“You’ve Got to Learn the Rules”

Abstract

Objective: Given the current concern across the United States with improving community-college student outcomes, particularly in developmental education, understanding what students encounter inside developmental education classrooms is a necessary first step. Method: Drawing on data from a study of teaching practices inside developmental math courses at two large, urban-serving community colleges in the Northeast United States, I open up the “black box” of developmental math teaching at the community-college level. Focusing specifically on data gathered through classroom observations, instructor interviews, and curricular artifacts from six sections of developmental math, I explore two distinct curricula as they were enacted in class sessions and through the classroom discourse around solving math problems and analyze the extent to which each approach reflects the recommendations for mathematics instruction advocated by professional mathematics associations. Results: I found that differences in pedagogical goals (and related notions of mathematical proficiency) were integrally linked to differences in the what and how of assessing student learning, and that contrasting approaches to assessment maintain critical implications for accounting for failure inside developmental math classrooms. Contributions: I conclude with insights regarding future research and reform, for developmental math instruction both to realize robust mathematical learning goals and to facilitate students’ successful completion of developmental math courses.