Abstract
Educational opportunity gaps experienced by students of color living in poverty, with accompanying lower levels of mathematics achievement, remain a roadblock to their access to college-level training in STEM fields. To address this problem, secondary teachers must be confident in their ability to share mathematics content effectively with students from cultures different than their own. Bridging the opportunity gap is more likely with two elements in place: intellectually stimulating pre-college experiences and community partnerships that establish connections between underserved neighborhoods and resource-filled environments such as university campuses.
 This study explored the effects of teaching in a four-week STEM summer camp for ethnically diverse, high-needs middle school girls on the teaching self-efficacy of highly-qualified preservice secondary mathematics teachers, a group that has been less studied than preservice elementary teachers. Participants were scholarship students in a federally-funded teacher preparation scholarship program at an urban, metropolitan university. Teaching self-efficacy was measured by the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI) and by follow-up qualitative analysis of questionnaire responses and focus groups. Participants’ gains on the MTEBI were significant for Personal Mathematics Teaching Efficacy, but not for Mathematics Teaching Outcome Expectancy. Qualitative analyses suggested that both instructional coaching and everyday interactions in a summer camp setting contributed strongly to the preservice teachers’ increased confidence about teaching mathematics to culturally diverse, high-needs learners.
Highlights
Opportunity gaps in American schooling have emerged as important explanations for disparities in achievement, in mathematics, between students in underserved schools and those who attend schools with many resources
This study explored the effects of teaching in a STEM summer camp with ethnically diverse, high-needs students on preservice secondary mathematics teachers’ teaching self-efficacy, as measured by the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (MTEBI), and by follow-up qualitative analysis of questionnaire responses and focus groups
The present study focused on a different sample of these scholarship participants, exploring the effects of the experience on their self-efficacy for teaching mathematics
Summary
Opportunity gaps in American schooling have emerged as important explanations for disparities in achievement, in mathematics, between students in underserved schools and those who attend schools with many resources. Flores (2007) noted that Latinx, African American, and low-income students are less likely to have the same opportunities to learn in American schools as other students. Kotok (2017) found that course tracking and school socioeconomic status played crucial roles in the widening achievement gap in mathematics from 9th to 11th grade between high performing African American and Latinx students and their high performing White and Asian peers. Smith, Trygstad, and Banilower (2016) observed similar, tracking-related inequalities in educational opportunities for science instruction, noting that students with low prior achievement, when grouped together, have less access to wellprepared teachers, material resources, and high quality instruction. They noted further that in these classes, minority students, African American and Latinx students, are significantly overrepresented
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