In My Opinion: Does Race Matter?

Abstract

To the detriment of young African American learners, racial achievement gap rhetoric impacts social constructs in American classrooms. In my opinion, recent mathematics education reforms, despite equity-oriented rhetoric expressing concern for all children (NCTM 1989, 2000; RAND Mathematics Study Panel 2003), have instead helped foster an environment where African American children continue to be viewed as intellectually inferior and mathematically illiterate, usually in relation to children who are identified as white or Asian.