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Successful White Mathematics Teachers Of African American Students, Carla R. Bidwell

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

In the United States, a growing disparity exists between the racial composition of teachers and the students they teach. In 2006, 43.1% of K–12 public school students were reported as non-White—in 1990, 32.4% (U.S. Department of Education, 2008). Teachers, however, are predominantly White, 83.3% (U.S. Department of Education, 2007a). Exacerbating this disparity, it has been noted that fewer African Americans are choosing education as a profession (see, e.g., Irvine, 1989; Ladson-Billings, 1994). This growing disparity motivates a crucial question: Can White teachers be successful with “other people’s children” (Delpit, 1995)? This study explores this question by examining the life histories …