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- See Parents as Lacking Involvement and Interest
- Expect Parents to Handle Some Education
- Measure Parent Involvement based on Eurocentric Normative
Values
Positionality (A Black Box to
Be Explored)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity:African
American
Socio-Economic Status: Poverty
Expectations
African American Girls with Low-SES
Perceptions
- Support Within Means- Expect School to be Responsible for Daughters' Formal
Education- Lack Confidence in Educator Sincerity
ParentsSchool
Personnel
Actions & Advocacy
Expectations for Future Student Success
Math and Science
Competency
Content Knowledge
Pedagogical Content
Knowledge ScienceMath
Science as Inquiry
Science as Reading
Comprehension
Math via Conceptual
Understanding
Math as Teacher
Directed and Skills Based
Math and Science
Instruction
Counselor
Test Maintenance & Tracking Coordinator
Math and Science
Resource/ Access Provider
Cultural Competency
Teachers
Role of School Counselor
Positional Factors
Parents
With their Child's
Academics
With their Child's School
Parental Involvement
Self-Fulfilling
Prophecies
Role of School
An Investigation of African American Girls’ Positionality in Science and Mathematics
Rose M. Pringle, Thomasenia Lott Adams, & Cirecie West-OlatunjiAward Number: 0734028
The Issue
Research Questions
• Although research has been conducted on African American student achievement (Foster & Peele, 1999; Murrell, 2002), girls and mathematics education (Kerr & Robinson Kurpius, 2004), and the impact of socioeconomic status on student learning, little is known about the relationship between teacher expectations and African American girls self-perception as science and mathematics learners.
• Research is therefore needed to explore how the positionalities of teachers, counselors, and parents impact African American girls’ positionalities in relation to mathematics and science learning. Graphical Model
.
Key Findings
•The interactions of the roles of gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status create the overall perception others have of African American girls in poverty, and these perceptions affect expectations and actions. All adult stakeholders do not consistently express positive perceptions regarding African American girls in poverty having success in mathematics and science fields.•Disconnect between expectations of parents and school personnel on the roles of school.•Parents offer support within their means, but they expect the schools to be responsible for their daughters’ formal education. However, they lack confidence in educators’ sincerity regarding educating their daughters. The researchers theorized that this may be due to the parents’ own prior experiences with the school system.
•School personnel (teachers and counselor) see parents as lacking involvement and interest in their daughters’ education because educators’ measure parent involvement using Eurocentric normative values of parent involvement.
•The researchers theorize that parents’ and educators’ expectations are not congruent and may impact the girls’ self-positioning as mathematics and science learners.
•The actions and advocacy of all adult stakeholders are affected by three key “positional factors”: Mathematics and science competency, which includes content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge; Cultural competency; and Expectations for future student success in math and science. •For teachers - this affects their math and science instruction.•For counselors - this affects how they view their role as school counselors.•For parents – this affects: a) their level and type of involvement with the school and b) their level of participation in their children’s’ schooling experiences.
Context & Participants
•Data Sources: • Classroom observations of science and mathematics lessons
• Individual interviews with counselors, science and mathematics teachers, and parents
• Focus group interviews with girls• Fieldnotes from a Summer 2008 PD retreat.
Data Collection
Who We Are1. How do low-income African-American schoolgirls position themselves as mathematics and science learners in relation to their gender, class, and ethnic identities?
2. How do parents, teachers, and counselors, position themselves in relation to low-income African-American schoolgirls’ mathematics and science learning?
3. How do mathematics and science teachers’ positionality influence their teaching practices in relation to low-income African-American schoolgirls?
4. How do counselors’ positionality in relation to low-income African-American schoolgirls’ mathematics and science achievement influence their gate keeping activities?
•An ancillary finding is related to the methodological paradigm in which positionality becomes salient for the research participants as well as the researchers. Notably, the reflexive process of knowledge construction occurring between the researchers and the research investigation.
•The concept of insider/outsider researcher contributes to the creation of meta-knowledge or new knowledge emanating from the synergistic discourse among the collective team.
Reflexivity
• Participants were selected from three predominantly low-income, African American elementary schools.• 30 Rising Sixth Grade Girls• 10 Teachers• 3 School Counselors• 17 Parents
• All three schools ,according to the state’s accountability system for the past five years, ranked as either “C” or “D”.
Principal Investigators:Dr. Rose Pringle Science Education
Dr. Cirecie West-Olatunji Counselor Education
Dr. Thomasenia Adams Mathematics Education
Research Team Members:Dr. Diane Archer-BanksAlliance Center
Dr. Dimple FlesnerUF Teach Program
Joanne LaFramenta PhD Student
Mathematics EducationDadria Lewis
PhD Student
Counselor EducationKatie Milton
PhD Student
Science EducationLauren Shure
PhD Student
Counselor EducationMaureen Cuff
Undergraduate Student
Elementary Education