Main description:

Educational equity and quality are not only research issues which cut across different disciplines but are major determinants of socio-economic and human development in both industrial and developing countries. The status and role of mathematics, a subject which has long enjoyed a privileged status in school curricula worldwide due to its perceived role in science and technology, render equity and quality in mathematics education at the heart of human development. This is reflected by governments’ relatively large investments in improving the quality of mathematics education and extending it to marginalized and underprivileged groups.

The purpose of Toward Equity in Quality in Mathematics Education is four-fold. First, the book examines the constructs of equity and quality and their interdependence from different perspectives. Second, it develops a conceptual framework for studying and analyzing the two constructs. Third, it examines, consolidates, and re-structures the literature on equity and quality in mathematics education. Finally, using data from TIMSS 2003, the book investigates the within and across country impact of the different equity-related factors on mathematics achievement in a sample of countries representative of worldwide geographical and cultural regions.

Towards Equity in Quality in Mathematics Education uses a multi-dimensional conceptual framework to study and analyze issues in equity and quality. The framework consists of five perspectives hypothesized as determinants of equity in quality in mathematics education: Mathematical, societal, educational, ideological, and genetic. The framework can be thought of as a pyramid with mathematics as its base and the societal, educational, ideological, and genetic perspectives as its faces. Thus, each point within this pyramid represents a unique equity in quality situation i.e. with different coordinates with respect to mathematical, societal, educational, ideological, and genetic perspectives.

Towards Equity in Quality in Mathematics Education is useful for teachers and researchers in mathematics education.

Feature:

Provides a synthesis of current conceptual issues related to equity and quality in mathematics education

Discusses the link between equity and quality models in Education

Discusses equity and equality in mathematics education from different perspectives and in different contexts

Provides empirical support (or lack of it) to often made claims about equity and quality in mathematics education based on a credible international study

Provides an international perspective of equity and quality in mathematics education

Back cover:

Educational equity and quality are not only research issues which cut across different disciplines but are major determinants of socio-economic and human development in both industrial and developing countries. The status and role of mathematics, a subject which has long enjoyed a privileged status in school curricula worldwide due to its perceived role in science and technology, render equity and quality in mathematics education at the heart of human development. This is reflected by governments’ relatively large investments in improving the quality of mathematics education and extending it to marginalized and underprivileged groups.

The purpose of Toward Equity in Quality in Mathematics Education is four-fold. First, the book examines the constructs of equity and quality and their interdependence from different perspectives. Second, it develops a conceptual framework for studying and analyzing the two constructs. Third, it examines, consolidates, and re-structures the literature on equity and quality in mathematics education. Finally, using data from TIMSS 2003, the book investigates the within and across country impact of the different equity-related factors on mathematics achievement in a sample of countries representative of worldwide geographical and cultural regions.

Towards Equity in Quality in Mathematics Education uses a multi-dimensional conceptual framework to study and analyze issues in equity and quality. The framework consists of five perspectives hypothesized as determinants of equity in quality in mathematics education: Mathematical, societal, educational, ideological, and genetic. The framework can be thought of as a pyramid with mathematics as its base and the societal, educational, ideological, and genetic perspectives as its faces. Thus, each point within this pyramid represents a unique equity in quality situation i.e. with different coordinates with respect to mathematical, societal, educational, ideological, and genetic perspectives.

Towards Equity in Quality in Mathematics Education is useful for teachers and researchers in mathematics education.

Contents:

Part I Equity in Quality in Mathematics Education: Contexts and Perspectives 1 My Journey Towards Equity in Quality
1.1 The Nineteen Fifties: The School Years
1.2 The Nineteen Sixties: The University Years
1.3 The Start of a Career in Mathematics Education
1.4 The Nineteen Eighties: The Beginning of the Social Turn
1.5 The Nineteen Nineties: Problem Solving in School and Outside
1.6 The Present: Reflecting on the Past and Looking Ahead 2 Historical Evolution of Equity and Quality in Math Education and in Education
2.1 The Evolution of Educational Equity and Quality
2.1.1 The Fifties and Sixties
2.1.2 The Seventies
2.1.3 The Eighties
2.1.4 The Nineties
2.1.5 The First Decade of the Twenty-First Century
2.2 The Evolution of Equity and Quality in Mathematics Education Literature
2.2.1 The Fifties and Sixties
2.2.2 The Seventies
2.2.3 The Eighties
2.2.4 The Nineties
2.3 The Evolution of Equity and Quality in Mathematics Education in ICMI and PME Activities
2.3.1 ICMI Studies
2.3.2 The ICME Congresses
2.3.3 The PME Annual Conferences
2.4 Conclusion 3 Equity in Quality: Towards a Theoretical Framework
3.1 Quotations
3.1.1 Quotation 1: Inside and Outside School
3.1.2 Quotation 2: In the Same Classroom
3.1.3 Quotation 3: Inside and Outside a Country
3.1.4 Quotation 4: Across Countries
3.2 Equity and Quality in the School as a Production System
3.2.1 The School as a Production System
3.2.2 Equity in the Production System
3.2.3 Quality in the Production System
3.2.4 Re-visiting the Quotations from the Perspective of the Production System
3.2.5 Comments on Equity and Quality in the School as a Production System
3.3 Activity Theory and Mathematics Education
3.3.1 Activity Theory
3.3.2 Activity System
3.3.3 Mathematics Education as an Activity System
3.3.4 Mathematics Education as a Nested Hierarchical Complex Activity System
3.4 Equity and Quality in the Activity System
3.4.1 Equity in the Activity System
3.4.2 Quality in the Activity System
3.4.3 The Activity System and the Social-Cultural-Political Nature of Math Education
3.4.4 Re-visiting the Quotations from the Perspective of Activity System 4 The School Context
4.1 Math Education System at the School Level: Factors and Their Attributes
4.1.1 Mathematics Learning
4.1.2 Student
4.1.3 Classroom Community
4.1.4 Mediating Artifacts
4.1.5 Division of Labor
4.1.6 Rules
4.2 Interactions and Inequities: Two Examples
4.3 Inequities Related to Student, Mediating Artifacts, and Division of Labor Interactions
4.3.1 Student Personal Traits and Mathematics Mediating Artifacts in the Classroom
4.3.2 Student Socioeconomic Background and Mathematics Mediating Artifacts in the Classroom
4.3.3 Student Cultural Background and Mathematics Mediating Artifacts in the Classroom
4.3.4 Distribution of Labor and Classroom Community
4.4 Inequities Related to Student, Classroom, and Mathematics Achievement Interactions 4.4.1 Gender and Mathematics Achievement
4.4.2 Student Socioeconomic Background and Mathematics Achievement
4.4.3 Student Cultural Background and Mathematics Achievement
4.4.4 Student Perceptions of Self in Relation to the Class Community and Mathematics Achievement
4.4.5 Classroom Practices and Mathematics Achievement
4.5 Inequities Related to School Policies and Sociocultural Context
4.6 Concluding Remarks 5 The National Context
5.1 Math Education System at the National Level: Factors and Their Attributes
5.1.1 School
5.1.2 Educational System Community
5.1.3 Division of Labor
5.2 Interactions and Inequities: An Example
5.3 Inequities Related to School, Education School System, and Mediating Artifacts