Date: March 13th 2008

>>> "Martin, Danny" <dbmartin@uic.edu>; 03/13/08 10:38 PM >>>

If folks have not seen the final NMP report, it is attached. It is
interesting to note the move toward experimental studies of interventions
with African American students. It is also interesting to note?if my
reading of the references is correct?that not a single African American
math education scholar was cited. I also did a word search and "equity"
had zero hits. The section on social, emotional, and affective factors is
especially weak, with its emphasis on "math anxiety." The chapter on
teachers and teacher education ignores everything that has been generated
about culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy. The chapter is merely a
commercial for one strand of research carried out, essentially, by one
researcher and colleagues. Surely, that is not the definitive word on
mathematics teaching and the preparation of mathematics teachers for
African American children. I'll mention one more interesting observation:
the simultaneous discussion of "low achievers" and "students with
disabilities." If you can read that juxtaposition without hearkening back
to the work of Deutsch and associates in the 1960's, more power to you.
I'm assuming low-achievers is coded language and that advocating for
"explicit methods of instruction" (p. 48) will have interesting
implications for African American children. Scary, scary stuff. Clearly,
these are my opinions, but I encourage folks to read the report with a
critical eye and keeping the interests of black children at the forefront
of their thinking.

-dm

Danny Bernard Martin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Mathematics Education and Mathematics
Chair, Curriculum and Instruction
Faculty Affiliate, African American Studies

office: 3238 EPASW
phone: 312.413.0304
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mailing address:
University of Illinois at Chicago
College of Education (MC 147)
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Not a question of what is true, but what is made to be true. Such is the
way in which racial discourses operate - Stuart Hall