The Role of Socialization in Shaping Black Girls’ Mathematics Identity: An Analysis of the High School Longitudinal Study 2009

Background/Context Previous literature has focused on mathematics socialization as it relates to the construction of mathematics identity, yet much of that research has been qualitative and lacking the theorization of high school Black girls. This study presents a longitudinal analysis of the relationships between socialization factors and mathematics identity among high school Black girls. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Mapping HSLS:09 variables onto Martin's (2000) theoretically rich Multilevel Framework for Analyzing Mathematics Socialization and Identity Among African-Americans, this study explored the distribution of high school Black girls’ responses to questions that measure a mathematics socialization construct and identified relationships between mathematics socialization measures and mathematics identity for Black girls in their ninth- and eleventh-grade years of high school. Research Design, Data Collection, and Analysis This quantitative study used secondary data from the base-year and first follow-up of the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:09), a nationally representative longitudinal study that started in 2009 with more than 23,000 ninth grade students from 944 schools. Using multiple linear regression in SPSS 26, the authors mapped HSLS:09 variables onto Martin's (2000) Multilevel Framework for Analyzing Mathematics Socialization and Identity Among African-Americans to test and examine the mathematics socialization constructs of high school Black girls who enrolled in a ninth-grade mathematics course (n=925) and continued participation in the HSLS:09 in their eleventh-grade year (n=637). Findings/Results The results showed that Black girls in the ninth grade with higher scores on measures associated with Martin's theoretical framework (Sociohistorical, School and Institutional and the Intrapersonal subscales) were expected to have higher mathematics identity, after controlling for the other variables in the model. The Community and Family subscale did not contribute to the regression model. The strongest predictor in the ninth-grade year, the Intrapersonal subscale, was still a strong predictor of mathematics identity for Black girls in their eleventh-grade year (B = .16, t (636) = 20.244, p < .000). Martin's theoretical framework holds true for high school Black girls in relation to their mathematics identity, specifically their Intrapersonal socialization. Conclusions/Recommendations The authors conclude that since mathematics is an exclusionary discipline and not necessarily designed for Black girls to succeed, understanding socialization factors can help the field of mathematics education design effective programming and teaching and learning experiences that disrupt hegemonic ways society has socially constructed mathematics. Specifically, mathematics teachers and other educators can work in solidarity with Black girls to help them increase their positive self-perceptions as mathematics learners. Educators engaging in these practices can support Black girls’ resilience and agency in mathematics despite negative contextual factors.

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On Track or Derailed? Race, Advanced Math, and the Transition to High School

Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World ◽

10.1177/2378023120980293 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 237802312098029

Author(s):

Yasmiyn Irizarry

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Middle School ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Ninth Grade ◽

Transition To High School ◽

Performance Factors ◽

Recent Scholarship ◽

Racial Gaps ◽

Accelerated Math ◽

Research And Policy

Recent scholarship has examined how accelerated math trajectories leading to calculus take shape during middle school. The focus of this study is on advanced math course taking during the critical yet understudied period that follows: the transition to high school. Data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 are used to examine advanced math course taking in ninth grade, including both track persistence among students who took advanced math in middle school and upward mobility among students who took standard math in middle school. Results reveal sizable racial gaps in the likelihood of staying on (and getting on) the accelerated math track, neither of which are fully explained by prior academic performance factors. Interactions with parents and teachers positively predict advanced math course taking. In some cases, interactions with teachers may also reduce inequality in track persistence, whereas interactions with counselors increase such inequality. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

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Chapter 3: Waking up Woke: Exploring Black Female Youth Critical Consciousness and Sociopolitical Development

Teachers College Record ◽

10.1177/016146812112301304 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 123 (13) ◽

pp. 1-26

Author(s):

Abiola Farinde-Wu ◽

Jemimah L. Young ◽

Sam Texeira

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Research Question ◽

Black Girls ◽

Black Female ◽

Sociopolitical Development ◽

Critical Race Feminism ◽

Educational Initiative ◽

Female Youth ◽

School Based

Background/Context Critical consciousness (CC) is an awareness and reflection of inequities, political efficacy, and agency in response to injustice. Similarly, sociopolitical development (SPD) is the process of developing a critical understanding, skill set, and emotional depth to enact individual agency against oppressive forces. Of the latter, SPD is vital in empowering youth from traditionally marginalized communities to challenge inequities. However, SPD has largely remained absent from U.S. classrooms. Purpose/Objective/ Research Question/Focus of Study Considering the absence of SPD in U.S. classrooms, this case study explores the SPD of Black female preservice teachers and their Black female high school mentees in a two-year tutoring and mentoring school-based program. Our study captures the woke pedagogical experiences that advanced participants’ co-constructed CC. As such, we seek to describe student exemplars of what it means to be awakened and stay woke through an analysis of interviews, journal reflections, and video data. To this end, the research question that guided this study was: What are the perspectives of Black female youth as they co-construct CC toward SPD in a two-year tutoring and mentoring school-based program? Research Design Through the lenses of critical race feminism and woke pedagogies, this study used a single case study design. Case study is appropriate for this study because it highlights the particularity and complexities of one unit of analysis. Findings Our findings capture the perspectives of Black female youth as they cultivate CC toward sociopolitical development in one educational initiative geared toward partnering undergraduate and high school students. An examination of data through the lens of critical race feminism and woke pedagogies spotlighted the perspectives of our participants as they co-constructed CC through woke pedagogical experiences. Mentors deepened their CC on race, and mentees gained heightened awareness of gendered and racialized school procedures and policies. Black girls in this study woke up (CC) and stayed woke through their activism (SPD). Conclusions In sharing the perspectives of Black female youth as they cultivated SPD, it is our intention that the critical approach and experiences that we have described capture the methods and strategies that one educational initiative implemented to empower and promote agency among Black female students. As an example of woke pedagogy, this educational initiative offered Black girls at the intersection of race, gender, and class an opportunity to critically question their world and become aware of racial and social injustices impacting their everyday lives and community.

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Ninth‐grade students' perceptions of the factors that led them to major in high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines

Science Education ◽

10.1002/sce.21524 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 103 (5) ◽

pp. 1176-1205 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Avner Caspi ◽

Paul Gorsky ◽

Rakefet Nitzani‐Hendel ◽

Zacharias Zacharia ◽

Sherman Rosenfeld ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

School Science ◽

Ninth Grade ◽

High School Science ◽

Science Technology ◽

And Mathematics ◽

Ninth Grade Students

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Continuing in Mathematics: A Longitudinal Study of the Attitudes of High School Girls

Psychology of Women Quarterly ◽

10.1111/j.1471-6402.1983.tb00825.x ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 132-140 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Julia Sherman

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Mathematics Teacher ◽

Ninth Grade ◽

College Preparatory ◽

Mathematics Attitudes ◽

High School Girls ◽

Learning Mathematics ◽

Mathematics Confidence ◽

School Girls

The mathematics attitudes (determined by ratings on the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales) of ninth grade girls of similar intellect who subsequently took one to four years of college preparatory math were compared in 1975 and 1978 (n = 84). Math enrollment groups differed significantly on the following scales: Usefulness of Mathematics, Confidence in Learning Mathematics, Teacher (perceived attitude toward the student as a learner of mathematics), and Effectance Motivation in Mathematics as assessed both in Grades 9 and 12, and on the Math as a Male Domain Scale as assessed in Grade 12. From Grade 9 to 12, scores on the Attitude toward Success in Math Scale became significantly more positive.

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