historically marginalized backgrounds to see explicit connections between mathematics content and their day-to-day lives. 

our approach

Equity-focused mathematics teachers have found, and are innovating, ways to support students’ sense of psychological membership in their classrooms by facilitating social ties among students and themselves, and by using mathematics lessons to reinforce the importance of students’ cultures and communities. In order to learn more about how to do these practices, Shift partnered with educators across the country to develop a theory of change describing what the key levers for improving students’ experiences in their math classrooms, and to build and test a change package with change ideas about this content. 

• Here is a PDF of the theory of change, which includes an ecosystem of embedded links with more information about the change concepts. 
  
  
• Here is a collection of teacher-tested practice guides, which highlights some of the lessons our educator partners learned when testing these change ideas. 

partners

We wish to thank the following people: 

• • Our educator partners, for their engagement and willingness to test these change ideas in their contexts: Blais Cross, Xiao Wen Chen, Jaime Higgins, Clay Jessen, Katie Kunkel, Dr. Charles Collingwood, and Crystal Watson 
    
    
  • Dr. Francesca Lopez from Pennsylvania State University and Dr. DeLeon Gray from North Carolina State University, who both made significant contributions to this theory of change at all stages of development. We are tremendously grateful for their time and steadfast commitment to improving student experiences. 
    
    
  • Vivian Mihalakis for her advocacy and thought partnership.

These materials are based on work funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

References  

1 Rivas‐Drake, D., Seaton, E. K., Markstrom, C., Quintana, S., Syed, M., Lee, R. M., ... & Ethnic and Racial Identity in the 21st Century Study Group. (2014). Ethnic and racial identity in adolescence: Implications for psychosocial, academic, and health outcomes. Child development, 85(1), 40-57. 

2 Möller, J., Zitzmann, S., Helm, F., Machts, N., & Wolff, F. (2020). A meta-analysis of relations between achievement and self-concept. Review of Educational Research, 90(3), 376-419. 

3 Allen, K., Kern, M. L., Vella-Brodrick, D., Hattie, J., & Waters, L. (2018). What schools need to know about fostering school belonging: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 30(1), 1-34. 

4 Papageorge, N. W., Gershenson, S., & Kang, K. M. (2020). Teacher expectations matter. Review of Economics and Statistics, 102(2), 234-251. 

5 López, F. A. (2017). Altering the trajectory of the self-fulfilling prophecy: Asset-based pedagogy and classroom dynamics. Journal of Teacher Education, 68(2), 193-212. 

6 Matthews, J. S., & López, F. (2019). Speaking their language: The role of cultural content integration and heritage language for academic achievement among Latino children. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 57, 72-86. 

7 Hanushek, E. A., Peterson, P. E., Talpey, L. M., & Woessmann, L. (2019). The unwavering SES achievement gap: Trends in US student performance (No. w25648). National Bureau of Economic Research.