Researchers Jacqueline Irvine and Darlene York investigated the distinctions elementary school teachers make in explaining the disproportionately low achievement and underrepresentation of African American, Vietnamese, and Latino students. They found that lack of parental support was the number one reason cited by teachers for the academic failure of African American students.¹ For Latino and Vietnamese students, teachers pointed to language difficulties as the primary reason. Given that they attributed African American students' failure to lack of parental support, teachers may come to believe that they can do little to effect improvement in mathematics for this group of students. This sense of helplessness, in turn, leads to teachers' lowered expectations for and racial stereotyping of African American students. Lowered expectations and racial stereotyping then tend to perpetuate the disproportionate failure rate of African Americans.

An informal study conducted with a group of preservice teachers demonstrated the prevelance of stereotypes and biases. Preservice teachers talked about outward appearance, experience with siblings or with their race or ethnic category, and perceived socioeconomic status in shaping their judgements about students' potential mathematics performance.² The emphasis here in on expectations. When someone has decided ahead of time - based on factors beyond a student's control - what kind of mathematics student she will be, the student will in time come to believe that judgement of herself. And thus the cycle perpetuates itself, with low expectations from adults leading to students' low expectations for themselves, and students' subsequent disinterest and low achievement in math (or any subject) which further reinforces the adults' original beliefs.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) stresses the importance of making mathematics accessible to all students. Part of this task is accomplished through high-quality curriculum that supports students' diverse learning styles. An equally valuable component though, is believing and expecting that all students can be successful learners.

What are your expectations for your students? Do either of the two study's findings resonate with your own beliefs?







¹Irvine, Jacqueline and Darlene York. (1993). "Differences in Teacher Attributions of School Failure for African-American, Hispanic, and Vietnamese Students." Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, April.

²Strutchens, Marilyn. (2000). "Confronting Beliefs and Stereotypes That Impeded the Mathematical Empowerment of African American Students." in M. Strutchens, M. Johnson, and W. Tate (Eds.), Changing the Faces of Mathematics: Perspectives on African Americans. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

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