Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Erin Anderson

Second Advisor

Lolita Tabron

Third Advisor

Chris Nelson

Fourth Advisor

Douglas Allen

Keywords

Latinx, Mathematics, Mixed methods, Post secondary, Student retention

Abstract

Working with Latinx students, a semester long study was conducted in the Spring of 2021 to better understand student’s perception of Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices (CRTP) at Mountain State University (MSU). The course sections selected are a part of a larger first year, non-remedial, terminal mathematics courses designed to provide students with smaller teacher to student ratios as well as opportunities to earn credit towards graduation. Instructors in two of the sections received special training around CRTP, while instructors in the other two sections did not receive this training. Findings demonstrate that simple adjustments to instructional practices had a statistically significant effect on student’s perceptions of mathematics in two domains of CRTP. These adjustments include providing students an opportunity to apply the math they learn to their chosen pathways through article reviews and mathematical application to relevant problems. Additionally, sharing a diverse representation of current mathematicians in practice as well as sharing their trials and tribulations provides students a more realistic view of who can do mathematics.

There are also opportunities for larger, systemic changes. Most notably, this includes restructuring these specialized sections to focus on students’ understanding and application of the content, versus a lecture style instructional approach currently utilized. To achieve this change, the university must focus on three changes: (a) build a pipeline between the undergraduate and graduate programs to train and hire more diverse mathematics instructors; (b) develop opportunities to train instructors in Culturally Responsive Teaching; and (c) enable greater autonomy for these four sections and the larger group of classes that share the same course title. While MSU has tentatively rolled out some opportunities to better support students, there continue to be opportunities to expand the utilization of CRTP within these terminal, non-remedial mathematics courses.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Ross Morgan

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

273 pgs

Discipline

Education, Higher education, Higher education administration

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