"I Know I Can Do Harder Work": Students' Perspectives on Teacher Distrust in an Urban Mathematics Classroom

Authors

  • Lateefah Id-Deen University of Louisville
  • Ashley N. Woodson University of Pittsburgh

Abstract

Teacher turnover broadly refers to changes in a teacher’s classroom or school assignment, either during or at the end of an academic school year (Ingersoll, 2001). Though this phenomenon affects many schools to some degree, it is especially problematic in urban settings (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). This qualitative study examined the perspectives of five Black urban students on the experience of teacher turnover in their 7th grade Pre-Algebra classroom. Findings suggest that these students highly valued the interpersonal features of their relationship with their initial teacher, and described the types of teacher behavior that they associated with expressions of a distrusting relationship with their subsequent teacher. Specifically, the data indicated that the absence of a teacher’s trust negatively affected students’ mathematics experience and learning.

Concluding comments focus on the importance of trustful student-teacher relationships to promote academic and interpersonal continuity, and to better attend to the needs of urban students in cases of teacher turnover.

Keywords: Black students perspectives, distrust, teacher turnover

Author Biographies

Lateefah Id-Deen, University of Louisville

Dr. Lateefah Id-Deen is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Middle and Secondary Education at the University of Louisville. She earned her PhD from Michigan State University in Curriculum Instruction and Teacher Education with a focus in mathematics education and urban education. Her research interest examines students’ perspectives on their experiences in mathematics classroom in urban schools. She taught high school mathematics in both urban and suburban contexts.

Ashley N. Woodson, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Ashley Woodson is an Assistant Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture at the University of Pittsburgh. She currently serves as a Race and Equity consultant for Designing Equity by Teaching Mathematics, a National Science Foundation grant-funded research project examining strategies for closing the racial achievement gap in mathematics in an urban school district.

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Published

2016-11-28

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2016): UERPA Education Research & Policy Annuals

Section

Journal Articles

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