Moving Beyond Equal Access: Detracking a High School’s Mathematics Program

Lolita A. Tabron; Richard Kitchen; Brianna Mestas

doi:10.29333/ejmste/11131

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Lolita A. Tabron ¹, Richard Kitchen ² ^* , Brianna Mestas ³

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¹ Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Denver, USA
² School of Teacher Education, University of Wyoming, USA
³ Department of Teaching and Learning Sciences, University of Denver, USA
^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Students of color in the United States have historically been denied access to a college-preparatory mathematics education largely due to tracking policies and practices. To address this historical injustice, a partnership was developed between a highly diverse high school and higher education to initiate a collaborative process to detrack the mathematics program at the school. We report the results from empathy interviews conducted with the “Franklin High” administrative team and mathematics teachers. The four primary themes that emerged from the interviews concerned the school’s student diversity, the focus on preparing students to enter the IB course sequence, how detracking must go beyond simply providing equal access, and the importance of the Franklin High staff having an equity-oriented growth mindset. These findings accentuate how successful detracking efforts require stakeholders to have an historical understanding of the racist policies and practices that have led to segregated schools and tracked classrooms.

Keywords

design thinking
detracking mathematics
diversity and equity in mathematics

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/11131

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2021 - Volume 17 Issue 9, Article No: em2000

Publication date: 08 Aug 2021

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How to cite this article

APA

Tabron, L. A., Kitchen, R., & Mestas, B. (2021). Moving Beyond Equal Access: Detracking a High School’s Mathematics Program. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 17(9), em2000. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/11131

Vancouver

Tabron LA, Kitchen R, Mestas B. Moving Beyond Equal Access: Detracking a High School’s Mathematics Program. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2021;17(9):em2000. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/11131

AMA

Tabron LA, Kitchen R, Mestas B. Moving Beyond Equal Access: Detracking a High School’s Mathematics Program. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2021;17(9), em2000. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/11131

Chicago

Tabron, Lolita A., Richard Kitchen, and Brianna Mestas. "Moving Beyond Equal Access: Detracking a High School’s Mathematics Program". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2021 17 no. 9 (2021): em2000. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/11131

Harvard

Tabron, L. A., Kitchen, R., and Mestas, B. (2021). Moving Beyond Equal Access: Detracking a High School’s Mathematics Program. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 17(9), em2000. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/11131

MLA

Tabron, Lolita A. et al. "Moving Beyond Equal Access: Detracking a High School’s Mathematics Program". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 17, no. 9, 2021, em2000. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/11131