About This Study

This research is funded through the National Science Foundation. The research team will collect data about the experiences, beliefs, and praxis of Black mathematics teachers from historical and contemporary perspectives to:

• Inform recruitment and retention efforts; and 
• Contribute to theory building. 

This study is highly important since the number of Black mathematics educators choosing to teach mathematics at the secondary are either choosing not to select mathematics as a career or leaving the profession due to racial/ethnic biases and stereotype threats that often question their ability to teach the subject.

To help encourage more Black educators to choose teaching mathematics as a career, this study will document the oral histories and experiences of Black mathematics teachers pre- and post-de jure school desegregation as a means of informing contemporary recruitment and retention procedures and processes. It will also examine the experiences of practicing Black secondary mathematics teachers about their beliefs about mathematics content, recruitment, retention, racialized experiences in education, and perceptions and beliefs about current pedagogical practices. This information will be used to inform educational policy and provide implications for recruiting and maintaining a more diverse mathematics education teaching force.

This study will be conducted using a three-phase process:

Phase I- Oral histories with veteran/retired Black mathematics teachers
Phase II- Administration of large-scale survey to currently-practicing Black mathematics teachers
Phase III - Regional focus groups with currently-practicing Black mathematics teachers

A mixed methods research design will be used to collect data through oral history interviews with retired Black mathematics teachers and focus group sessions with current mathematics teachers. A large-scale survey will also be adapted and administered to capture the experiences of current Black secondary mathematics teachers from a sociocultural perspective. Through these data sources, this research will advance knowledge of the historical and sociocultural influences that impede recruitment and retention of a diverse teaching force by focusing efforts on understanding these issues in relation to Black mathematics teachers.