Narrative Continued: Background from Other Perspectives

For many years, educators, politicians, and community groups have been attempting to explain and resolve the issue of why minorities, including African American females, struggle in mathematics.  This issue is commonly known as the “achievement gap”.  Chambers (2009) argues that this term carries with it a negative connotation.   It implies that the dominant race of students is superior in some way to the minority students.  That is, they are achieving more than the students that are represented by the lower end of the gap.  While the education system as a whole preaches on the equality of all students, the label of this disparity places the blame on students, not the education system.  The author, in an attempt to refocus the responsibility, suggests another term, the “receivement gap”, to describe this phenomenon.  Chambers (2009) states, “The term ‘receivement gap’ is useful because it focuses attention on educational inputs—what the students receive on their educational journey, instead of outputs—their performance on a standardized test” (p. 418).  While some authorities  may not overtly argue that students should be held responsible to achieve more, the name chosen suggests the existence of a culture within education that excuses itself from taking responsibility of the issue.

Stenson (2006) also recognizes that inequality can be considered as the result of “receivements”, or inputs, not just the individual student.  He argues that mathematics education can be better understood not just through the narrow lens of educational research, but also through anthropology, social psychology, sociology, and sociopolitical critique.  He references the charts below as a way of considering the different influences that impact African-American’s mathematical achievement.  Stenson (2006) maintains that, “… for critical postmodern researchers who are focused on issues of equity and social justice within education, specifically in the mathematics classroom, the critiques of mathematics education become much broader than those that are found within the confines of the students <à  teachers <à  material technologies (e.g., mathematics curriculum) instructional triangle” (p. 479). Thus, educators who choose not to look beyond their classroom are limited in their ability to meet their student needs.

Tate (2008) gives a specific example of how the lens of sociology could be utilized to examine these varying influences.  With the launch of Sputnik, mathematics became a key focus of the United States educational objectives.  However, this transformation applied mostly to the “college capable” student, focusing the reforms on only some students and communities.  “According to L. S. Miller (1995), educational attainment is a function of the quality of education-relevant opportunity structure over several generations. The pace of educational advancement depends on multiple generations of children attending good schools. Thus, reform efforts targeted for students perceived as college capable merely accelerate the intergenerational resource value-added of largely White, middle-class, suburban students deemed college ready (Shapiro, 2004). This is not to say these students should be denied opportunity structures, such as high-quality teachers; rather, it indicates the importance of providing qualified teachers to less affluent communities and demographic groups that have been traditionally underserved in mathematics.” (Tate, 2008,p.  954). By looking at the mathematical success through this larger social construct, more influences that impact the African-American mathematics student become apparent.

In addition to understanding this issue from a sociological perspective, an economic perspective can also be considered.  Banks (2008) explains that as this country grows more and more diverse, higher percentages of the student body will be minority students.  Eventually, this higher percentage will translate to a higher percentage in the workforce, an arena where problem-solving and critical thinking are imperative.  Banks (2008) predicts that, “If these labor trends continue, there will be a mismatch between the knowledge and skill demands of the workforce and the knowledge and skills of a large proportion of U.S. workers.”  Thus, the dilemma of minorities ill-equipped for the jobs of today and tomorrow because of their lack of mathematics skills could be an important economic consideration.


References


Banks, J. (2008). An introduction to multicultural education. Boston: Pearson.

Chambers, T. (2009). The "Receivement Gap": School Tracking Policies and the Fallacy of the "Achievement Gap". Journal of Negro Education, 78(4), 417-431.

Stinson, D. W. (2006). African American Male Adolescents, Schooling (and Mathematics): Deficiency, Rejection, and Achievement. Review of Educational Research, 76(4), 477-506.

Tate, IV, William F. 2008. "The Political Economy of Teacher Quality in School Mathematics: African American Males, Opportunity Structures, Politics, and Method." American Behavioral Scientist 51, no. 7: 953-971.