Knowledge for Equitable Mathematics Teaching: The Case of Latino ELLs in U.S. Schools

IntroductionMany mathematics teachers worldwide are finding new languages and new cultures in their classrooms. Since the 1970s the number of students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) in United States schools has grown and continues to grow dramatically (U.S. Department of Education, 2012; Payan & Nettles, 2008; Francis et al., 2006; Capps et al., 2005). Mathematics education researchers and others have observed, based upon the lower relative performance of these students on standardized exams of mathematics achievement in comparison with their mainstream (non-ELL) counterparts, that many of these ELLs have infrequently had equitable opportunity to learn mathematics in U.S. schools and have often been underserved by their teachers and schools (Center on Education Policy, 2010; Abedi & Herman, 2010). Furthermore, researchers have noted that using measurements of mathematical achievement to draw attention to disparities between student groups in fact offers little, if any, contribution toward promoting equity in education (Gutierrez, 2008), and that focusing on achievement gaps may only perpetuate negative stereotypes. Yet, measurements of mathematical achievement have also shown that some teachers and school districts appear to serve their ELLs better than do others.For example, consider the following phenomenon that occurred in a large southwestern state in which approximately 16% of all public school students are ELLs2. The Samsonville School District and the Wilkins School District (pseudonyms) both had significant percentages of ELL students, 25% and 33% of their approximately 80,000 and 50,000 respective student populations. Samsonville ELLs were approximately 85% Latino students, i.e., students from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, while Wilkins' ELLs were 99% Latinos. Sixty percent of Samsonville students were classified as economically disadvantaged compared to 95% of Wilkins students. Furthermore, less than 40% of Samsonville teachers were Latinos, while in the Wilkins district greater than 70% of teachers were Latinos. Although the characteristics of the students who were ELLs in these two school districts were largely equivalent in terms of language background and ethnicity, over several years Wilkins ELLs performed significantly higher than Samsonville ELLs on the mathematics portion of the state standardized test. To what could this differential performance be attributed?In trying to explain the above phenomenon, one may ask the obvious question of whether the teachers in the Wilkins district do something differently than do the Samsonville teachers which results in the differential mathematics achievement among ELLs. One may also ask the question of whether there is something that the Wilkins teachers know about teaching mathematics to ELLs that capacitates them to more effectively instruct ELLs and that is less well known among Samsonville teachers. That is, one may seek to explain this phenomenon from the perspective of instructional practice or from the perspective of the teachers' knowledge that informs their practices.There are also several reasons why it may be valuable to investigate a phenomenon such as this from the later perspective, that of teachers' knowledge. Researchers concerned with the assessment of ELLs have asserted that "with the rapid growth of ELL populations states should place a substantial focus on increasing teacher knowledge of current ELL issues...including pre-service teacher education and continuing teacher education" (Wolf, Herman, & Dietel, 2010, pp. 8-9). Hence, successfully characterizing knowledge that promotes achievement among ELLs would add to theories of mathematics teachers' knowledge. It would also fill a void of content for educator textbooks and professional development materials useful for equipping teachers for the work of teaching mathematics to ELLs (Watson et al., 2005). Ultimately and importantly, it would more fully complete the picture of essential elements that inform equitable mathematics teaching. …