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PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES. :RXOGZHEHLQWHUHVWHGLQ\RXUZRUN"³<HV´

if the words rural and mathematics appear often in your manuscript. We welcome distinctive and non-trendy scholarship. Empirical work (quantitative or qualitative) is a priority, but we will consider theoretical pieces, historical research or biography, and very well-argued commentary as well. Contact Craig Howley or Sandi Mills with an idea for an article.

Rural Math Educator

1. Craig Howley

The Seven-Site Study: The Second of Two Questions and

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2. Sandi Mills

Review of Culturally Responsive Mathematics

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3. Craig Howley

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DISCLAIMER. The Rural Mathematics Educator is produced at Ohio

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published electronically. The expressions contained in this publication are those of the authors;; these expressions do not necessarily represent the positions or opinions of Ohio University, the College of Education, or anyone else. Postal Address: 207 McCracken Hall, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701-2979.

ACCLAIM is funded by the National Science Foundation as a Center for Learning and Teaching. The Center is a partnership of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (Lexington), Ohio University (Athens), the University of Kentucky (Lexington), the University of Louisville (Louisville), the University of Tennessee (Knoxville), and West Virginia University

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The Seven-Site Study: The Second of Two Questions and Tentative Answers

This article is the second of two devoted to encapsulating the findings of the ACCLAIM Seven

Site Study, concluded last year. ACCLAIM researchers visited seven sites across the nation

where educators were making connections between school mathematics and local communities

and places.

Recapitulation

In a previous issue (November 2010), we answered the first of two research questions:

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Briefly, they did so with varied scale and scope, varied purposes, and various conceptions of

relevance. In some sites, isolated teachers were at work, but in others the efforts were district

wide, and in some initial teacher-led efforts seemed poised to exert a wider influence in some

fashion. As for purpose, the struggle to connect math and community usually involved a strug-

gle to find time in the context of the trite national-GHIHQVHSXUSRVHRI³SUHSDULQJDJOREDOO\FRP

SHWLWLYHZRUNIRUFH´7KDWWULWHSXUSRVH²widely promoted if not universally well received²

probably diminished the attention available for community-relevant efforts even in these rare

sites. The issue of relevance was more conflicted still, especially at the secondary level, where

local application (even at these sites) more often than not was considered irrelevant. We were

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math instruction, but also the deep structure of schooling itself, probably reinforce such a stance.

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Second Question

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dances and constraints in play. Chief among the affordances are alert and passionate teachers

who think for themselves. They are apparently open to a range of productive provocations that

goad them to action. They see opportunities and project such opportunities, bringing their stu-

dents, and sometimes their schools and districts, into action.

Challenges are legion and durable, by contrast: the likelihood that colleagues will em-

brace the mission is dubious;; accountability frenzy was common;; changeable professional norms

dictated one-EHVW³EHVWSUDFWLFH´RUHYHQPLVHGXFDWLYHSXUSRVHVHJJOREDO$PHULFDQKHJHP

ony);; the organizational culture of the school or district might not be propitious for community

engagement, and so forth. In these rare sites, of course, the affordances found a variety of ways

past the common challenges. During the nomination process, however, we learned of many

other sites where the nominated projects had in fact ended²often when a teacher took a position

elsewhere. The rarity of these sites must be stressed.

Enumerating such challenges precisely across the sites is a project engaged by our formal

cross-case analysis (now in press at a peer-reviewed journal), but in the ACCLAIM monograph

we identified three overarching conditions that seemed to govern the emergence of such activity:

(1) the imperative to develop community-focused math education, (2) approaches to developing

place-EDVHGPDWKHGXFDWLRQDQGGLIILFXOWLQVLJKWVIURP³PLGGOH-FODVVWKHRU\´

The imperative to develop community-focused math education. Briefly, we found that

at the elementary and middle-school level community engagement was far more likely than at

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OXWKHULHFODVVDW/DID\HWWHLVDFRQVLVWHQWQHJDWLYHIRU³XSSHUPDWK´:K\"Upper math is allo-

cated, via the typical mechanisms of American schooling, to deserving students who have proven

their capacity for contemplating (Platonic) mathematical objects with patience and forthrightness

if not always curiosity or passion. These fortunate students can prepare for, and then enter,

STEM-related careers. Almost as a matter of principled local educational practice, then, the local

community becomes irrelevant to the probable destinies of such high-flying students and the as-

pirations that their usually influential parents cherish for them (Carr & Kefalas, 2009).

Hence, engagement with place-based approaches tends to be limited to K-8 settings or to

vocational, technical, and agriculture programs²precisely, one might argue, because these set-

tings and programs do not cater to the cadres of high-flyers and their families (Carr & Kefalas,

2009). In this sense, the Lafayette lutherie class, as the study shows, was a unique bridge be-

WZHHQWKHZRUOGVRI³KLJKIO\HUV´DQGRIYR-ag students²it was, after all, a collaboration of a high school math teacher and a vo-ag teacher. Students were in fact enthusiastic about being part

of such an overlap.

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to people and organizations in the community hardly exists, not as an oversight, but cleaving ar-

dently to the prevailing purposes of schooling²sorting students, conveying privilege across the

generations, and ensuring widespread powerlessness among the losers (e.g., Anyon, 2005;;

Bowles & Gintis, 1976;; Brown, 1991;; Duncan, 1999;; Spring, 1988).

One might speculate, then, that the institution of secondary schooling operates so as to

widen distance between the curriculum of school math and the applications, including especially

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teachers already thinking otherwise.

Developing place-based math education. The truly daunting challenges of practicing

community-based mathematics instruction per se explain the rareness of this effort. Our sites

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Why? An appreciation of the purpose of rural place-based efforts in general can help

UHDGHUVXQGHUVWDQGWKHFKDOOHQJHVPXFKEHWWHU:KDW¶VWKDWSXUSRVH"3ODFH-based education con-

cerns the sustainability of rural places²rural communities, whether towns or informally existing

country enclaves. Surely the preservation of rural community itself, both as a practice and as an

ideal toward which neighbors strive is an aim worthy of struggle (Theobald, 1995)? Not every-

one thinks so, but for this reason, place-based mathematics is by no means a quaint or backward

cousin to project-based learning or culturally responsive pedagogy. It harbors its own challeng-

ing educational agenda (i.e., sustaining rural community) as needful as those of its pedagogical

cousins. A range of studies has, moreover, shown that the continuing existence of a school helps

sustain a rural community (DeYoung, 1995;; Howley & Howley, 2006;; Lyson, 2002;; Peshkin,

1982). Place-based education takes this finding seriously and asks that rural schools embrace

their role actively: including mathematics instruction.

The stories we heard at the seven sites included four where sustaining the rural commu-

nity was foremost in the minds of formal and informal leaders: Eastcove, Confluence Collabora-

tive, Lafayette, and Magnolia. But had we dug deeper (going outside the research mission of the

study), we would probably have found such claims and concerns at every site. Remarkably the

concern surfaced in the four sites just mentioned without prompting by ACCLAIM researchers

(as the transcripts show).

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where one challenge lies²simply seeing the local math and the possibilities for mathematizing the local everyday. Addressing that challenge well seems a logical first step on the way to devel-

oping a real praxis of rural (place-based) mathematics education, at all levels of schooling, but

especially at the secondary level.

Middle-class theory. Although the selected communities certainly exhibited some vari-

ability, it seems that all of them enjoyed substantial or considerable local resources. Figure 2 in

the full-length monograph provides income distributions for the seven sites. Except for the Ala-

bama site, all the districts exhibited middle-income bands (2000 household income from $25,000

to $74,999) varying from 32% to 43% of households. Indeed, in four of these seven sites, the

middle-income band was the modal band. Such a shared circumstance might be merely fortui-

WRXVEXWLW¶VZRUWKREVHUYLQJWKDWVRFLRORJLVW&\QWKLD'XQFDQKROGVWKDWDSUHYD

lent middle class helps sustain rural schools and communities politically, economically, and cul-

turally. We both appreciate this theory and find it doubtful.

Doubts stem from the distinction between the fading petty-ERXUJHRLV³PLGGOHFODVV´RI

small-town shopkeepers and independent professionals and the now more common corporate-

SURIHVVLRQDO³PLGGOHFODVV´$V)ORUD)ORUD6SHDUVDQG6ZDQVRQKDYHVXJJHVWHGWKH LQWHUHVWVDQGFRPPLWPHQWVRIWKHVHWZRVRUWVRI³PLGGOHFODVVHV´DUHYHU\YHU\GLIIHUHQW7KH

former have local commitments;; the latter do not. Whether or not a corporate-professional mid-

dle class is unhelpful with respect to place-based education must await other studies, but the

negative influence of corporate orientation is actually well known from a half-century of study in

agriculture (e.g., Goldschmidt, 1947;; Green, 1985;; Lyson, Torres, & Welsh, 2001).

Whatever the relevant features of rural class structure, however, substantial middle-

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ZHREVHUYHG$JDLQ³PLGGOH-LQFRPH´RQWKHVHWHUPV-75 thousand dollars) represents a modest family income on national terms.

(8)

References

Anyon, J. (2005). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social move-

ment. New York: Routledge.

Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the

contradictions of economic life. New York: Basic Books.

Brown, R. (1991). Schools of Thought: How the Politics of Literacy Shape Thinking in the Class-

room. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Carr, P., & Kefalas, M. (2009). Hollowing out the middle: The rural brain drain and

what it means for America. Boston: Beacon Press. DeYoung, 1995

Duncan, C. (1996). Understanding persistent poverty: Social class context in rural communities.

Rural Sociology, 61(1), 103-124.

Duncan, C. (1999). Worlds apart: Why poverty persists in rural America. New Haven, CT: Yale

University Press.

Flora, C., Flora, J., Spears, J., & Swanson, L. (1992). Rural communities: Legacy and change.

Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Goldschmidt, W. (1947). As you sow: Three studies in the social consequences of agribusiness

(Vol. 1). Montclair, NJ: Allanheld, Osmun and Co. (Original work published 1947).

Green, G. (1985). Large-scale farming and the quality of life in rural communities: Further speci-

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Howley, A., & Howley, C. (2006). Small schools and the pressure to consolidate. Education Pol-

icy Analysis Archives, 14(10), Retrieved February 12, 2007, from http://epaa.asu.edu/

epaa/v14n10/

Lyson, T., Torres, R., & Welsh, R. (2001). Scale of Agricultural Production, Civic Engagement,

and Community Welfare. Social Forces, 80(1), 311-327.

Lyson, T. (2002). What does a school mean to a community? Assessing the social and economic

benefits of schools to rural villages in New York. Journal of Research in Rural Educa-

tion, 17(3), 131-137.

Peshkin, A. (1982). The imperfect union. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Spring, J. (1988). The sorting machine: National educational policy since 1945. White Plains,

NY: Longman.

Theobald, P. (1997). Teaching the commons: Place, pride, and the renewal of community. Boul-

der, CO: Westview.

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Greer, Brian, Mukhopadhyay, Swapna, Powell, Arthur B., & Nelson-Barber, Sharon, Eds.

(2009). Culturally Responsive Mathematics Education. New York, New York: Routledge. ISBN

13:978-08058-6264-5, 400 pp.

Reviewed by Sandi Mills, Wingate University, Wingate, NC 28174

Introduction

In an effort to enhance global competitiveness and economic superiority, authorities have

devalued diversity, particularly in school settings. Increasingly, in fact, student academic

achievement is gauged only by performance on various standardized tests. Not only do these

tests ignore the background, culture, and resources of minorities and rural dwellers, but they also

place an enormous level of stress on teachers and administrators as they strive for job security.

All of this comes at a time of rampant demographic changes in classrooms across the country.

%HFDXVHLWLVIUHTXHQWO\FDOOHGD³JDWHNHHSHU´GLVFLSOLQHJRYHUQPHQWVFRQWLQXDOO\VFUXWL

nize mathematics achievement. To further complicate matters, most people consider mathematics

to be politically neutral. After all, mathematics problems have unique, right answers²or do

they?

Culturally Responsive Mathematics Education seeks to establish mathematics as a human

activity, constructed by those who practice it and subject to the uncertainties of any human en-

GHDYRU$VWKHDXWKRUVQRWH³0DWKHPDWLFVLVFRPSULVHGRIDGLYHUVLW\RISUDFWLFHVWKDWPDNHLWDV KLVWRULFDOO\FXOWXUDOO\VRFLDOO\DQGSROLWLFDOO\VLWXDWHGDVDQ\RWKHUKXPDQDFWLYLW\´S

Reputations of Authors

This book includes essays written by different authors, each of whom is a respected

leader in mathematics education and/or cultural diversity. For example, Paul Ernest, author of the

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Professor of Mathematics Education at Exeter University, UK. He is internationally known for

his research at the intersection of mathematics, education, and philosophy, having written over

200 papers, chapters and books (Ernest, 2011.). Also contributing to this manuscript is Eric Gut-

stein, a mathematics educator committed to social justice via mathematics education. Gutstein

strongly believes that students should use education to challenge oppression in whatever form it

presents itself. As an editor of Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers,

Gutstein demonstrates the importance of appropriate teacher training to incorporate social justice

principles in the mathematics curriculum (UIC Faculty Profile, 2011). Julia M. Aguirre is an-

other influential educator featured in this book. Her TEACH MATH (Teachers Empowered to

Advance CHange in Mathematics) project is committed to preparing teachers for increasingly

diverse student populations by helping them recognize the assets of cultural and linguistic diver-

sity (UW Beyond the Bricks, 2011). With regard to college teaching, Shandy Hauk is one of the

authors of the final essay. In addition to her research and publications on culturally responsive

teaching, Hauk models her findings in her own classes of prospective mathematics teachers

+DXN8ELUDWDQ'¶$PEURVLRIXUWKHUVROLGLILHVWKHH[SHUWLVHRIDOORIWKHDXWKRUVFRQWULE

uting to this book in his foreword. Not only does he tout their success in approaching mathemat-

ics education from a broad perspective, but he also recognizes their focus on principles that har-

bor equity and liberation.

Summary

This book is divided into two main sections, one of which seeks to enlighten readers on

the foundations for culturally responsive mathematics education and the second, which deals

more directly with the teaching and learning of mathematics. To confirm that math is indeed a

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and cultural foundations. According to Swetz, Mukhopadhyay, Powell, and Frankenstein, for in-

stance, the history of mathematics is often presented with a Eurocentric viewpoint. Western

scholars, most often responsible for the writing of such history, frequently overlook significant

contributors from other cultures;; indeed, the culpable authors usually give European mathemati-

cians credit for discoveries made in Asia or Africa. For example, the Pythagorean Theorem is

named for the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, but was certainly known to be used by the Babylo-

QLDQVDVHDUO\DV%&(,QIDFWWUDGLWLRQDOKLVWRULHVVXFKDV.OLQH¶VFODLPWKDWWKHUH

was a 1000-year dormancy of mathematics with the weakening of the Greek civilization. How-

ever, during these 100 years, mathematicians accomplished much in China, India, and Persia.

With the increasing diversity in North American schools, educators need to do much better.

Mathematics belongs to everyone²and students need to hear that math is not the province of

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Such perspectives are ethnomathematical, and several authors in this book embrace eth-

nomathematics, including Mukhopadhyay and colleagues and the team of Barta and Brenner.

Instead of limiting their studies to academic mathematics only, these authors examine a diversity

RIPDWKHPDWLFDOSUDFWLFHVPRVWRIZKLFKFRQQHFWWRVWXGHQWV¶OLYHV,QFOXGHGLQWKLVSHUVSHFWLYH

are implications for teacher preparation and development. According to Moschkovich and Nel-

son-Barber, contemporary bilingual and multilingual classrooms require an understanding of the

ways in which various dialects and national languages express mathematical knowledge.

The second part of the book focuses on the application of these theories to specific cul-

tures, school settings, and teacher preparation. Cultures represented include African American,

Latino/a, and Native American. Authors affirm the positive offerings of these cultures while de-

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and McGee, all of the authors seem to convey the same hope²that children receive mathematics

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training considered at length by Geneva Gay (2000) in her Culturally Responsive Teaching. As

Gay states,

Inability to make distinctions among ethnicity, culture, and individuality increases the

risk that teachers will impose their notions on ethnically different students, insult their

cultural heritage or ignore them entirely in the instructional process. In reality, ethnicity

DQGFXOWXUHDUHVLJQLILFDQWILOWHUVWKURXJKZKLFKRQH¶VLQGLYLGXDOLW\LVPDGHPDQLIHVWS

23).

Not only does teacher training implicate new knowledge and skills about themselves, their stu-

dents, and their subject matter, it also demands a knowledge and respect for the intellectual his-

tory and cultures about which, as math teachers, they likely know little to nothing. Some of these

contributions are detailed by authors of this book and include navigation and parka patterns of

WKH<XS¶LNHOGHUVIRXU-fold symmetry and the related Cartesian coordinate system of Native Americans, and the invention of algebra by African Arabs.

Critique

No longer can our society ignore the need for culturally responsive mathematics educa-

tion. According to Greer and colleagues, projections indicate that the white population will be in

the minority by 2042, while the proportion of white teachers in US schools persists at 83%. As

the demographics in our classrooms change, teachers and teaching must change too.

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While I agree that mathematics is oftentimes portrayed as a neutral discipline, I had not

considered the absolutist philosophy of academic mathematics as it is compared to the fallibilist

philosophy. The route to this understanding, in this book is through ethnomathematics. Certainly,

because mathematics is constructed by humans, it is politically and culturally positioned, and is

subject to constant revision²though this is hardly the impression that students get in school. As

Ernest says,

Overall, the reconceptualization of mathematical knowledge as a cultural and social con-

struction demystifies the concepts, results, proofs, methods, and theories of mathematics

and sees them not as something extrahuman imposed upon humanity, but as something

created and shaped by human concerns, interests, powers of reasoning, and historical and

social practices (p. 56).

:KDWLVPRVWLPSRUWDQWKHUHLVWKHJHQHULFXVHRIWKHZRUG³KXPDQ´0DWKHPDWLFVKDVEHHQDQG

continues to be created by all cultures in all parts of the world.

Ethnomathematics lies at the intersection of mathematics and culture, and consequently

demands that mathematics education reaches beyond mathematical Eurocentrism. Although I can

never truly know how another culture is affected by such a viewpoint, this book has opened my

own eyes to the oppression felt by students in all parts of the United States. I agree with Gutstein

ZKHQKHVD\VWKDWHGXFDWLRQQHHGVWREH³UHIUDPHGIRUWKHSXUSRVHRIIXQGDPHQWDOO\WUDQVIRUP LQJVRFLHW\IURPWKHERWWRPWRWKHWRSWRHQGLQMXVWLFHLQDOOIRUPV´S:LWKWKHLQFUHDVHG

interest fostered by new cultural perspectives and the willingness of students to be change agents

for greater justice, mathematics could also inhabit such a paradigm shift.

Although Gutstein and his colleagues have brought recent attention to the need for social

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Movement in the late 1800s, educators have recognized the need for school curriculum to reflect

society. However, in the late 1920s John Dewey and other intellectuals expressed their dissatis-

IDFWLRQZLWKZKDWWKH\EHOLHYHGWREH³DV\VWHPULGGOHGZLWKLQMXVWLFH´.OLHEDUGS6XEVH

quently, strong efforts to drastically restructure the American curriculum began. Along with sup-

port for scientific and activity curriculums was a plea for reform to meet social concerns. In fact,

George Counts, in his 1932 manifesto Dare the School Build a New Social Order? addresses

what he feels to be a weakness of the Progressive Education movement²a lack of attention to

social welfare. While he acknowledges the positive qualities of the liberal-minded upper middle

class, he also questions their ability to shape educational programs. In particular, he claims that

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If Progressive Education is to be genuinely progressive, it must emancipate itself from

the influence of this class, face squarely and courageously every social issue, come to

grips with life in all of its stark reality, establish an organic relation with the community,

develop a realistic and comprehensive theory of welfare, fashion a compelling and chal-

lenging vision of human destiny, and become less frightened than it is today at the bogies

of imposition and indoctrination (p. 9).

This theory of social meliorism began in the 1930s as a response to American dissatisfaction

with the economic and social systems. With an effort focused on social reconstructionism,

Counts and colleagues felt that social injustice and the negative effects of capitalism could be

diminished (Kliebard, 1987). One way to do this, according to Paul Theobald, is through changes

in the educational domain. He states,

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term limits, or campaign finance reform, or any other sort of political or economic re-

form, need to recognize that a crucial first step to achieving those ends may well be a

genuine conversation about what goes on in the local school (p, 130).

As mathematics educators continue to face questions of job security related to high-stakes

testing, the authors of this book remind us of the true measure of educational success. As stu-

dents become aware of the mathematical contributions of all cultures, they may develop an inter-

est in mathematics and wish to contribute themselves. But most importantly, through culturally

responsive teaching, society as a whole receives the ultimate benefit. According to the educa-

WLRQDOSKLORVRSK\HVSRXVHGE\(ULF*XWVWHLQ¶V&KLFDJRVFKRROVWXGHQWVEXLOGRQWKHLUFRPPX

nity knowledge while striving to expand both their academic and critical knowledge of mathe-

matics. In this way, not only do they develop the mathematical abilities for access and opportu-

nity, but they are also able to use these skills to transform society locally as well as globally.

:KHUH¶VWKHUXUDO"$OWKRXJKWKHUHLVVRPHPHQWLRQRIUXUDODUHDVDQGWKHPHVQRFKDSWHU

focuses entirely on the challenges that confront rural students and communities. The first signifi-

cant reference to rural place appears in the chapter by Barta and Brenner. As part of their discus-

sion on the role of culture in mathematics instruction, they describe the efforts of a rural Guate-

malan community to prepare culturally relevant mathematics lessons. With reported assistance

from a US nonprofit organization headquartered in Dallas, the Guatemalan elders are now valued

by the younger generation for their expertise in many areas. One suspects that some or many of

the other contributors to this volume might have stretched to tell similar stories. For the most

part, however, dilemmas and struggles in U.S. rural communities remain seemingly invisible,

and this devolution is too familiar a story when it comes to discussions of curriculum and in-

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Also of benefit would be a greater awareness by the authors of the struggles faced by ru-

ral communities as they are continually oppressed by the dominant metro- or cosmopolitan cul-

ture. (See Raymond Williams, the originator of cultural studies, for the classic argument;; Wil-

liams, [1989, 1973] took a special interest in rural places confronting the hegemony of the cos-

mopolitan outlook). Such an awareness would have served to add depth to the argument for cul-

turally responsive education.

)XUWKHUVWLOOFXOWXUDOGLYHUVLW\WKDWLVHWKQLFDQG³UDFLDO´GLYHUVLW\LVQRORQJHUDQXUEDQ

phenomenon;; rural areas are also experiencing rapid growth of minority populations of all kinds.

According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (ERS), ra-

cial and ethnic minorities make up 18.3% of nonmetro residents and are geographically scattered

throughout the U. S. (ERS using U.S. Census Bureau county population estimates, 2005). While

culturally responsive education includes using innovative pedagogy to reach all students, includ-

ing African Americans, Native Americans, and Latino/as, perhaps the authors could also take

into account the places where these various cultures reside. Although many studies focus on di-

YHUVLW\LQXUEDQDUHDVZKHUHPDQ\UHIRUPHUVFRQVLGHUWKH³JUHDWHVWSUREOHPV´WREHUXUDOSODFHV

confront unresponsive forms of schooling²EDVHGRQ:LOOLDPV¶QRWLRQRIWKHKHJHPRQ\RIWKH

cultural metropolis (which, by the way does not originate from dispossessed urban minorities).

Rurally appropriate schooling would, according to many voices, help strengthen the rural com-

munities the nation as a whole is going to need in the age of declining oil production and rising

post-industrial demand for food, lumber, and natural fiber. Refreshingly, in light of this criticism,

Moschkovich and Nelson-Barber discuss place-based education in their chapter What Mathemat-

ics Teachers Need to Know about Culture and Language. Recognizing the importance of place

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GHQWV¶H[SHULHQFHV

Finally, now that the case has been made for culturally responsive mathematics educa-

WLRQLQFOXGLQJDUHVSRQVLYHQHVVVHQVLWLYHWRUXUDOSODFHDQGWKHFRQVWUXFWRI³SODFH´LQJHQHUDO

we must begin the task of convincing the public and the power brokers that schools had better

build a new social order (cf. Counts, 1932), and daring ourselves to do so more frequently²and

to keep on with the doing. Future volumes need to consider the politics, economics, and cultural

implications of the struggle.

Who should read this book?

This book is written for a varied audience. Unquestionably, mathematics educators would

benefit from the discussion. In addition, students, researchers, administrators, and anyone inter-

ested in the transformation of mathematics education would benefit. Although the book focuses

on the United States almost exclusively (with Guatemala oddly representing rural places in this

context!), many of the ideas espoused by the authors might, with considerable care in the transla-

tion, be useful in other parts of the world;; and even in rural places in North America.

This book confirms the need for an intellectual and cultural transformation in mathemat-

LFVHGXFDWLRQ,W¶VQRW$UQH'XQFDQ¶VRU%LOO%HQQHWW¶VRU0DUJDUHW6SHOOLQJ¶VYLVLRQRIUHIRUP² QRWE\DORQJVKRW0DWKHPDWLFVLWVHOIOHWDORQHPDWKHPDWLFVHGXFDWLRQLVQRWQHXWUDOLW¶VILOOHG

with the uncertainties of any human endeavor, including the uncertainties of cultural, economic,

and political catastrophe. More people should be worried;; and this book can help them in their

worries.

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References

Counts, G.S. (1932) Dare the school build a new social order? New York: John Day Company.

Economic Research Service (2007). Rural population and migration: Trend 5²Diversity

increases in nonmetro America. Retrieved from

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Population/Diversity.htm

Ernest, P. (2011) Paul Ernest. Retrieved from http://people.exeter.ac.uk/PErnest/short_cv.htm

Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. New

<RUN7HDFKHU¶V&ROOHJH3UHVV

Hauk, S. (2007). Culturally responsive teaching. Retrieved from

http://hopper.unco.edu/hauk/tport2006/node4.htm

Theobald, P. (2009). Education now. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.

University of Illinois at Chicago faculty profile. (2011). Eric Gutstein. Retrieved from

http://education.uic.edu/directory/faculty_info.cfm?netid=gutstei

University of Washington (2011). Beyond the bricks: The people, passion and ideas that

make UW Tacoma work. Retrieved from http://www.tacoma.uw.edu/features/research/

making-math-meaningful- key-reaching-student

Williams, R. (1989). The politics of modernism. London: Verso.

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Research Initiative Update

Four ACCLAIM studies are underway as of early July 2011. One²previously re-

ported²is conducting a national survey based on findings from the Seven-Site Study (the survey

goes live in July);; another is preparing a journal article based on the most complex of the seven

cases;; another will interview participants in the doctoral program;; and the fourth will provide a

retrospective of the works produced by the Research Initiative, 2001-2011.

The survey of teachers of mathematics was designed last summer and has been pilot

tested. The current version has adequate alpha reliability and now consists of 29 substantive

LWHPVSOXVLWHPVDERXWUHVSRQGHQWV¶FKDUDFWHULVWLFV

For the interview study, Ohio University math education doctoral student Dan Showalter

is interviewing 15 ACCLAIM doctoral program participants across all three cohorts. We are as

interested in the experience of those who ended their involvement before completing a degree as

in those who completed a degree. Dan was the chief data analyst (working closely with two

other colleagues) for the in-press cross-case analysis from the Seven-Site Study. As of the end

of June, the Ohio University IRB had approved the study plan.

The most complex case study from the Seven-Site Study is being prepared as a separate

journal article manuscript. Data analysis will proceed in greater depth than was possible earlier;; a

likely focus in this article will be the arc of the Nebraska multi-GLVWULFWFROODERUDWLYH¶VKLVWRULFDO

effort to sustain four small, rural districts. The literature review for the study is being developed

by Katie Hendrickson, a rural math teacher recently enrolled in the OU math education doctoral

program.

Finally, the synthesis of the 2001-2011 ACCLAIM research corpus is proceeding with

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tional writing capacity. This manuscript seemed necessary in view of the scope and variety of

publications produced by the research initiative, but it is also intended as a companion piece to

WKH&HQWHU¶VILUVW2FFDVLRQDO3DSHU²the 2002 prolegomenon to the work of the Research Initia-

tive (What is Our Work?).

Each of these efforts is a collaboration among experienced ACCLAIM scholars, and au-

thorship of the final drafts is still in play. Those involved in the follow-up survey, for instance,

include Bob Klein, Jerry Johnson, John Hitchcock, and Craig Howley. Aimee Howley is work-

ing most closely with Katie Hendrickson on the literature review, and Craig Howley with Zach

Wilson on the synthesis manuscript. But others will be involved as well, including ACCLAIM

student Johnny Belcher (who conducted excellent interviews at the Nebraska site).

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

ATTENTION ACCLAIM doctoral students!!

The NSF grant for ACCLAIM ends on August 31, 2011.

If students want ½ their tuition paid for fall semester, they must

enroll in August, making sure that the appropriate university

sends an invoice.

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Upcoming Conference Information

RSS 2011 Boise, ID

July 27²31

NCTM 2011 Regional Conferences & Expositions

Atlantic City, NJ²October 19±21

St. Louis, MO²October 26±28

Albuquerque, NM²November 2±4

AAMTE 2011 Huntington, WV

November 4²5

AMTE 2012

Fort Worth, TX

February 9²11

AERA 2012 Annual Meeting

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

April 13²17

Non Satis Scire: To Know is No Enough

NCTM 2012 Annual Meeting and Exposition Philadelphia, PA

April 25-28

Technology and Mathematics: Get Connected

RMEv10n2

Table of Contents

Rural Math Educator