Rowman & Littlefield Publishers The Stories We Tell: Math, Race, Bias, and Opportunity

The Stories We Tell: Math, Race, Bias, & Opportunity positions educators as professional decision-makers whose every day choices are deeply consequential. After exploring topics ranging from the early identification of talent, the use of demographic characteristics to make academic decisions, and the problematic casting of a 'gap' in mathematical performance as about the students themselves, the book explores how professional decision making, and a more precise use of data, can impact mathematical performance outcomes. With gentle precision, the book analyzes the patterns of practice in place as educators sort children according to perceived needs. Through case studies, the authors reconfigure the mathematics achievement gap as being about opportunity provided or denied at both the classroom and systemic levels. The book has implications for school personnel as well as others curious about how opportunity impacts outcomes and how data is (or is not) used to make decisions about children. Educators who challenge themselves to engage with the possibility of bias, and then face the stories we tell ourselves about the race/talent development/student merit relationship, will have the opportunity to write a powerful and equitable story going forward. Review This thoughtful and carefully organized book draws on a rich network of evidence to demonstrate the harm done when students are placed in academic courses based on demographic data. Using numerous examples, authors Faulkner, Marshall, and Stiff (all, North Carolina State Univ.) demonstrate clearly that when well-meaning education professionals rely on their perceptions of student ability, achievement gaps are reinforced. They make a compelling case for the use of objective data to place students in courses designed to help them succeed, while also discussing the limitations of objective data. Addressing confirmation bias, confabulation, and other problematic behaviors, they offer practical solutions to overcome these obstacles. Overall, the book uses sources efficiently and employs them in a way that would not be overwhelming to undergraduates or in-service teachers. The discussion questions at the end of the book, organized by chapter, make this an excellent text for undergraduate methods-of-teaching courses, professional learning communities, and professional development for in-service teachers. The thorough reference list also makes this an excellent text for graduate study. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students; professionals--CHOICE Finally, a book that sits the "gap problem" on the doorsteps of schools and districts and off the backs of children and parents. In this book, the authors use data to challenge our assumptions on achievement, rigor, and accountability as they explain how the decisions made by school administrations and politicians create, maintain, and exasperate the inequitable education of students. The authors provide new and realistic decisions we can all make to travel on their path to change.--Dorothy Y. White, PhD, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Georgia The school mathematics ecosystem represents an important opportunity structure in the field of education. This research captures the contours of this ecosystem with a focus on how it produces disparities. The book documents the challenges associated with improper data interpretation, bias, and cognitive dissonance. These biases influence decisions and support the creation of underdeveloped learning processes and harmful outcomes. The scholarship contributes to the literature on opportunity to learn in mathematics education.--William F. Tate IV, Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis The Stories We Tell: Math, Race, Bias & Opportunity challenges the traditional dialogue about the achievement gap and radically reframes it. By problematizing