(In)equitable Schooling and Mathematics of Marginalized Students: Through the Voices of Urban Latinas/os

Abstract

In this article, the authors present the mathematics counterstories of a marginalized, non-dominant group of students: urban Latinas/os. The presentation rests on a key tenet of critical race theory: that the experiential knowledge of non-dominant people is legitimate and critical for understanding and remedying the factors and processes that subordinate groups, in this case, urban Latinas/os in mathematics. The authors use data from research on afterschool mathematics projects to provide Latina/o students’ perspectives, or counterstories, on their experiences with learning mathematics. Throughout their counterstorytelling, themes are uncovered that relate to Latina/o students’ perspectives on their mathematics learning experiences and ways in which they sometimes resist these experiences. These counterstories, in turn, offer insights that shift assumptions about marginalized students and mathematics instruction.