Using a design based research approach to support diverse parents' learning of the common core mathematical practices [electronic resource]
Keywords: Education.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) identify parents as a key component of the effort for improving student achievement in the areas of mathematics and English Language Arts. However, with its emphasis on discussion and inquiry, the CCSS for Mathematics (CCSSM) may require parents to interact with mathematics in ways very different from their mathematics education experiences. This is especially true of African American and Latino parents who, due to discriminatory tracking practices in America's public schools, often have never experienced mathematics in the ways that are outlined by mathematics education reformers (Boaler, 2002; Oakes, 1990). This study sought to determine the alignment in mathematics beliefs and mathematics assistance practices and the CCSM of a linguistically, economically and generationally diverse group of parents before and after a design-based research CCSSM intervention. Specifically, the study compared parents' views about the nature of mathematics and their views about the nature of mathematics teaching and learning before and after the intervention. The study also identified which of the eight CCSS mathematical practices (CCSS-MP) parent-child dyads engaged in before the intervention, and whether the number or the nature of the practices engaged in by parent-child dyads changed after the intervention. This study had four components: a parents' beliefs and practices survey, a parent beliefs and practices interview, observations of parent-child dyads collaboratively solving math tasks and an intervention (i.e., a series of five workshops). Although the size of this sample was small, there were quite a few noteworthy patterns observed that warrant attention in a future study. First, parents' beliefs about the nature of mathematics were fairly stable throughout the study. Parents tended to hold traditional notions of mathematics both before and after the workshop. In other words, the parents in this study believe that mathematics is primarily about numbers and calculations. Although shifts in parents' perceptions of what mathematics is and what it is not were less noticeable, there were more noticeable shifts in parents' beliefs about the nature of mathematics teaching and learning. For instance, after the workshops, parents were more likely to endorse children getting help from others and developing mathematics reasoning through playing games. There were also apparent shifts in the ways parents worked with their children on the provided mathematics tasks. From before to after the workshops, the number of CCSSMP observed increased from six to eight for both parents and their children. In addition, the frequency of CCSSMP talk turns increased, and the number of CCSSMP components increased. In other words, there was a higher abundance of mathematical practices and greater diversity within each practice observed after the intervention. Moreover, in contrast to the PreWorkshop finding that parents seemed to engage in the mathematical practices more than the children, after the workshops, children had greater engagement in the mathematical practices. This finding is evidenced by a decrease in the ratio of the number of CCSSMP talk turns coded as adult talk to the number of talk turns coded as child talk. Furthermore, both parents and children increased the number of minutes that they engaged in the CCSSMPs. Together these finding suggest that parents' mathematics assistance practices may have changed in such a way that allowed for more engagement of their child in the mathematical practices. Finally, there was not broad parental support for all of the mathematical practices. In particular, not all parents were accepting of children solving the tasks by creating visual representations. Parents found this mathematical practice ineffective and time consuming. However, although a parent's initial reaction to their child using a drawing was to redirect the child to a different problem solving approach, there was evidence that if a child persisted with the strategy the parent was able to accept the strategy as valid. Taken together, these findings illustrate the potential and challenges of explicitly engaging parents from marginalized communities in the CCSSMP. At its foundation, this study addresses issues of access and equity in mathematics education. This study has demonstrated that it is possible to bring parents into closer alignment with the CCSSM by providing them scaffolded opportunities to engage in the mathematical practices. It is my hope that by focusing on the support African American and Latino families may need to more fully participate in this mathematics reform, this study will provide insights into effective ways to empower two populations that have historically been underserved by our current educational system.