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1. Initial Steps in Developing Classroom Observation Rubrics Designed Around Instructional Practices that Support Equity and Access in Classrooms with Potential for “Success”

   https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681221140963  

   Wilson, Jonee ( November 2022 , Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education)

   Background: The field of mathematics education has made progress toward generating a set of instructional practices that could support improvements in the learning opportunities made available to groups of students who historically have been underserved and marginalized. Studies that contribute to this growing body of work are often conducted in learning environments that are framed as “successful.” As a researcher who is concerned with issues of equity and who acknowledges the importance of closely attending to the quality of the mathematical activity in which students are being asked to engage, my stance on “successful learning environments” pulls from both Gutiérrez’s descriptions of what characterizes classrooms as aiming for equity and the emphasis on the importance of conceptually oriented goals for student learning that is outlined in documents like the Standards. Though as a field we are growing in our knowledge of practices that support these successful learning environments, this knowledge has not yet been reflected in many of the observational tools, rubrics, and protocols used to study these environments. In addition, there is a growing need to develop empirically grounded ways of attending to the extent to which the practices that are being outlined in research literature actually contribute to the “success” of these learning environments. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore one way of meeting this growing need by describing the complex work of developing a set of classroom observation rubrics (the Equity and Access Rubrics for Mathematics Instruction, EAR-MI) designed to support efforts in identifying and observing critical features of classrooms characterized as having potential for “success.” In developing the rubrics, I took as my starting place findings from an analysis that compared a set of classrooms that were characterized as demonstrating aspects of successful learning environments and a set of classrooms that were not characterized as successful. This paper not only describes the process of developing the rubrics, but also outlines some of the qualitative differences that distinguished more and less effective examples of the practices the rubrics are designed to capture. Research Design: In designing the rubrics, I engaged in multiple cycles of qualitative analyses of video data collected from a large-scale study. Specifically, I iteratively designed, tested, and revised the developing rubrics while consistently collaborating with, consulting with, and receiving feedback from different experts in the field of education. Conclusions: Although I fully acknowledge and recognize that there are several tensions and limitations of this work, I argue that developing rubrics like the EAR-MI is still worthwhile. One reason that I give for continuing these types of efforts is that it contributes to the work of breaking down forms of practice into components and identifying key aspects of specific practices that are critical for supporting student learning in ways that make potentially productive routines of action visible to and learnable by others, which may ultimately contribute to the development of more successful learning environments. I also argue that rubrics like the EAR-MI have the potential to support researchers in developing stronger evidence of the effectiveness of practices that prior research has identified as critical for marginalized students and in more accurately and concretely identifying and describing learning environments as having potential for “success.” 

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2. Interrogating Structural Racism in STEM Higher Education

   https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20972718  

   McGee, Ebony Omotola ( December 2020 , Educational Researcher)

   The racialized structure of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) higher education maintains gross inequities that are illustrative of structural racism, which both informs and is reinforced by discriminatory beliefs, policies, values, and distribution of resources. Thus, an examination into structural racism in STEM is needed to expose the marginalization of underrepresented groups in STEM and to improve understanding of the STEM policies, practices, and procedures that allow the foundation of racism to remain intact. I argue that, even at the top of the education hierarchy, Black STEM doctorate students and PhD degree holders consistently endure the racist residue of higher education institutions and STEM employers. Thus, this manuscript also discusses how universities institutionalize diversity mentoring programs designed mostly to fix (read “assimilate”) underrepresented students of color while ignoring or minimizing the role of the STEM departments in creating racially hostile work and educational spaces. I argue that, without a critical examination of the structural racism omnipresent in the STEM, progress in racially diversifying STEM will continue at a snail’s pace. 

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3. Learning from Our Study Organisms about Sexual Selection: Lessons from the Ocellated Wrasse

   https://doi.org/10.1086/723109  

   Alonzo, Suzanne H. ( March 2023 , The American Naturalist)

   Sexual selection is a powerful force shaping not only the details but also the breadth of what we see in nature. Yet so much unexplained variation remains. Organisms often solve the “problem” of how to pass on their genes in ways that do not fit our current expectations. I argue here that integrating empirical surprises will push our understanding of sexual selection forward. Such “nonmodel” organisms (i.e., species that do not do what we think they should do) challenge us to think deeply, integrate puzzling results, question our assumptions, and consider the new (and arguably better) questions these unexpected patterns pose. In this article, I share how puzzling observations from my long-term research on the ocellated wrasse (Symphodus ocellatus) have shaped my understanding of sexual selection and suggested new questions about the interplay among sexual selection, plasticity, and social interactions. My general premise, however, is not that others should study these questions. Instead, I argue for a change in the culture of our field—to consider unexpected results a welcome opportunity to generate new questions and learn new things about sexual selection. Those of us in positions of power (e.g., as editors, reviewers, and authors) need to lead the way. 

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4. Practice-based research on the teaching of mathematics: Progress and imperatives for the future

   Hoover, M. ; Ball, D. L. ( January 2021 , Nordisk matematikkdidaktikk)

   Professional fields face persistent challenges in connecting practice and theory. In particular, tensions exist as to how theory and knowledge are developed, as well as what constitutes authority for practice. Together the articles in this issue explore three elements of the turn toward ”practice-based” research and professional education in mathematics education: designing teaching and learning in and for practice, learning mathematics teaching as a practice, and collaborating across professional roles and identities. In this commentary, we interrogate meanings of practice-based research on teaching and discuss themes across this collection of articles. We then argue for three imperatives for future efforts: (i) working on shared understandings of what the term ”practice-based” might mean; (ii) developing more nuanced conceptualizations of ”teaching”; and (iii) attending explicitly to justice in practice. 

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5. Myths of Meritocracy, Friendship, and Fun Work: Class and Gender in North American Academic Communities

   https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13455  

   Leighton, Mary ( July 2020 , American Anthropologist)

   Using the example of Andean archaeology, this article focuses on subtle forms of inequality that arise when academic communities are conceptualized as friendship‐based and egalitarian, rejecting explicit hierarchy. I describe this asperformative informalityand argue that it stems from a meritocratic ideology that inadvertently reproduces Euro‐American white‐male privilege. In a discipline that prides itself on its friendliness, openness, and alcohol‐fueled drinking culture, those who find themselves unable to enact or perform informality appropriately are at a distinct disadvantage. Drawing from a multisited ethnography of Andeanist archaeologists, I make the case that it is the ephemerality and plausible deniability of performative informality that makes it hard to recognize and thus mitigate against it. In doing so, I draw on and contribute to the theorization of gender/class intersectionality in anthropology and science studies, US conceptualizations of meritocracy in academia and higher education, and feminist Jo Freeman's concept of “the tyranny of structurelessness.” [anthropology of science, ethnography of archaeology, class, gender, anthropology of work and education]

    

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