Rochelle Gutierrez

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | UIUC · Department of Curriculum and Instruction

This article articulates how mathematics (e.g., what they are, how they can be used, who they are by and for, who is able to do and understand them) are a social construct, just like racial or gender identities are social constructs. The authors describe how Political Conocimiento in Teaching Mathematics-a relational knowing that involves the entan...

In this chapter, I argue: a) mathematics teaching is political; b) mathematics teachers need political knowledge; c) teacher education programs can develop political knowledge with teachers through particular activities; and d) when mathematics teachers have opportunities to understand the politics of teaching, they are able to use that knowledge i...

In practicing and making their knowledges of the world, people make themselves, the societies and the spaces they inhabit. In moving and acting they perform the knowledge spaces. Coming to know is a mirroring or a re-enactment process where embodied knowledge is animated, collectively, and lived out in a way in which our reality, nationhood and exi...

This chapter offers one way for mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) to prepare mathematics teachers for the political nature of teaching. We begin with a review of the field (e.g., how rehearsals are carried out, for what purpose, with what results) and argue for greater attention to the political nature of teaching. We share our work as three MTE...

The practice of futurity within Indigenous communities has existed since time immemorial, with past, present, and future intertwined and with a focus on (re)membering and healing. As futurity becomes more popular in mainstream venues, it raises questions about how it will affect mathematics education (research). This Commentary makes an argument fo...

Today's mathematics teachers must navigate the politics of teaching and learning mathematics in various contexts. Yet, many teacher preparation programs continue to focus on content and pedagogical knowledge, leaving teachers unprepared for these challenges. This study investigates the role of intersectional identities on the ways 49 teacher candid...

In this chapter, I provide an argument for why we should stop using equity as a goal and, instead, move toward rehumanizing mathematics. I provide 8 dimensions we should consider when rehumanizing mathematics teaching and learning.

Mathematics teacher education is in an interesting historical moment. On the one hand, there is greater realization within our field of the connections between systems of power and mathematics (O'Neil, 2016). Those in the field are starting to acknowledge how mathematics education can be viewed as dehumanizing for both students and teachers as well...

Imagine if teachers were trained with as much skill and practice in dealing with the politics of teaching as they were with lesson planning, assessment, strategic instructional decisions, classroom management, connecting topics within mathematics, and relating to students. Instead of just carrying out local practices that are valued or have been in...

In an era of high-stakes education, beginning teachers need to develop the knowledge and skills to negotiate the politics of the teaching profession (e.g., working with colleagues who may have deficit views of students; responding to a school administrator’s emphasis on raising students’ test scores to the exclusion of other indicators of success;...

In this article, I seek to bring into conversation ideas from ethnomathematics (including Western mathematics), postcolonial theory, aesthetics, biology, and Indigenous knowledge in order to propose a new vision for practicing mathematics, something I refer to as mathematx. I do so in order to promote interaction between different knowledges, diffe...

Mathematics teaching requires political agility on the part of teachers who must negotiate their contexts in order to advocate for their students. Yet, most teachers of mathematics are not prepared for this work. This article presents a set of strategies that teachers can use in their everyday interactions with administrators, colleagues, parents,...

Suggestions for listening to Latin@ students in their everyday interactions.

Stinson, D. W., & Bullock, E. C. (2015). Exploring different theoretical frontiers – A symposium (Presenters: Drs. I. Esmonde, E. Gutstein, T. Sengupta-Irving, D. Martin, & N. Shah; Discussant: Dr. R. Gutiérrez). In S. Mukhopadhyay & B. Greer (Eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Mathematics Education and Society Conference (MES8, Vol. 1,...

In an era of high stakes testing and common core standards, public education, and teachers everywhere, are under attack. Teachers across the nation are working hard to: develop deep and flexible knowledge of their field; develop meaningful relationships with their students; and draw upon students’ linguistic and cultural knowledge as they develop a...

Over the past decade, the mathematics education research community has incorporated more sociocultural perspectives into its ways of understanding and examining teaching and learning. However, researchers who have a long history of addressing anti-racism and social justice issues in mathematics have moved beyond this sociocultural view to espouse s...

This is a dialogue extracted from a conversation among some members of the Equity Special Issue Editorial Panel (Beatriz D'Ambrosio; Marilyn Frankenstein; Rochelle Gutierrez, Special Issue editor; Signe Kastberg; Danny Martin; Judit Moschkovich; Edd Taylor; and David Barnes) about racism in mathematics education. It raises issues about the use of t...

This is a dialogue extracted from a conversation among members of the Equity Special Issue Editorial Panel about the role of a researcher's position in mathematics education. It raises issues about the non-neutrality of research; the relationship between a researcher's identity and the design, analysis, and conclusions of a research study; the bene...

This article provides an introduction to the JRME Equity Special Issue. It includes a rationale for the special issue, the process for selecting articles, and a description of the kinds of articles that will appear in the special issue. It concludes with a set of questions that teachers and researchers can and should ponder as they read the article...

This is a dialogue extracted from a conversation among some members of the Equity Special Issue Editorial Panel (Beatriz D'Ambrosio; Marilyn Frankenstein; Rochelle Gutiérrez, Special Issue editor; Signe Kastberg; Danny Martin; Judit Moschkovich; Edd Taylor; and David Barnes) about racism in mathematics education. It raises issues about the use of t...

This is a dialogue extracted from a conversation among members of the Equity Special Issue Editorial Panel about the role of a researcher's position in mathematics education. It raises issues about the non-neutrality of research; the relationship between a researcher's identity and the design, analysis, and conclusions of a research study; the bene...

Focusing on contexts of learning reminds us that no category of teachers or students is homogeneous. It also helps clarify equity – a necessary clarification, given the lack of consensus on what it is. Equity means fairness, not sameness. As such, this chapter elaborates on equity by highlighting four dimensions in mathematics education. ‘Access’ t...

In the United States, the student population is becoming increasingly diverse. Yet teachers are majority middle class, female, and white. Teacher education programs are responding by providing opportunities for pre-service teacher to work with marginalized students. The purpose of this research is to understand how secondary mathematics pre-service...

Although educational researchers are moving beyond purely psychological and cognitive models of learning to consider the ways in which mathematics teaching might reach a more diverse student population, this work remains in its infancy, and the concept of “knowledge” is rarely questioned. This paper begins with the idea that mathematics education h...

The 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress Scores for 8th graders indicate that African American and Latina/o students are not achieving in mathematics as White or Asian students. Research shows positive effects that qualified teachers have on students' mathematics achievement. We will document the experiences of undergraduate mathematics...

One cannot talk about equity these days without being politically correct. In fact, in the United States, “equity” has become an empty signifier manipulated in/through discourse (Dixon-Román, in press). For example, although many use “the achievement gap” as an important call for school accountability around needed resources and additional support...

In this article, educational scholars L. Janelle Dance, Rochelle Gutiérrez, and Mary Hermes share insights from their lived experience as qualitative researchers trying to work in collaboration with diverse populations. They refer to these insights as "improvisations on conventional qualitative methods, " reminding readers that their methodological...

Rather than delineating a list of practices that are important for ensuring that mathematics prepares students for a more democratic citizenship, the author has outlined in this article three tensions in teaching that she argues are important in developing an equity stance in mathematics education. This focus on a "stance" suggests that the kinds o...

This article draws on Latina/Latino studies to offer physics education a potential framework for reconceptualizing the ``knowledge'' teachers will need to engage marginalized students. Drawing on Gloria Anzaldúa's notion of Nepantla (a liminal space that facilitates transformation), I offer examples of teacher candidates as they come to recognize m...

In this rejoinder, the authors further detail their positions on the role of gaps analyses in mathematics education research as outlined in the previous 2 articles. They clarify areas of agreement and probe areas of disagreement, focusing on the benefits and dangers they see in either emphasizing educational disparities between groups or shifting t...

In this rejoinder, the authors further detail their positions on the role of gaps analyses in mathematics education research as outlined in the previous 2 articles. They clarify areas of agreement and probe areas of disagreement, focusing on the benefits and dangers they see in either emphasizing educational disparities between groups or shifting t...

A substantial amount of research in mathematics education seeks to document disparities in achievement between middle-class White students and students who are Black, Latina/Latino, First Nations, English language learners, or working class. I outline the dangers in maintaining an achievement-gap focus. These dangers include offering little more th...

A substantial amount of research in mathematics education seeks to document disparities in achievement between middle-class White students and students who are Black, Latina/Latino, First Nations, English language learners, or working class. I outline the dangers in maintaining an achievement-gap focus. These dangers include offering little more th...

This article explores the work of three high school mathematics teachers who have advanced large numbers of their Latina/o students (largely English-dominant) through the curriculum. The data are drawn from interviews with the teachers, from school and classroom observations over a 13-month period, and from student interviews. An analysis of teache...

In this article, I address the need for a more clearly articulated research agenda around equity issues by proposing a working definition of equity and a focal point for research. More specifically, I assert that rather than pitting them against each other, we must coordinate (a) efforts to get marginalized students to master what currently counts...

This case study explores the contextual factors involved in one high school mathematics department that is successful in getting African-American students to take advanced levels of mathematics. Examination of the school site, teacher and staff interviews, and school documents highlight the particular manner in which student success may be aided by...

This paper examines Latina/o student success in mathematics as a result of collective teacher beliefs and practices in a high school mathematics department. Based on an interdisciplinary theoretical framework and ethnographic data, the paper finds teacher collectivity allows teachers to develop meaningful relationships with their students. These re...

This study analyses student advancement through us mathematics curricula as an outcome of departmental organization and patterns of collective teacher beliefs and practices. Evidence from a study of eight high school mathematics departments supports the argument that four key components facilitate students taking additional mathematics courses ‐‐ e...