New Directions for Equity in Mathematics Education

by Edited by Walter G. Secada , Elizabeth Fennema , Lisa Byrd

• ISBN13: 9780521477208
• ISBN10: 0521477204
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-04-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The issue of how to provide equitable schooling for ethnic and linguistic minorities has come to the forefront of education. Walter Secada has brought together top researchers to examine equity from the standpoint of mathematics education - an excellent forum for the topic, since the results are quantifiable and the disparity in performance is stark. New Directions for Equity in Mathematics Education first addresses broad cultural issues, such as how social class and our notion of merit enter into education. The second section of the book analyses gender issues in maths learning, and the third and final section looks at language and mathematics. A number of themes cut across these three groupings. For example, there is a critique of the reform movement across several chapters; many of the chapters look closely at teachers and the dynamics of the classroom. And chapters in different sections address issues of teacher empowerment and the re-skilling of teachers. Michael Apple, author of Education and Power, provides a provocative concluding chapter to the book.

Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. The Quasar project: equity concerns meet mathematics education reform in the middle school

2. Can equity thrive in a culture of mathematical excellence?

3. Equity and mathematics education

4. Making mathematics meaningful in multicultural contexts

5. Social and critical dimensions for equity in mathematics education

6. Equity in mathematics education: class in the world outside the class

7. Economics, equity, and the national mathematics assessment: are we creating a national tollroad?

Part II. Equity Inside the Mathematics Classroom: Fact or Artefact?: 8. Redefining the 'girl problem in mathematics'

9. Gender and mathematics from a feminist standpoint

10. Attitudes, persistence, and mathematics achievement: qualifying race and sex differences

Part III. Making Inequality: Issues of Language and Meanings in Mathematics Teaching with Hispanic Students: 11. Equity in the future tense: redefining relationships among teachers, students, and science in linguistic minority classrooms

12. Taking power seriously: new directions in equity in mathematics education and beyond.