Abstract
In recent years, quality has been increasingly infused into discussions of U.S. mathematics education reform not only for the sake of improving outcomes such as test scores but also to preserve the interests of the larger white population, including economic and educational advantage. To support my claims, I first provide an abbreviated version of what I have been calling a race-critical analysis of mainstream mathematics education, drawing on sociological understandings of race and racism. In doing so, I highlight my characterization of mathematics education research and policy as instantiations of white institutional space and discuss the interest convergence principle as one of the mechanisms used to preserve white interests in such spaces. Implicit in my arguments is the suggestion that the preservation and protection of white interests in mathematics education cannot be disconnected from larger frameworks of racism and processes of racialization that exist in U.S. society.
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Martin, D.B. (2010). What Does Quality Mean in the Context of White Institutional Space?. In: Atweh, B., Graven, M., Secada, W., Valero, P. (eds) Mapping Equity and Quality in Mathematics Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9803-0_31
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