No matter how mathematics achievement and persistence are measured, African Americans seem to lag behind their peers. This state of affairs is typically explained in terms of student ability, family background, differential treatment by teachers, and biased curricula. But what can explain disproportionately poor performance and persistence of African-American students who clearly possess the ability to do well, who come from varied family and socioeconomic backgrounds, who are taught by caring and concerned teachers, and who learn mathematics in the context of a reform-oriented mathematics curriculum? And, why do some African-American students succeed in mathematics when underachievement is the norm among their fellow students? Danny Martin addresses these questions in Mathematics Success and Failure Among African-American Youth, the results of a year-long ethnographic and observational study of African-American students and their parents and teachers. Mathematics Success and Failure Among African-American Youth goes beyond the conventional explanations of ability, socioeconomic status, differential treatment, and biased curricula to consider the effects of history, community, and peers--and the individual agency that allows some students to succeed despite these influences. Martin's analysis suggests that prior studies of mathematics achievement and persistence among African Americans have failed to link sociohistorical, community, school, and intrapersonal forces in sufficiently meaningful ways, and that they suffer from theoretical and methodological limitations that hinder the ability of mathematics educators to reverse the negative achievement and persistence trends that continue to afflict African-American students. The analyses and findings offered in Martin's book lead to exciting implications for future research and intervention efforts concerning African-American students--and other students for whom history and context play an important role. This book will be useful and informative to many groups: mathematics education researchers, education researchers interested in the social context of learning and teaching, policymakers, preservice and in-service teachers, students, parents, and community advocates. It will also be of interest to readers concerned with multicultural education, cross-cultural studies of mathematics learning, sociology of education, Black Studies, and issues of underrepresentation in science and mathematics.

With issues of equity at the forefront of mathematics education research and policy, this collection offers authoritative scholarship that sheds light on the ways that young black learners experience mathematics in schools and their communities.

This book is a critically important contribution to the work underway to transform schooling for students who have historically been denied access to a quality education, specifically African American children. The first section of the book provides some historical perspective critical to understanding the current state of education in the U.S., specifically for the education of African American children. The following sections include chapters on policy, learning, ethnomathematics, student identity, and teacher preparation as it relates to the mathematical education of Black children. Through offering “counternarratives” about mathematically successful Black youth, advocating for a curriculum that is grounded in African American culture and ways of thinking, providing shining examples of the brilliance of Blacks students, and promoting high expectations for all rather than situating students as the problem, the authors of this book provide powerful insights related to the teaching and learning of mathematics for African American students. As is made evident in this book, effective teaching involves much more than just engaging students in inquiry-based pedagogy (Kitchen, 2003). The chapters offered in this book demonstrate how mathematics instruction for African American students needs to take into account historical marginalization and present-day policies that do harm to Black students (Kunjufu, 2005). Empowering mathematics instruction for African American students needs to take into consideration and promote students’ cultural, spiritual, and historical identities. Furthermore, mathematics instruction for African American students should create opportunities for students to express themselves and the needs of their communities as a means to promote social justice both within their classrooms and communities.

"This book examines the experiences of a cohort of 16 Black male math majors. It amplifies the participants' voices to chronicle their persistence in the major. Using Black masculinity and critical race theory, the author employs an asset-based approach to tell a captivating story about this cohort within a racially affirming learning community. This book showcases the nation's top producer of Black male math majors, extends the knowledge base regarding HBCUs' multigenerational legacy of success, and makes a significant contribution to the growing body of discipline-based education research. In so doing, the author provides recommendations for families, educators, policymakers, and researchers to improve Black boys' and men's mathematics achievement outcomes"--

In contemporary societies children’s racial identity is co-constructed in response to racial stereotyping with extended family, peers and teachers, and potent media sources. The studies in this volume take cognizance of earlier research into skin color and racial stereotyping, but advance its contemporary implications. Developmental trajectories of racial attitudes of Black and White children, examining recent empirical research from the perspective of theorizing associated with experimental studies of stereotyped-threat are discussed. Reviewed are also the theoretical and empirical role of media images in influencing the race-related images as well as the PVEST theoretical model in considering the significance of parental racial messages and stories. The last paper argues that youth can be victimized by racial/cultural stereotyping despite being majority-Black cultural members. Interdisciplinary commentaries by scholar-researchers are given for each chapter.Researchers, academicians, and practitioners will find in this publication a succinct update, inclusive of references and bibliographies, regarding the latest information in the development and socialization of racial attitudes and racial stereotyping.

This critical new collection presents mathematics education from a culturally responsive perspective and offers a broad perspective of mathematics as a significant, liberating intellectual force in our society.