International Educational Review

Racialized Mathematics Learning Experiences of Black Undergraduate Students

Priscila Dias Correa 1 * ,
James Alan Oloo 1
1 University of Windsor* Corresponding Author
Download PDF
International Educational Review, Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2023, pp. 41-55
OPEN ACCESS VIEWS: 1542 DOWNLOADS: 928 Publication date: 15 Apr 2023
ABSTRACT
The mathematics learning experiences of Black students in undergraduate programs present particularities that are not common to all undergraduate students. The challenges Black students encounter in their post-secondary programs reflect issues in the university environment that can significantly impact their experiences. These issues involve different domains and deserve full attention. This review manuscript addresses the emergent themes in the literature on the racialized mathematics learning experiences of Black undergraduate students. Research databases, ranging from 2015 to 2022, were examined using keywords that addressed mathematics, racism, undergraduate students, and Black students’ learning experiences. Canadian, United States, and international research was analyzed, and five emergent themes were identified in the literature: Mathematics Achievement, Social Political Perspectives, Stereotype Threat, Identity, and Microaggressions.
KEYWORDS
mathematics, racialized learning experiences, Black students, undergraduate students
CITATION (APA)
Correa, P. D., & Oloo, J. A. (2023). Racialized Mathematics Learning Experiences of Black Undergraduate Students. International Educational Review, 1(1), 41-55. https://doi.org/10.58693/ier.113
REFERENCES
  1. Adiredja, A., & Andrews-Larson, C. (2017). Taking the sociopolitical turn in postsecondary mathematics education research. International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, 3(3), 444–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-017-0054-5
  2. Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2009). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. A Report Prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education. UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001832/183219e.pdf
  3. Burke, M. G. (2020). Moving beyond the statements: the need for action to address structural racism at predominantly White institutions. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Higher Education, 5(1), 174–179.
  4. Caxaj, C. S., Chau, S., & Parkins, I. (2018). How racialized students navigate campus life in a mid-sized Canadian city: ‘Thrown against a White background’ but ‘comfortable enough to laugh.’ Race Ethnicity and Education, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2018.1511528
  5. Chavous, T. & Cogburn, C. D. (2007). Superinvisible women: Black girls and women in education. Black Women, Gender, and Families, 1(2), 24–51.
  6. Corrêa, P. D., & Oloo, J. A. (2022). Racialized mathematics narratives of Black undergraduate students in Ontario. In C. Fernández, S. Llinares, A. Gutiérrez, & N. Planas (Eds.), Proceedings of the 45th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 4, p. 194). PME.
  7. Corrêa, P., & Haslam, D. (2021). Mathematical proficiency as the basis for assessment: A literature review and its potentialities. Mathematics Teaching Research Journal, 12(4), 3–20.
  8. Esterhuyse, K., Grobler, A., & Grobler, A. (2001). Some predictors of mathematics achievement among black secondary school learners. South African Journal of Psychology, 31(4), 48–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/008124630103100406
  9. Fisher, A. J., Mendoza-Denton, R., Patt, C., Young, I., Eppig, A., Garrell, R. L., Rees, D. C., Nelson, T. W., & Richards, M. A. (2019). Structure and belonging: Pathways to success for underrepresented minority and women Ph.D. students in STEM fields. PloS One, 14(1), e0209279–e0209279. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209279
  10. Frazier-Kouassi, S. (2002). Race and gender at the crossroads: African American females in school. African American Research Perspectives, 8(1), 151–62.
  11. Gelbgiser, D., & Alon, S. (2016). Math-oriented fields of study and the race gap in graduation likelihoods at elite colleges. Social Science Research, 58, 150–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.03.005
  12. Givens, J. R., Nasir, N., Ross, K., & de Royston, M. M. (2016). Modeling manhood: Reimagining black male identities in school. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 47(2), 167–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.12147
  13. Goings, R. (2016). Investigating the experiences of two high-achieving Black male HBCU graduates: An exploratory study. The Negro Educational Review, 67(1-4), 54–75.
  14. Gonzalez, L., Chapman, S., & Battle, J. (2020). Mathematics identity and achievement among Black students. School Science and Mathematics, 120(8), 456–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12436
  15. Goyette, K. A., & Mullen, A. L. (2006). Who studies the arts and sciences? Social background and the choice and consequences of undergraduate field of study. The Journal of Higher Education, 77(3), 497-538.
  16. Harrell Jr., W.J. (2008). ‘Thanks be to God that I am elected to Canada’: The formulation of the Black Canadian Jeremiad, 1830-61. Journal of Canadian Studies 42(3), 55–79.
  17. Harris, T. (2019). Community cultural wealth brokers: a phenomenological study of the experiences of low-income, first-generation black female undergraduates at a historically White institution. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University-Graduate School of Education, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
  18. James, C. E., & Turner, T. (2017). Towards race equity in education: The schooling of Black students in the Greater Toronto Area. York University.
  19. Lewis, S. (1992). Stephen Lewis’ report on race relations in Ontario. Government of Ontario.
  20. Malone, L., Seeberg, V., & Yu, X. (2023). “The soft bigotry of low expectations”: Perceptions of teacher expectations among black families in a suburban school. Educational Studies, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2023.2165924
  21. McClain, O. L. (2014). Negotiating identity: A look at the educational experiences of Black undergraduates in STEM disciplines. Peabody Journal of Education, 89(3), 380–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2014.913451
  22. McGee, E. O., & Bentley, L. (2017). The troubled success of Black women in STEM. Cognition and Instruction, 35(4), 265–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2017.1355211
  23. McGee, E., & Martin, D. (2011). “You would not believe what I have to go through to prove my intellectual value!” Stereotype management among academically successful black mathematics and engineering students. American Educational Research Journal, 48(6), 1347–1389. https://doi.org/10.2307/41306389
  24. McGee, E.O., White, D.T., Jenkins, A.T., Houston, S., Bentley, L.C., Smith, W.J. & Robinson, W.H. (2016). Black engineering students’ motivation for Ph.D. attainment: passion plus purpose, Journal for Multicultural Education, 10(2), 167–193. https://doi.org/10.1108/JME-01-2016-0007
  25. McPhatter, M. R. (2015). Understanding the need to exist here. Cultural Studies, Critical Methodologies, 15(4), 309–315. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708615578423
  26. Miles, M. L., Brockman, A. J., & Naphan‐Kingery, D. E. (2020). Invalidated identities: The disconfirming effects of racial microaggressions on Black doctoral students in STEM. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(10), 1608–1631.
  27. Morales, E. (2021). “Beasting” at the battleground: Black students responding to racial microaggressions in higher education. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(1), 72–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000168
  28. Museus, S. D. & Neville, K. M. (2012). Delineating the ways that key institutional agents provide racial minority students with access to social capital in college. Journal of College Student Development, 53(3), 436–452.
  29. National Research Council. (1993). Measuring what counts: A conceptual guide for mathematics assessment. National Academies Press.
  30. Oloo, J. A., & Corrêa, P. D. (forthcoming). Racialized experiences of Black students in STEM majors: Narratives of resistance and persistence. In: Proceedings of the 2023 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. AERA.
  31. Parekh, G., Brown, R. S., & Zheng, S. (2018). Learning skills, system equity, and implicit bias within Ontario, Canada. Educational Policy, 35(3), 395–421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818813303
  32. Pawley, A. (2019). Learning from small numbers: Studying ruling relations that gender and race the structure of U.S. engineering education. Journal of Engineering Education, 108(1), 13–31.
  33. Qadeer, M. A. (2016). Multicultural cities: Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles. University of Toronto Press.
  34. Roberts, M. T. (2020). Racism in remediation: How Black students navigate stereotypes to achieve success in developmental mathematics. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 44(10-12), 701–721.
  35. Robson, K., Anisef, P., Brown, R. S., & George, R. (2018). Underrepresented students and the transition to postsecondary education: Comparing two Toronto cohorts. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 48(1), 39–59.
  36. Strange, C. C., & Cox, D. G. H. (2016). Serving diverse students in Canadian higher education. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP.
  37. Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., & Holder, A. (2008). Racial microaggressions in the life experience of Black Americans. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39(3), 329–336. https://doi.org/10.1037/ 0735-7028.39.3.329
  38. Toronto District School Board. (2017). Expulsion decision-making process and expelled students’ transition experience in the Toronto district school board’s caring and safe schools programs and their graduation rates. http://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/research/ docs/reports/Student%20Expulsion%20Rpt%2030Mar17.pdf
  39. Walker, J. W. S. G. (2019). The Black loyalists. University of Toronto Press.
  40. Whitley, J., & Hollweck, T. (2020). Inclusion and equity in education: Current policy reform in Nova Scotia, Canada. Prospects, 49(3), 297–312.
  41. Williams, J. L., & Nichols, T. M. (2012). Black women's experiences with racial microaggressions in college: Making meaning at the crossroads of race and gender. In Chambers, R. C., & Vonshay, S. R. (Ed.). Black female undergraduates on campus: Successes and challenges (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 12), pp. 75–95. Emerald Group Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3644(2012)0000012007
  42. Wilson-Forsberg, S., Masakure, O., Shizha, E., Lafrenière, G., & Mfoafo-M'Carthy, M. (2018). Disrupting an imposed racial identity or performing the model minority? The pursuit of postsecondary education by young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario, Canada. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2018.1497965
  43. Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302–314.
  44. Yiridoe, E. K. (2021). Fostering a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the Canadian agricultural economics profession. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 69(1), 5–15.
  45. Yusuf, E. (2020). Experiences of institutional racism: Black graduate students navigating higher education. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto, Ontario.
  46. Zheng, S. (2009). Research report 2006 student census: Correlations of school experiences with student demographics and achievement. Toronto District School Board.
LICENSE
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.