25: Race, Ethnicity, Social Class, Language, and Achievement in Mathematics

For over 40 years (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954, footnote 11; Myrdal, 1944), we have been confronted with an ever-growing body of research documenting that the American educational system is differentially effective for students depending on their social class, race, ethnicity, language background, gender, and other demographic characteristics. This differential effectiveness has been found in mathematics as well as in many other academic subjects. Along a broad range of indicators, from initial achievement in mathematics and course taking to postsecondary degrees and later careers in mathematics-related fields, disparities can be found between Whites and Asian Americans on the one hand and African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians on the other; between males and females; among groups based on their English language proficiency; and among groups based on social class.