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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